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February 11, 2008
The View from 210
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It’s that time of year when appropriations requests (aka “earmarks”) are submitted to Congressional delegations all across the USA. Why should we be any different? OSU, along with its Oregon University System partners Portland State University and the University of Oregon, are requesting $1.5 million to fund the Oregon Water Institute (OWI), a consortium of the three OUS research universities. Dr. David Jay (PSU), Dr. Pat McDowell (UO) and I have been working diligently to effectuate the OWI. We are all enthusiastic and optimistic. The brief description of the OWI request is posted on our WWW site.
IWW Associate Director Todd Jarvis is still in the news, this time quoted in the venerable Reader’s Digest, in a very comprehensive article on bottled water. Access to the article is on my blog, WaterWired.
Not to be outdone, I was quoted in the Memphis Commercial-Appeal and interviewed on Mississippi Public Radio about the lawsuit between Mississippi and the City of Memphis’ utility, Memphis, Light, Gas and Water over the latter’s pumping from the Memphis Sand aquifer. Why me? Go figure – undoubtedly because I had no vested interest in the case. I was reminded of a “definition” that was popular in the 1970s: “An expert is someone who comes from more than 500 miles away and has colored transparencies.” Back to the case: Mississippi claims that up to 30% (60 mgd) of the utility’s water comes from beneath Mississippi. It is a $1 billion lawsuit, but it has already been dismissed by a Federal District Court judge, who claimed that jurisdiction rests with the Supreme Court. You can read about it through two posts on my blog (Feb 2 and Feb 5).
On Sunday, February 17, 3 p.m., Dr. Aaron Wolf, will present a "slide trip" down the Jordan River entitled A History of Water Conflict and Cooperation in the Jordan River Watershed and Implications for Current Negotiations. He will examine the historic instances of both political conflict and cooperation between Arabs and Israelis over the scarce water resources, and describe how lessons from this turbulent history might be applied to current Mideast peace negotiations. The talk will be at the First United Methodist Church, 11th and Monroe, in Corvallis. The event is sponsored by the Corvallis-Albany Friends of Middle East Peace, and is free and open to the public.
Don’t forget that nominations for our Diversity and Excellence Graduate scholarships are due February 15. See the information on our WWW site.
Dr. Julia Jones has assembled an extraordinary group of speakers for our Spring Speaker Series. We will have information available shortly.
Dr. Mary Santelmann has announced the annual open house for the Water Resources Graduate Program: Wednesday, February 27, 2008 from 9:00 am to 4:00 p.m. in the Memorial Union, Suite 109. Be there.
The abstract deadline for the IWW-co-sponsored International Conference on Nonrenewable Ground Water has been extended until March 7, 2008. The meeting will be in Portland, October 13-14, 2008; an optional one-day field trip will be on October 15. Consider submitting an abstract. Note that the term “fossil ground water” is sometimes used as a synonym for “nonrenewable ground water”.
The IWW-OWRD one-day symposium (February 28, 2008) on Aquifer Storage and Recovery and Artificial Recharge in Oregon is almost here. There is a link to the registration page in the top right-hand corner of the IWW home page. David Pyne is the keynoter and we may have a visit from Dr. Catherine “Cat” Shrier, an ASR expert and member of the committee that recently published the excellent National Research Council (NRC) report, Prospects for Managed Underground Storage of Recoverable Water. Cat will talk about a Managed Underground Storage Policy Forum in Washington, DC, March 19, sponsored by the NRC.
Last month I mentioned visiting Drs. Leslie Bach and Jenny Brown at The Nature Conservancy’s office in Portland where we discussed ground-water dependent ecosystems (GWDEs). The report to which I alluded has been released: Groundwater and Biodiversity Conservation: A Methods Guide for Integrating Groundwater Needs of Ecosystems and Species into Conservation Plans in the Pacific Northwest. I have also posted on my blog copies of two papers presented at the IAH Groundwater and Ecosystems conference in Lisbon, Portugal: one by Jenny and the other by R.S. Brodie et al., describing the mapping of GWDEs in a fractured basalt aquifer in Australia.
