March 10, 2009

For more newsletters, visit the H₂OSU index: http://water.oregonstate.edu/newsletter/.

Climate Change, Adaptation, and Fiscal Responsibility. Jerry Sehlke, AWRA President, has a nice post on the AWRA blog, Managing Water Resources Development in a Changing Climate. Part of the post deals with two of AWRA’s upcoming conferences, but what struck me was his final paragraph:

Finally, as water resources professionals and as good citizens, I believe that we should insist on fiscally responsible programs and activities that adequately fund those tasks are prudent and necessary, but that guard against the wasteful use of funding and resources during these times of economic crisis. By promoting open, rigorous, transparent, balanced, research and discussions, and by being open and honest decisionmakers and implementers, I believe that we can help the U.S. develop coherent, scientifically based water resources policies and programs to take advantage of the opportunities and to adapt to the challenges poised by climate change in the future.

Although Jerry was not referring specifically to the stimulus package – ooops, I mean the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act - his words are applicable to that program as well. Although the USA’s economy is in dire straits the thought of ‘stimulus money’ and the like is causing many, including yours truly, to drool like Pavlov’s dogs. The prospect of all kinds of money flooding the country is just too much to resist. Much money will be for water projects. We need to be sure that we don’t forget Jerry’s words.

Requiem for the AWI. The Arizona Water Institute, a novel experiment in trying to get three state universities to “play nice” and work to address Arizona’s water issues, will cease to exist on 1 July 2009. Shaun McKinnon of Waterblogged and the Arizona Republic put it thusly:    

In recent years, the Arizona Legislature has thumbed its collective nose at attempts to fix the state's broken water laws and address resource management. Now lawmakers apparently want to make sure no one else tries to think too much about the issue.

One of the casualties of the recent blood-letting among state-funded programs was the Arizona Water Institute, an inventive consortium of the state's three universities that was coming into its own with new approaches to old problems.

If we were the cynical sort, we'd say the AWI had a big ol' target on it as soon as Republican lawmakers knew they were getting an ally [Republican Gov. Jan Brewer]in the executive office. The Institute was a pet project of former Gov. Janet Napolitano, whose pet projects are being retired to the pet cemetery one by one. The AWI's tight link to the universities, who took deep cuts in all their programs, also didn't help.

The AWI was based at the University of Arizona and run by Kathy Jacobs, one of the state's best water gurus. Its work didn't grab the sort of headlines as, say, the Mars explorer or the genomics breakthroughs, but its researchers were doing work no one else is.

The AWI served as model for some of us. An attempt to form a similar institute was unsuccessful in New Mexico, and here, a bottom-up effort to create an Oregon Water Institute had good support, but we were excised from the state budget.

No one worries about Kathy Jacobs. She’ll land on her feet. Unfortunately, the AWI will be buried.

NAWQA Redux. The USGS’s National Water Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program is about to enter its third decade. Since my friends inside the Beltway at the NRC’s Water Science and Technology Board felt some of us had too much time on our hands, they decided to form a committee to assess the program and make recommendations. This will be my third NAWQA evaluation committee in twenty years, so I guess someone liked what I previously wrote. I suspect it’ll be my last such committee. Don Siegel of Syracuse University, the world-renowned Chinese-Kosher chef (true – could I make that up?), will chair the committee. Jennifer Field of OSU’s Department of Environmental and Molecular Toxicology will also serve. Siegel and I will once again attempt to swing a meeting in Puerto Rico during the winter. Now that I’m in western Oregon, that venue is more appealing than ever.

New Water Blogs. Always things happening in the water blogosphere. In the last month I’ve discovered three water blogs I can recommend. Gayle Leonard’s Thirsty in Suburbia originates from the Kansas City area. She is a copywriter, marketer, and web developer with a decidedly different and refreshing perspective on water. Bruce K. Darling’s Southwest Water Economics just started and emanates from Austin in the Lone Star State. Bruce will hold forth on water economics, rights, and management. Finally, Daniel Collins, a Kiwi by way of MIT and one of the first waterbloggers, has restarted his blog and now has Cr!key Creek. If the first few posts are any indication, we’re in for a great ride. Give all three a read. You can see a slew of great water blogs in one place at http://water.alltop.com.

