Following one of Utah's hottest and driest winters on record in the 2014-2015 season, KUER News and KUED Channel 7 joined forces to explore Utah’s relationship with water in Utah’s Uncertain Water Future.
As part of this collaboration, television and radio documentaries were produced. Today, the Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA) named KUER the Edward R. Murrow Award Winner for Radio Documentary in Region 3, which covers Utah, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico and Wyoming.
“Working on this story helped us see how water is shaping up to be the environmental story of our time in Utah,” says KUER Environmental Reporter, Judy Fahys. “It touches on age-old struggles involving power, money and ambition, as well as the emerging challenges of protecting urban water supplies from needless waste. It explores the danger of over-pumping water in the second-driest state and the voice of a man who lost his family’s savings in an Enoch land-fissure. Ultimately, it’s a story about people —yesterday, today and tomorrow — and the uncertainties we all face because of outdated management and climate change."
The Radio Television Digital News Association presents the Edward R. Murrow Awards in recognition of what the organization terms "outstanding achievements in electronic journalism" since 1971. KUER competed in the large market radio category against both commercial and public media outlets in Denver, Phoenix, Albuquerque and Salt Lake City. This is KUER’s second Regional Radio Documentary award. In 2013, the station took the prize for “Utah’s Olympic Legacy: The Impact of the 2002 Winter Games.”
“It’s incredibly satisfying to win a regional Murrow award for our documentary Utah’s Uncertain Water Future,” says KUER News Director, Terry Gildea. “Living in one of the driest states in the nation, it’s important for everyone in Utah to know and understand the water challenges we face. I’m excited that this award will hopefully bring more attention to water issues in our state.”
In addition to KUED Channel 7, KUER would like to thank KUED’s Ken Verdoia and Joe Prokop and data journalist Jeff Severns Guntzel for their hard work and dedication to this project.
KUER 90.1, a charter member of National Public Radio (NPR), broadcasts from the Eccles Broadcast Center at The University of Utah. KUER provides a commercial-free mix of programming to more than 165,000 weekly listeners across eighty percent of the state. KUER and its HD channels can be streamed online at www.kuer.org and with KUER's mobile app for iPhone, iPad, and Android.