Salmon restoration in Nevada? Say what? I worked in Nevada for over 12 years and don’t recall hearing “salmon” and “Nevada” in the same sentence. But then again, most of my work there was in the central and southern parts of the state, dealing with regional ground water flow and underground nuclear testing. But salmon? Actually, there were salmon in the Nevada streams that are within the Columbia-Snake Basin in the northern part of the state. As far back as the 19th century Nevada law required fish ladders on all dams, but it was the downstream dams in Oregon and Idaho that sounded the death knell. The last salmon disappeared from Nevada when the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation closed the gates on Owyhee Dam on the Owyhee River in 1932. But efforts are underway to restore the salmon; the current (February 4) issue of the High Country News has an article about the efforts of Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV), the Senate’s majority leader, to restore salmon. Reid wants the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to deny license renewal to Idaho Power Company unless its Hells Canyon dams provide fish passage. In terms of the broader Columbia-Snake Basin fisheries and related issues, reporter Ken Olsen suggests that Nevada and Reid may become players. I have posted more information and a link to the story on my blog.
Finally, here’s a novel solution to a water shortage: simply annex part of another state to give you access to a large river. That’s the aim of two bills introduced in both the Georgia Senate and House. Both Sen. David Shafer (R-Duluth) and Rep. Harry Geisinger (R-Roswell) claim a flawed 1818 survey gave land bordering the Tennessee River to Tennessee. Now they want it back, so Georgia can have access to one of the largest rivers in the Southeast. Perhaps we Westerners could learn a thing or two about “water wars” from our Southeastern counterparts. Read more on my blog.
I can’t top that. Till next month,
Michael
“Blame no one. Expect nothing. Do something.” – sign in the New York Giants’ locker room
Todd Jarvis and Bottled Water
Associate Director Todd Jarvis spent January 11 with the "Conservation Crew" composed of fifth graders at Ashbrook Independent School in Corvallis discussing Bottled Water and the Environment. An in-class "taste test" between Corvallis tap water and a few of Oregon's bottled waters revealed that the bottled waters derived from the Willamette River are the best tasting, with bottled water from a deep basalt well in northeastern Oregon and distributed by Wal-Mart coming in a close second. He was also quoted in the February edition of Reader's Digest on bottled water. If you find yourself in Memphis, Tennessee between March 30 and April 3, join him at the National Ground Water Association Ground Water Summit where he will moderate presentations on bottled water by Dr. Francis Chapelle of the USGS and author of Wellsprings - the Natural History of Bottled Spring Waters, the International Bottled Water Association, Jim Wilfong, Director of H2O for ME, a former Maine legislator, Clinton Administration trade official and businessman for H20 for ME, and Kristin Lee, economist with ECONorthwest who will discuss the McCloud, California bottled water project.
Featured Project: Measuring Meltwater from Mount Hood's Glaciers
Mount Hood is the tallest mountain in Oregon and six of its eleven glaciers feed into the five irrigation districts in Hood River Valley. Mount Hood’s glaciers have receded up to 61% in the past century and are projected to continue decreasing with further climate warming. Water managers in the Hood River basin have long thought that the glaciers contributed a significant amount of water to local streams in the late summer when other water sources are minimal and needs are highest. However, the glaciers cover only a tiny portion of the entire basin. Until recently, the glacier meltwater contribution was unknown because it had never been measured.
Jeff Phillippe, Anne Nolin, and Sarah Lewis (all from Oregon State University) and Anne Jefferson (from the University of North Carolina-Charlotte) set out to measure stream discharge and use isotope tracers to quantify meltwater contributions from the Eliot and Coe glaciers to the Upper Middle Fork of the Hood River. The results were surprising in that 87% of the water from the lower Eliot and Coe creeks is derived from the glaciers during August, the warmest and driest time of the year. Further downstream, the Upper Middle Fork of the Hood River is composed of 74% glacier meltwater. While this proportion decreases during the wet season, it is significant because it represents a key component of discharge that will likely change under global warming conditions. Phillippe and Nolin are beginning the second phase of the project, which is to use a computer model to estimate streamflow for future climate projections when the glaciers would be much smaller. Based on related work in snow-dominated watersheds, they anticipate that late summer streamflows from the glaciers will be reduced and that peak flows will shift to an earlier date. Stay tuned!
This project was also featured in a February 11th Oregonian story. Link to the story online...
Get Involved
Participate in the Water Resources Graduate Program Open House on Wednesday February 27th! Prospective students, the academic community, alumni, the WRGP external advisory board and potential employers are all invited to attend. Graduate students may submit a poster for the poster competition ($100 prize). It will be held in the Memorial Union, Room 109. Contact WRGP Director Mary Santelmann for more information.