All A-Twitter These Days. Funny how one day you think something is the most useless, asinine tool ever developed by humankind, then the next day you wonder how you did without it. Such is the case with Twitter, to which I succumbed about a month ago. We all know it was originally designed to let your friends know what you’re doing throughout the day. Just what we need, right? But it has since turned into a device for notifying people of events, news items, useful links, etc. Sure, there is still a ton of narcissism (!!), but there is a lot of good stuff as well. I am using it mainly to provide links to stories and other items I think are informative, but don’t want to blog about. You can find me at http://twitter.com/waterwired. I also have my ten most recent tweets (updates) on WaterWired. Since Twitter s free, there is a lot of crap (but not my stuff, of course).

Open-Access Journals. Open-access journals are proliferating faster than weeds (no denigration intended). Not everyone is happy with this trend. Would you believe publishers? Last month Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) reintroduced his Fair Copyright in Research Works Act. It would repeal the open-access policy at NIH and prevent similar open-access policies at all Federal agencies.

Fifth World Water Forum . I will be heading to Istanbul for the Fifth World Water Forum. It’ll be interesting and should provide fodder for some humorous posts. Certainly the ministerial declaration should.

Whither the IWW? Many of you have inquired about what the future holds for the IWW. Although the IWW cannot (presumably) meet the same fate as the AWI – we get no money from the legislature – the IWW is in for some changes. Our five-year financial commitment from the Provost’s Office ends on 30 June 2009. We will have to make some changes because we won’t have the funds available.

One component of the IWW that needs to be preserved is the IWW Collaboratory. The Director, Kathy Motter, has done an amazing job assembling a high-quality analytical laboratory that serves the OSU community and beyond. There are other analytical labs on campus, but the Collaboratory provides a friendly, open atmosphere where help (Kathy) is always available. Students have found it a particularly welcoming place. We must ensure that it thrives.

The faculty will be discussing options and proposals. All I can say is…stay tuned. But the landscape will be different after 30 June.

Till next month,

Michael

"The Rio Grande is the only river I ever saw that needed irrigation." – Will Rogers

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To Jay Zarnetske, graduate student in Water Resources Science. Jay received the Outstanding Student Paper in Hydrology award at the fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union for his project entitled, "Hyporheic denitrification in an upland agricultural stream: A 15N tracer study". Jay is co-advised by Roy Haggerty (Geosciences), Steve Wondzell (USFS), Vrushali Bokil (Mathematics) and is part of the Ecosystem Informatics IGERT program. Jay is this month's featured researcher - so look below for more information about Jay's research.

To Danielle Jansik, graduate student in Environmental Engineering. Danielle has been awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to study "Colloid Transport in Unsaturated Porous Media under Transient Flow Conditions" in Denmark next year. Danielle's thesis advisor is Dorthe Wildenschild (Environmental Engineering). Read more about Danielle's work in the January issue of H₂OSU - she was the featured researcher that month.

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Film examines Umatilla Basin water issues, solutions OSU student’s project premiers here Saturday (The East Oregonian, 2/25/08) - This weekend, Pendleton will have its first showing of the documentary film about water issues in the Umatilla Basin. Oregon State University English grad student Sarah Sheldrick has been working on her film, "Water Before Anything" for more than a year. It had its first showing on Jan. 7 in Corvallis. Since then she's ironed out the kinks and is ready to show a finished film to its target audience. "I think I'm just finishing this week," she said Tuesday. "It'll be hot off the presses for Pendleton."

Peace in the pipeline (viewpoint by Aaron Wolf, Annika Kramer, Alexander Carius and Geoffrey Dabelko) (BBC News, 2/13/09) - "Water wars are coming!" the newspaper headlines scream. It seems obvious; rivalries over water have been the source of disputes since humans settled down to cultivate food. Even our language reflects these ancient roots: "rivalry" comes from the Latin rivalis, or "one using the same river as another". As the number of international river basins and impact of water scarcity has grown, so do the warnings that countries will take up arms to ensure access to water. In 1995, for example, World Bank Vice President Ismail Serageldin famously claimed that "the wars of the next century will be about water," a sentiment echoed regularly ever since. These apocalyptic warnings fly in the face of history. No nations have gone to war specifically over water resources for thousands of years; the only documented case of war with such a specific cause was between the city states of Lagash and Umma on the Tigris River 4,500 years ago.

