H₂OSU is available at http://water.oregonstate.edu/newsletter/.
May 2007

The View from 210

Save these dates: 14-15 June. On those days, COAS and COS are sponsoring a Climate Initiative Workshop at the LaSells Stewart Center. The OSU Climate Research Coordinating Working Group wants to identify climate-related research being conducted at OSU and formulate a vision for a Climate Research Institute to foster interdisciplinary cross-campus research. The aforementioned workshop will be the first step. Input is requested through a one-page “white paper” submitted by individual faculty or faculty groups by 18 May. Nick Pisias of COAS is chair of the group and workshop organizer. A link to the announcement is later in this newsletter. This is an excellent opportunity for us all.

The Snake-Columbia Basin Energy-Water Summit has assumed its final form. It is now The Energy-Water Nexus: Meeting the Energy and Water Needs of the Snake/Columbia River Basin in the 21st Century, A Science and Technology Summit. It will be held June 25-27 at the Red Lion Downtowner in Boise. We have assembled an excellent group of speakers from Canada and the USA. The last day of the Summit will consist of facilitated discussion groups; the outcome will be a “white paper” or “roadmap”. Our Summit is based upon the Energy-Water Nexus meetings held by the DoE in 2005-2006 but is not officially part of that effort. The WWW site has some information and should be fully operational by May 11.

For a synopsis on a similar conference, the recent First Western Forum on Energy and Water Sustainability, see Mary Santelmann’s report later in this newsletter.

Todd Jarvis and I just returned from the 3rd Annual Ground Water Summit in Albuquerque. We both made presentations in my “Many Facets of Transboundary Ground Water” session – he on the “Geopolitical Consequences of Transboundary Ground Water”; my topic was “North American Transnational Ground Water: NAFTA, IJC, and IBWC”. Fortunately, there were not too many economists in the audience during my talk.

The Summit, for the 3rd year in a row, had a session on “Ground Water in Developing Countries”, this time chaired by Dave Sabatini (U of OK) and Vic Heilweil (USGS). Instead of the usual plethora of project-oriented talks, this one had a few different presentations, such as the momentum in the USA to bring clean water and sanitation to the developing world; issues in rural water development; development of a business model to ensure sustainable projects, etc. Ned Breslin of Water For People told of his 16 years in southern Africa, where the failure rate of water projects approached 60%. He also told of groups that consistently had failed (unsustainable) projects in southern Africa, mainly church groups, Peace Corps, and Rotary, among others. Let me add that Ned said that Rotary responded positively to his findings and has taken significant actions to mitigate the failure rate. Breslin also mentioned that Water For People now thinks “programmatically” and not “project-wise”.

Jim Butler, the 2007 National Ground Water Association Darcy Lecturer, gave his talk on ‘What the Heck Are Phreatophytes? A Field Investigation of Ecohydrologic Processes in Stream-Aquifer Systems". Jim, who works at the Kansas Geological Survey, has been studying phreatophytes, especially non-native species, for a number of years. These plants have been the bane of many folks, especially in arid areas, where they are believed to suck huge amounts of water directly from the saturated zone, reducing baseflow. Although his work is continuing, Jim has reached some preliminary conclusions: 1) large invasive phreatophytes (e.g., salt cedar – Tamarix spp.) are not the sole players when it comes to water loss via ET; 2) extermination of phreatophytes such as salt cedar may lead to an immediate 30-40% “gain” in ground water, but that gain decreases with time because other plants take their place; 3) salt cedar seems better able to cope with extreme drought than native phreatophytes, as its roots can “follow” the falling water table. He posited that an organized effort to increase streamflow by destroying large numbers of invasive phreatophytes may not produce the desired results, and is an example of “policy leading the science”. He cited one case of a flyer produced by a well-known land-grant university warning that an individual salt cedar plant may use up to 200 gallons per day, when in fact the figure is far less. So much for “anecdotal science.”

A new group, based in Canada, has appeared on the “hydrophilanthropy” scene: Hydrogeologists Without Borders. HWB’s first newsletter came out in March .

And speaking of the above, here’s a repeat item from last month: Dave Sabatini and I will be moderating a special session on “Hydrophilanthropy” at the AWRA conference in November. Abstracts for the conference, regardless of the session, are due 14 May; read more on the AWRA Web site or visit the IWW Calendar.

Till next month,
Michael

Meeting Reports from Faculty

The First Western Forum on Energy and Water Sustainability, March 22-23, 2007, Donald Bren School of the Environment, UC Santa Barbara - Mary Santelmann (Water Resources Graduate Program) attended this gathering along with representatives from state and federal agencies, the power industry, national laboratories, and academic institutions. Mary reports, "the first session set the stage, identifying the serious concerns over water and energy sustainability facing the West, and the strong linkage between energy and water, the “water-energy nexus”. Case studies on improving water and energy use efficiency were then presented, with many examples from California and Arizona. Keynote speaker John Geesman, California Energy Commissioner, noted that about 20% of energy used in California is used to provide water. Increased use of best management practices to conserve, provide and use water efficiently could help meet the energy and water needs of the California (whose population is projected to double by 2040), while complying with new requirements for independence from imported fuels and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. I was struck by the difference between this forum and similar meetings in the Pacific Northwest. Presentations focused on meeting human water and energy needs, with little or no discussion of watershed planning, endangered species issues, or what might be done to influence projected trends in population growth that drive the increased need for water and energy. I look forward to the next forum and hope that we will be able to broaden the scope of the discussion and the potential approaches to achieving energy and water sustainability in the West." Link to more of Mary's summary.