Jeff McDonnell writes..."Sick of Cabo? Tired of Maui? Want an alternative to those boring non-hydro Spring Break destinations? Field Hydrology (FE 538) will run again this year over Spring Break (Mar 23-29). It's a great chance to knock off 3 credits in an intense, fun, hands-on environment at the HJ Andrews Experimental Forest. You will learn how to program data loggers, develop a snow course, work with snow pillow data, conduct steady-state stream tracer experiments, measure groundwater-streamflow interactions, measure soil hydraulic properties, set-up a met station and compute a surface energy balance (among other things). The course is limited to an enrollment of 15 (and always fills!) so register early if interested." FMI: Jeff McDonnell, Forest Engineering.
Upcoming Events
Wednesdays, 4:00-5:30 p.m., OSU Memorial Union, Room 208 (the La Raza Room). IWW Winter 2008 Water Film Series - The series features films on rivers and topics from around the world. View the schedule online or contact Todd Jarvis for more information.
Sunday, February 17, 3:00 p.m. Corvallis First United Methodist Church, 11th and Monroe. A History of Water Conflict and Cooperation in the Jordan River Watershed and Implications for Current Negotiations. Speaker: Dr. Aaron Wolf, OSU Geosciences. He will examine the historic instances of both political conflict and cooperation between Arabs and Israelis over the scarce water resources, and describes how lessons from this turbulent history might be applied to current Mideast peace negotiations. The event is sponsored by the Corvallis-Albany Friends of Middle East Peace, and is free and open to the public. FMI: valgal@riseup.net.
Wednesday, February 27th, 109 Memorial Union. OSU Water Resources Graduate Program Open House.
Thursday, February 28, OSU LaSells Stewart Center. Aquifer Storage and Recovery and Artificial Recharge in Oregon: Overcoming Technical, Regulatory, and Social Challenges. International, national, state, and local experts will assemble for a one-day symposium to examine obstacles and opportunities for ASR/AR in Oregon. Convened by the OSU Institute for Water and Watersheds and the Oregon Water Resources Department.
Thursday, February 28 7:00 p.m., Gilfillan Auditorium, OSU. A Legal Paradigm for Protecting Land and Natural Resources for Future Generations (Ideas Matter Lecture Series). Speaker: Mary Wood, Environmental Law, University of Oregon, author or Nature’s Trust: A Legal Paradigm for Protecting Land and Natural Resources for Future Generations. Part of series titled, "Who Owns the Sky? ~ The Tragedy or Triumph of the Commons".
Funding Opportunities for Students
2008-2009 IWW Diversity and Excellence Graduate Scholarships for Water and Watershed Research - The purpose of these awards is to assist in the recruitment and retention of highly qualified graduate students to OSU, particularly targeting students from under-represented groups or who have had multicultural experiences. These one-year awards of up to $15,000 will be made to incoming or current graduate students through a competitive process. Advisors nominating students for the IWW D&E Scholarship must commit to providing equivalent support for one additional year for master’s students and for two additional years for doctoral students. Advisors nominating current students for the IWW Graduate Scholarship must provide evidence that the student has received at least one year’s support from the advisor or advisor’s department and will face hardship without the support of the IWW Graduate Scholarship. Up to three awards will be made this year. Nominations due February 15, 2008.
Udall Environmental Public Policy & Conflict Resolution Ph.D. Fellowship - The Udall Foundation awards two one-year fellowships of up to $24,000 to doctoral candidates whose research concerns U.S. environmental public policy and/or environmental conflict resolution and who are entering their final year of writing the dissertation. Fellowships are intended to cover both academic and living expenses from July 1, 2008 through June 30, 2009. Applications due: February 21, 2008.
National Sea Grant John A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship - This program provides a unique educational experience to students enrolled in graduate programs in fields related to marine or Great Lakes studies. The program matches highly qualified graduate students with hosts in the legislative branch, the executive branch, or appropriate associations and institutions located in the Washington, D.C. area. Recipients spend one year working on substantive national policy issues related to marine issues; a stipend is provided. Applications due: February 28, 2008.
Virginia Tech NSF-REU Undergraduate Research Fellowships in Watershed Sciences and Engineering -
This is the second year of a 10-week summer program. Successful applicants will join one of the ongoing research projects in water environment sciences and engineering at Virginia Tech and conduct individual research under the supervision of one or more faculty member/s. FMI: Dr. Tamim Younos (tyounos@vt.edu). Applications due: March 1, 2008.
National Water Research Institute Fellowships - Fellowships of up to $10,000 a year support master's or doctoral graduate research related to water treatment technologies, water quality, water environmental chemistry, water policy and economics, public health and risk assessment, water resources management. The deadline to apply is March 1, 2008.