Once and Future King - Salmon could rebound if we’re willing to pay the price (Terra, Winter 2009) - Meriwether Lewis and William Clark were early witnesses to the majesty that is the salmon in the Pacific Northwest. When the explorers first came upon the confluence of the Yakima and Columbia rivers, they observed a scene that was both confusing and awe-inspiring. Wrote Clark: "This river is remarkably Clear and Crouded with Salmon in manye places and I observe in assending great numbers of Salmon dead on the Shores, floating on the water and in the Bottoms which can be seen at the debth of 20 feet." Lewis and Clark may not have known about the wondrous life cycle of the salmon, but the aboriginal peoples of the Pacific Northwest certainly did. Salmon provided an abundant and predictable protein source that was cured, smoked and dried. It provided sustenance through bone-chilling winters and was traded to inland tribes for obsidian or other goods. More than two-dozen scientists in four OSU colleges and colleagues in state and federal agencies are studying the salmon life-cycle. Their work is generating a rare feeling about the future of this Northwest treasure. It is called hope. The following stories suggest what it will take for this symbol of the Northwest to thrive.

Wired Watershed: Fiberoptics bring new precision to ecosystem sensing (Terra, Winter 2009) - High-tech science got a lift last summer from a curiously low-tech device: a potato launcher. Puzzling over the best way to string fiberoptic cable through dense, old-growth canopy, OSU scientists devised a "canon" with an air-compression gun and fishing line weighted by a starchy tuber. From a 100-foot research tower in Oregon's H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest, a research assistant spent an afternoon in June launching lengths of Swiss-made cable through towering boughs of Douglas fir and big-leaf maple. "We needed a projectile with a mass sufficient to place the line, something that would not be hazardous and would not light the forest on fire," explains OSU researcher John Selker. "We tried everything - bows and arrows, slingshots. In the end, we were shooting organic, biodegradable potatoes around the forest."

Scientists use NASA technology to measure the consequences of global climate change (Oregon's Agricultural Progress, Winter 2009) Who knew that technology developed for space would end up being the best tools to study ecosystems here on Earth? John Selker got it early on. As a professor of biological and ecological engineering at Oregon State University, he’s been pioneering the use of NASA spinoffs like sensors, wireless, and fiber optics to measure both natural and managed earth-bound environments. His real mission now, he says, is to find new and better ways to apply these spiffy technologies in his own work, and for other researchers, educators, and information-providing businesses.

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Jay on the Galbraith Lake aufeis, Gates of the Arctic National Park, North Slope, Arctic Alaska.

Jay Zarnetske is a Ph.D. student in Water Resources Sciences and the NSF-IGERT Ecosystem Informatics program.  For his dissertation work, he is investigating how water moving into and out of stream sediments (hyporheic exchange) controls stream nitrogen - a key nutrient and pollutant in aquatic ecosystems. In the last 100 years, activities such as excess fertilizer application have more than doubled the biologically available amount of nitrogen on the surface of the Earth. As a result, problems such as eutrophication and hypoxia are occurring across the globe at increasing rates. Jay’s hope is that a better understanding of how watersheds process and filter nutrients will help improve water resources management.

Jay recently received the Outstanding Student Paper in Hydrology award at the fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union for a poster related to his dissertation research. The poster described the use of a stable isotope tracer (15N) to directly observe nitrogen dynamics through the hyporheic zone of an upland agricultural stream in the Willamette Valley, Oregon.  This experiment clearly demonstrates that much of the nitrogen entering the hyporheic zone is denitrified - the nitrogen is removed from the aquatic system via microbial activity in the stream sediments.

Prior to coming to Oregon State, Jay worked as a consulting hydrogeologist on hazardous groundwater remediation projects around the United States. More recently, he received a Masters degree in Watershed Sciences at Utah State where he worked with an interdisciplinary research group of hydrologists, ecologists, geomorphologists, and geophysicists. They studied how a warming Arctic climate is affecting the morphology and ecosystem functions of headwater streams underlain by rapidly melting permafrost. Both Jay’s experience as a practicing hydrogeologist and stream researcher have left him with a deep appreciation for the urgency and complexity of water resource problems and the value of interdisciplinary collaborations and effective communication in addressing water issues.

For more information on Jay’s background, research, and publications please visit his Web page http://oregonstate.edu/~zarnetsj/ or email him directly at zarnetsj@geo.oregonstate.edu.