Symposium on Modeling of Dams, April 11-13th, 2007, Stevenson, WA - Desiree Tullos (Biological and Ecological Engineering), Bryan Tilt (Anthropology), and Aaron Wolf (Geosciences) hosted this international symposium. Deriree reports that "the goal of the meeting was to formalize the state of the science and to document how dam-human-ecosystem relationships are measured, analyzed, and interpreted. The program included talks on biophysical, geopolitical, and socioeconomic drivers and outcomes of dam construction removal. During the final afternoon, participants discussed ways to integrate different disciplinary approaches into a larger conceptual model and ways to create a framework for observing and predicting multidisciplinary effects of dams. Outcomes from the symposium will be compiled in a special issue of the Journal of Environmental Management, expected to be in press by fall of 2008." This symposium was part of a larger NSF-funded grant (PI: Tullos) to model and evaluate the Socio-Ecological Effects of Dams in China. The team of investigators will be visiting the Yunnan Province of China next July (2008) to visit the study sites on the Nu and Mekong Rivers, work intensively with Chinese collaborators, and present preliminary results of the work at an international conference in Kunming.

Law, Science, and the Environment Forum: A Meeting of Minds, April 19-20, 2007, Portland, OR - Gail Achterman (Institute for Natural Resources), and Todd Jarvis (IWW) attended this interactive meeting that was designed to encourage dialogue among lawyers, scientists, and policy specialists. Todd reports that the take home message was, "Not all science is created equal. There is science for the sake of science, science for the sake of policy, science for the courtroom, and "civic science" as defined by Kai Lee in his book Compass and Gyroscope. Lawyers and scientists need to become better communicators when engaging in the pursuit of science so there is no misunderstanding on how science is used, and misused, by the law." Draft papers are available online and podcasts are coming soon -- including the keynote presentation by Peter Gleick (Pacific Institute) on “Sound Science in an Ideological Era.”  The Forum was convened by Dan Rohlf, Professor at Lewis and Clark Law School.

Get Involved

Submit a "white paper" for the OSU Climate Initiative Workshop, to be held June 14-15 at LaSells Stewart Center. The OSU Climate Research Coordinating Working Group is organizing this workshop as a first step toward identifying climate-related research at OSU and formulating a vision for a Climate Research Institute that will foster inter-disciplinary cross-campus research. The OSU community, including federal researchers with OSU courtesy appointments, are invited to submit informal "white papers" which will be used to organize the workshop into thematic sessions and to provide an inventory of climate research at OSU. Deadline for white papers: May 18. FMI: link to the workshop flyer (07OSUclimate.pdf) or contact to Nicklas Pisias, Chair, OSU Climate Research Coordinating Working Group.

Monday, May 14. Abstract deadline for the American Water Resources Association’s Annual Meeting. The IWW's Michael Campana is the General Chair for this meeting and is also helping convene a special session on Hydrophilanthropy. The meeting will be held from November 12-15 in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Upcoming Events

Wednesdays, 4:00 p.m., ALS 4000. Spring Hydrology Seminar Series. Upcoming Speakers: May 9 - Bernard Mayer, University of Calgary; May 16 - Mike Gooseff, Colorado School of Mines; May 23 - Beth Boyer, University of California, Berkeley; May 30 - Todd Dawson, University of California, Berkeley.

Monday, May 14, 9:00 a.m., Nash Hall 210. Stepping Stones: Restoration of the thermal environment of the Willamette River using a market based approach for conservation and restoration (Monday Morning Stream Team Meeting Seminar). Speakers: Dave Hulse (University of Oregon), Stan Gregory and Randy Wildman (Oregon State University). FMI: Stan Gregory.

Wednesday, May 16, Bend, OR. Small-scale hydroelectric generation in Oregon. This workshop will focus on the development of new small-scale hydroelectric generation (ranging from a few kW to several MW in size) to help meet the Governor’s goal of generating 25 percent of total electricity sales by renewable energy resources in 2025. Registration deadline Wednesday, May 9, 2007.

Link to a calendar of other upcoming water-related events...

Upcoming Funding Opportunities

NSF International Research and Education in Engineering - "This program was initiated by NSF in 2006 to enable early-career researchers - defined as students, post-docs, and assistant & associate professors - to travel to foreign institutions to engage in collaborative research for periods of 3-6 months. All proposals must be submitted as supplement requests to current awards in the Directorate for Engineering at NSF. Faculty advisors, irrespective of rank, are eligible for short visits for program coordination and supervision. Current awardees with expiration dates falling before October 31, 2008 must contact the cognizant program officers at NSF to request a no-cost extension, before submitting the proposals which are due May 29, 2007."

NSF Hydrologic Sciences - "HS focuses on the flow of water and transport processes within streams, soils, and aquifers. Particular attention is given to spatial and temporal heterogeneity of fluxes and storages of water and chemicals over a wide range of scales, to geolimnology and to interfaces with the landscape, microbial communities, and coastal areas. Studies may also deal with processes in aqueous geochemistry and with the physical, chemical, and biological processes within water bodies. Study of these processes requires expertise from many basic sciences and mathematics, and proposals often require joint review with related programs." Anticipated funding is $7,400,000, annually, and 30 to 40 standard or continuing grants per year. Proposals due June 1, 2007.

NSF Research Coordination Networks in Biological Sciences - "The goal of this program is to encourage and foster interactions among scientists to create new research directions or advance a field. Innovative ideas for implementing novel networking strategies are especially encouraged. Groups of investigators will be supported to communicate and coordinate their research, training and educational activities across disciplinary, organizational, institutional, and geographical boundaries. The proposed networking activities should have a theme as a focus of its collaboration. The focus could be on a broad research question, a specific group of organisms, or particular technologies or approaches." Proposals due June 25, 2007.