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Graphic representing the Arizona Water Awareness Month Festival

Arizona’s biggest water-awareness festival returns in April at Phoenix’s beautiful Steele Indian School Park

Published
April 1, 2026
Steele Indian School Park - Photo Courtesy of PLACE Landscape Architecture

Everything considered, the 2026 Arizona Water Awareness Month Festival coming up April 11 at Steele Indian School Park could not have come at a more appropriate time. The importance of water awareness in the Southwest – and in Arizona in particular – has rarely been more acute.

The Water Awareness Month Festival will be celebrating Arizona’s most vital resource from 10 am to 2 pm at the beautiful Steele Indian School Park. The festival is sponsored by the Arizona Department of Water Resources and the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality.

Billed as the largest water celebration of the year, the festival aims to educate the public on local water resources, water quality, and conservation in a festive environment.

This year’s WAM Festival comes at a particularly challenging time where water in the American West is concerned. The region continues to be engulfed in long-term drought with the hydrology on the Colorado River system at perhaps record lows and many rural regions of Arizona beset with increasing groundwater challenges.

As it has in years past, the WAM Festival will include numerous educational exhibits, including hands-on activities exploring Arizona's geology and aquifers. In addition, there will be kid-friendly games, water trivia, and contests with prizes and giveaways.

Steele Indian School Park - the location for the Water Awareness Month Festival 2026. Image courtesy of City of Phoenix.

The festival also will feature live music and a diverse selection of food vendors throughout the park. The festival brings together a variety of organizations, businesses, and government agencies to showcase best practices in water use.

The event is entirely free and open to the public, making it an accessible way for families to learn how to make every drop count while enjoying one of Phoenix's premier green spaces.

Steele Indian School Park features multiple, free, parking lots and accessible street parking. The main entrance is off Central Ave north of Indian School Road, with additional access points on 3rd Street and Indian School Road. Visitors can also use the Light Rail system, exiting at Central/Indian School.

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