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30 Faculty Members Gather to Discuss the Future of OSU Water. John Selker (Biological and Ecological Engineering) facilitated a meeting held on 27 February 2009 to discuss issues central to future of water programs at OSU. John distributed notes from the meeting in a follow up email -- below are excerpts from his summary.

Approximately 30 members of the community gathered for two hours. Following an update on OSU’s current academic and research programs, the meeting addressed four current questions seen as central to the future of the effort:

1. How can OSU better support multi-investigator proposal development?
2. How can we more adequately support "soft money" investigators?
3. Are the courses working? What needs adjustment in the academic program?
4. What should be in the post-June 30, 2009 OSU Water Center?

Following the conversation it was agreed that it would be a good practice to have regular meetings of the water faculty to remedy known problems, proactively adjust the program in light of changes in the overall academic environment, and layout strategic directions for growth.

The participants thought that twice yearly two hour meetings would be a place to start.  These will be scheduled immediately before the Fall and Spring Hydrology BBQs, so this Spring’s meeting will be 1-3 PM June 3.  Prior to this meeting the Water Resources Graduate Program Curriculum Committee, under Mary Santelmann’s care, will start to develop a proposal for adjustments to the Curriculum.  Michael Campana proposes that he will shepherd, via the IWW executive committee, the development of an IWW-follow-on strategy.  Both of these teams will be diligent in seeking and incorporating community input.

Peter Huntoon admires the model in its new home.

Oregon State University’s “Hydraulic Connection” to the Colorado River. During the course of cleaning and moving retired civil engineering professor Dr. Pete Klingeman’s massive hydrologic library, a remarkable find reminiscent of public television's Antiques Roadshow was uncovered -  a miniature working model of the Hoover Dam.  Pete indicated that the cast aluminum model was at OSU when he arrived in the 1960s, and little else was known about it, except that it was pretty neat!  The model was moved to the IWW offices until it was “discovered” by Dr. Peter Huntoon, a regular guest lecturer at OSU and retired hydrology professor and historian from Boulder City, Nevada. Peter indicated that the Boulder City/Hoover Dam Museum did not have the model in their collection.  In the spirit of sharing Oregon’s “water wealth” with a neighboring state, OSU made a gift of the Hoover Dam model to the museum and it is now on display. The attribution in the display offers the following history: 

In the spring of 1935, Denver sculptor Gladys Caldwell Fisher (1906-1952) was commissioned by Hosek Manufacturing to design a model of the soon-to-be-completed Hoover Dam.  The models commemorated what was then the most remarkable engineering project of the 20th century.  Cast in aluminum, the models were sold commercially to the public; how many were made and sold is not known.

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Tuesday, March 10, 7-9p.m., Corvallis-Benton County Public Library. Who's Tending the Tap? Water Resources in Oregon. Contact: Corrine Gobeli, 745-7736 or gobelie(at)comcast.net. Co-sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Corvallis and the Corvallis-Benton County Public Library.

Sunday, March 22 - Saturday, March 28. FE538 Field Hydrology. An intense, hands-on field course held at the HJ Andrews Experimental Forest. Students 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 so register early if interested. There will be an organizational meeting on March 6 (4-5pm, Peavy 004) for those planning to take the course. Led by Jeff McDonnell, Department of Forest Engineering, Resources and Management.

Monday, March 30 - Wednesday, April 1, Silverton, Oregon. Soak It Up: phytotechnology solutions for water challenges. Phytotechnology is the strategic use of plants to provide ecosystem services and solve environmental challenges in managed landscapes. This year’s conference will focus on plant-based solutions for both stormwater and wastewater challenges. Register before March 9 for the early discount! $290 includes all materials, speakers, meals, and breaks, even dinner on Tuesday.

Wednesday, April 15, OSU Memorial Union. 10th Symposium of the H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest. The theme is LTER6: Using Innovative Approaches and Long Term Research to Address Complex Socio-Ecological Questions. Oral Presentations will be from 9 a.m.-12 p.m. Poster presentations will be from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. The event, hosted by the Andrews Forest LTER and is free and open to the public. To submit a poster abstract, go to: http://andrewsforest.oregonstate.edu and search for ‘symposium’ or contact Travis Roth or Claire Phillips. Abstract deadline is April 1.