OSU Undergraduate Research, Innovation, Scholarship & Creativity Summer Grants - The URISC Fund is intended to enable undergraduate students to initiate a scholarly relationship with faculty early in their academic careers. Awards are made to support scholarly, creative, and research activities and can support student wages, travel and some other expenses. For the summer program, the Research Office will provide 60% of the total budget request to a maximum of $1,800. Proposals due Monday, March 3, 2008.
National Council for Science and the Environment (NCSE) Internships - Preference is given to students or graduates of NCSE's University Affiliate institutions. Internships last 3 months and are occasionally extended to 6 months. Internships carry a stipend of $1,400/month except for interns on "Semester in Washington" programs for which they receive academic credit. The deadline for applications is March 31, 2008.
Funding Opportunities for Faculty
Two opportunities from the Subsurface Biosphere Initiative - Graduate Fellowships for Incoming Students and Summer 2008 Undergraduate Interships - The graduate fellowships are for $5,000 and are intended to help faculty attract highly qualified graduate students interested in subsurface biosphere research. The awards can be used to supplement financial offers such as TA's and GRA's. Candidates nominated prior to February 15, 2008, will be given first priority. The Undergraduate Internships provide up to $3000 to help faculty cover the costs of a summer intern. The program focuses on, but is not limited to, under-represented minority and women students. Applications for internships are now being accepted and will be reviewed on receipt. For more information about these programs, contact Garrett.Jones@oregonstate.edu.
NOAA Environmental Literacy Grants for K-12 Education - Funded projects will be between 1 and 5 years in duration and will promote changes in K-12 education to expand the amount of Earth System Science taught in the classroom and improve student learning and application of that subject. Projects are encouraged to incorporate NOAA data, data visualizations, and resources and to further the use of Earth System Science concepts related to NOAA's mission goals. Projects are also encouraged to collaborate with NOAA entities as partners and/or connect to projects previously funded by NOAA's Environmental Literacy Grants. Pre-proposals are required and are due Wednesday, February 20, 2008. Full proposals are due Wednesday, June 25, 2008.
National Water Research Institute Research Projects - NWRI Research Areas: water quality assessment, treatment and monitoring, knowledge management, exploratory research. The average NWRI-supported research project has had an annual budget of approximately $100K and a 1:1 match is required. Proposals due: March 1, 2008 and September 1, 2008.
NSF Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental, and Transport Systems (CBET) - Environmental Sustainability - This program supports engineering research that seeks to balance society’s need to provide ecological protection and maintain stable economic conditions. Research is encouraged to advance the next generation of water and wastewater treatment that will decrease material and energy use, consider new paradigms for delivery of services, and promote longer life for engineered systems. Other activities of interest include:
- Advancing engineering methods to promote smart growth strategies,
- Integrating economic development and protection of natural resources,
- Regenerating ecological functions of degraded environments,
- Understanding how large complex environmental systems behave, and
- Developing effective principles for adaptive management of such systems.
Proposals due March 1, 2008.
Water Reuse in 2030 (WRF-06-017) - The overarching goals of the project are to anticipate and forecast the global challenges which will confront water reuse over the next two decades and, by doing so, facilitate long-range planning and the conduct of appropriate research. The project will be organized to address the future challenges of water reuse both at a more global level and at the more specific U.S. level. The maximum amount of funding available is $110,000 and requires a 25% match which may consist of an in-kind contribution. Proposals are due March 17, 2008.
OSU Research Equipment Reserve Fund - RERF may be used to acquire, repair, renovate, or improve equipment directly used for research. The equipment may be inventoried capital equipment =>$5,000 per unit, fabricated capitalized equipment, or minor equipment costing less than $5,000 per unit which lasts at least two years. Award amounts vary. Each application must show at least 20% cost sharing from the department, college, or other funds. The Research Office has budgeted approximately $125,000 for the 2007-08 Spring solicitation. Proposals due Monday, March 17, 2008.
A list of additional water-related external funding opportunities is available on the IWW Web site.
H2OSU is a periodic e-mail news briefing provided by the Institute for Water and Watersheds. It is distributed through the OSU Hydro Email lists and the Oregon Water List (http://water.oregonstate.edu/news/email_lists.htm). Questions, comments and ideas for news briefs may be sent to the IWW at iww@oregonstate.edu. More news from the IWW is available at http://water.oregonstate.edu/news/index.htm.