Monday, April 20 - Thursday, April 23, Shelton, Wa. New Science for Managing Uncertainty in Fisheries (Washington/British Columbia Chapter of the American Fisheries Society). Sessions on topics such as: Fish Tracking/Tagging, Biological uncertainties associated with hydropower, Remote Sensing and Fisheries, Impact of Toxics on Fish Health, Climate Change, Salmonids, and Habitat.

Friday, May 1. Deadline to submit an abstract for the first International Water Technologies for Emerging Regions Conference. The conference will be held October 26-27 in Norman, Oklahoma. It will bring together participants from multiple groups responding to the UN Millenium Development Goals focused on bringing water and sanitation to remote villages in developing countries. Water and sanitation experts from academia, industry, NGOs, government, and foundations are invited to participate. Participants from developing countries are especially encouraged to attend; a limited number of travel assistance scholarships will be available for international participants.

Monday, May 11 - Thursday, May 14, Portland, Oregon. Fifth National Conference for Nonpoint Source and Stormwater Outreach. Sponsored by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Department of Agriculture's Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service National Water Program. The theme of the conference is "Achieving Results with Tight Budgets."

Read about more upcoming events on the IWW's calendar.

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Sigma Xi Student Research Grants. Grants of up to $1,000 to support undergraduate and graduate student research in any field of science and engineering. International students and non-U.S. citizens are encouraged to apply. Proposals due March 15, 2009.

2009 Synthesis Summer Institute - Hosted by City College of New York from June 15 to July 26, 2009 and organized by The Northeast Consortium for Hydrologic Synthesis. This year's Institute will address regional-scale changes to human-water interactions arising during the 19th century in the Northeast U.S. Major themes will include the national westward expansion and the Industrial Revolution. Students chosen to participate in the Institute will be provided a $3500 stipend and housing in the Upper West Side of New York City. Graduate students and exceptional undergraduate students from the hydrologic and affiliated sciences are encouraged to apply by March 31, 2009.

National Ground Water Research and Educational Foundation Len Assante Undergraduate Scholarships . The scholarships are awarded to young people in ground water-related fields. Applications due April 1, 2009.

Summer 2009 Subsurface Biosphere Initiative Paid Undergraduate Interships - Interns work with an OSU research team and faculty mentor on a project related to microrganisms living in soils, groundwater and subsurface sediments. The program provides up to $4,000 for each summer intern. It focuses on, but is not limited to, under-represented minority and women students. Applicants are encouraged to seek out a faculty mentor and to discuss possible research topics before applying to the program. The SBI website has information about faculty research areas, contact information and examples of past internship projects. Applications for internships are now being accepted and will be reviewed on receipt.

NSF Doctoral Dissertation Enhancement Projects. NSF's Office of International Science and Engineering supports dissertation research conducted by graduate students at a foreign site. Students are expected to work in close cooperation with a host country institution and investigator. The applicant is responsible for making all necessary arrangements with the host country institution and scientist. The doctoral faculty advisor, on behalf of the student, submits the dissertation enhancement proposal. Proposals may be submitted at any time.

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(listed by due date)

15 March 2009. OSU Subsurface Biosphere Initiative Graduate Fellowships for Incoming Students.

Description: 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. Nominations for fellowships received prior to March 15, 2009, will be given first priority.

16 March 2009. OSU Research Equipment Reserve Funds (RERF).

Description: Research Equipment Reserve Funds (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.
Funding Details: Award amounts vary and require a 20% match from department, college or other funds. The Research Office has budgeted approximately $200,000 for the 2009 Spring solicitation.

31 March 2009. OSU Libraries 2009-2010 Spring Library Research Travel Grants.

Description: These grants promote faculty scholarship and instructional expertise by supporting faculty travel to libraries and collections outside the state of Oregon. Deadline is March 31.
Funding Details: Up to $2,000.

 

3 April 2009. OSU Promising Scholar Award.

Description: A new OSU award designed to recognize the scholarship of junior faculty.
Funding Details: The award consists of a $1,500 honorarium.

3 April 2009. OSU Impact Award for Outstanding Scholarship.

Description: This recognizes faculty who have demonstrated outstanding scholarship in a specific project or activity resulting in substantial impact beyond the university setting. The recipient will be invited to present highlights of their work at a public presentation.
Funding Details: The award consists of a $2,500 honorarium.

6 April 2009. BOR Upper Colorado: Conservation Activities for Sensitive Aquatic Species.

Description: The Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) is requesting proposals for projects in support of conservation activities for sensitive aquatic species affected by Reclamation projects and other water development in the Upper Colorado Region. The goal of this program is to reduce the vulnerability and prevent further decline of sensitive aquatic species through management and research activities, thereby reducing the potential for listing under the Endangered Species Act. Pursuing this goal will allow Reclamation to accomplish its core mission of water and power delivery in an environmentally sustainable manner. Priority species include those not currently listed under the Endangered Species Act but are recognized by state and/or federal agencies as sensitive or species of concern. Primary examples include roundtail chub, bluehead sucker, flannelmouth sucker, leatherside chub, and least chub. Two high-priority areas of the program are sensitive species habitat improvement/protection and reducing negative impacts of non-native species on sensitive native species. Proposals for research and monitoring as identified in respective management plans will also be considered.
Funding Details: 10 awards which together total $150k.

9 April 2009. DOE Office of Science Environmental Remediation Science Program (Preproposal due: 30 January 2009).

Description: The goal of this solicitation is to support innovative, fundamental research to investigate the coupled physical, chemical, and biological processes affecting the transport of subsurface contaminants commonly found at DOE sites. Applications should identify critical knowledge gaps and address hypothesis-driven research to better understand the significant physical, chemical, and biological processes influencing the form and mobility of specific inorganic contaminants in the subsurface. Short preproposal strongly encouraged.
Funding Details: It is anticipated that up to $4,000,000 will be available for approximately 15 to 20 awards to be made in Fiscal Year 2010.

15 April 2009. NIEHS Superfund Basic Research and Training Program (SBRP), Multiproject Program Grants (P42) (Preproposal due: 16 March 2009).

Description: SBRP grants support coordinated, multi-project, multi- and interdisciplinary research programs that have both a biomedical and non-biomedical (engineering, geochemical and ecological sciences) components. SBRP grants will support coordinated, multi-project, interdisciplinary research programs to address the mandates legislated under the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986. These mandates include the development of (1) methods and technologies to detect hazardous substances in the environment; (2) advanced techniques for the detection, assessment, and evaluation of the effect on human health of hazardous substances; (3) methods to assess the risks to human health presented by hazardous substances; and (4) basic biological, chemical, and physical methods to reduce the amount and toxicity of hazardous substances. The objective for the SBRP is to develop a holistic research agenda for the protection of human health. This is accomplished by the establishment of interdisciplinary programs that link and integrate biomedical research with related engineering, hydrogeologic, and ecologic components within the context of unique scientific themes developed by the applicant.
Funding Details: The NIEHS intends to commit a total of approximately $11.0 million dollars in FY 2010 to fund four to five SBRP grants in response to this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA).

15 April 2009. USDA CSREES AFRI - Water and Watersheds.

Description: FY 2009 Priorities for Research Projects – applicants must address at least one of the following priorities: 1. Understand the source, fate and transport of veterinary pharmaceuticals and farm animal hormones in soil, surface and ground water, and irrigation systems of agricultural and rural watersheds to reduce their impact on human and aquatic habitat health. 2. Identify, evaluate and understand producer management behaviors that improve agricultural water conservation in crop, livestock and poultry, forest and range production with a multidisciplinary emphasis on a) projects that integrate hydrologic, economic, and policy components; b)social determinants of water use; and c)documented water savings, especially at spatial scales greater than a single field. 3. A national synthesis workshop proposal is requested for calendar year 2010 to summarize existing research on rural and agricultural pathogens of bacteria, viruses and protozoa to document the latest understanding of their sources, fate and transport, and possible mitigation measure, not to exceed $300,000.
Funding Details: Proposed research project budget requests must not exceed $400,000 for project period of 2-4 years.

20 April 2009. Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board Grants for Restoration/Acquisition

Description: OWEB encourages projects that foster interagency cooperation, include other sources of funding, provide for local stakeholder involvement, include youth and volunteers and promote learning about watershed concepts.

A list of additional water-related external funding opportunities is available on the IWW Web site.

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H₂OSU is a periodic e-mail news briefing provided by the Institute for Water and Watersheds. It is distributed primariliy through the OSU Hydro Email lists and The Oregon Water List and the Web. Questions, comments and ideas for news briefs may be sent to the IWW at iww@oregonstate.edu. Past newsletters can be viewed at: http://water.oregonstate.edu/newsletter/index.htm.