June 18, 2009

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

Central America. I am initiating my last column from the banks of the Panama Canal in the former Canal Zone, where a new Holiday Inn sits adjacent to the Ciudad del Saber, aka City of Knowledge, a research-business park occupying the grounds of an old USA military base. The Holiday Inn prides itself on being home to the Panama International Hotel School, which is the official training center for the Latin American Division of the InterContinental Hotels Group. The Chef School is also headquartered here, where the ‘best hands-on program’ is offered. I wonder if there are gloves or sanitizer on those hands. 

WRGP student Evan Miles and I are here to present papers for NGWA’s Groundwater for the Americas conference, one of the few times NGWA has ventured outside the USA for a meeting. We have about 50 enthusiastic people from 9 countries.  This trip serves as a great introduction to our 23 guest students arriving from the Caribbean in a couple of weeks, and an opportunity to brush up on our Spanish-speaking skills. Viva SUSIE!

Evan and I will be traveling through Nicaragua with the good folks from El Porvenir and Agua Para La Vida, two NGOs bringing safe water and sanitation to the people of Nicaragua. After that, we both head to Honduras to see some prospective water projects by old friends Rolando López and Alex del Cid.

Water in Oregon. As a recent arrival I discovered that it is not all that wet here. For my last H₂OSU column I thought I would reflect on some things about water in Oregon and the Northwest that need addressing. The items are heavily weighted towards water quantity because that is what I know best. Since this is my last column, I will not be able to respond or offer a mea culpa next month, but you know where to reach me. So here goes:

1. Exempt Wells. Oregon currently allows a maximum of 15,000 gallons per day for an exempt (aka domestic) well for non-commercial use. That is almost 17 acre-feet per year, far more than is necessary; a limit of 5,000 gallons per day per household would be ample for domestic use. Defenders of the current amount will tell you that no one really uses anywhere near that much, and that is likely true, but the reality is that no one really knows how much these wells use because they are not metered. Given that there are around 240,000 of these wells in Oregon it’s high time someone did figure out how much water they use.
   
   I was part of group last year that attempted to develop a consensus on this issue in Oregon to no avail. No need to say more about that experience. 
   
   Oregon is not alone in dealing (or rather, not dealing) with these kinds of wells; most of the Western USA states have exempt well issues and don’t really know what to do. I had a Western water lawyer tell me a few years ago that whenever there is a gathering of her ilk at a meeting that’s the first topic that arises.
   Todd Jarvis has a paper that should be forthcoming in Ground Water that will lay out the exempt well issue in all its glory, using his traditional attention to detail.
   

2. The Groundwater Budget Myth. As Benton County continues its water supply planning program and implements its new ordinance on water supplies for subdivisions and exempt wells, let’s not forget to revisit the water budget myth, a gift that seems to keep on giving to the water community. The GWBM has been discredited by groundwater scholars since the early 1960s. I’ve blogged about this but certainly can’t take credit for exposing the myth; it goes all the way back to groundwater mavens like C.V. Theis, Richmond Brown, John D. Bredehoeft, Hilton H. Cooper, and Steve Papadopulos (at least I’m in good company). The GWBM says that a steady-state groundwater budget can tell you the amount of development you can have in a groundwater basin. Unfortunately, that is a myth, because development, which presumably induces transience, negates a steady-state budget. It’s as simple as that. If you don’t believe me, I’ll put you in touch with the kindly Dr. Bredehoeft who will be glad to school you (warning: John does not suffer fools very well). You can also read my blog entry on this topic.

3. Cascades Groundwater. Much has been written and spoken about the groundwater beneath Oregon’s eastern Cascades. We all know the story: there are huge discharges from that groundwater reservoir and perhaps some of that water in storage could be used to alleviate shortages elsewhere. But we don’t know enough about the system to say that for sure and we sure don’t have ‘robust’ (not my word, used by a government official) models that can distinguish between storage and recoverability in a fracture-flow system under transient conditions (see the GWBM above). And to people who say we shouldn’t even be talking about such things, I say we need to know as much about this system as we can determine, if not for now, for the future. Sticking our heads in the sand, or in a fracture, is no way to manage our water.
   
   Shameless plug: Marshall Gannett (USGS) and Gordon Grant (USFS/OSU) and are convening a session related to this topic at the upcoming Geological Society of America meeting in Portland. This promises to be an excellent session.

4. Columbia-Snake Basin Compact. Having come here from the Southwest USA, where every rivulet crossing a state line has a (frequently flawed) compact attached to it, I was unpleasantly surprised to find that the states in the Columbia-Snake basin have not seen fit to negotiate a compact governing water quantity/allocation and other vagaries (e.g., water quality, environmental flows). Critics of a CSB compact have enough complaints to fill Lake Mead, no mean feat these days. Here are few of the common ones:

   1. too many people/groups would have to be at the table (translation: those who have it want to keep it);
   2. since all the states get along now there is no need to get everyone all riled up at each other;
   3. the Feds will take care of things;
   4. look at those horrible, inflexible agreements on rivers like the Colorado and Rio Grande – is that what we want up here?); and
   5. it would be real hard to do this.  

   My answers:

   1. yes, a lot of people/groups would have to be at the table (or at least in the peanut gallery) because there are many stakeholders;
   2. you negotiate a compact for the future, not for the present - the socioeconomic-hydrological landscape might look quite different in 30 years, at which time it might be too late to negotiate a compact;
   3. The Feds (Congress) must approve a compact among the states, but the states have the authority and responsibility to allocate and manage their waters – unless they want to relinquish that authority (not a good idea);
   4. no need to repeat the mistakes of the past - check out the model compact at the Utton Center; and
   5. yes, it would be hard – no argument from me.

   And let’s not forget the groundwater we share with neighboring states, lest Oregon end up in an expensive and extensive lawsuit headed for the U.S. Supreme Court like the one between Tennessee and Mississippi over the Memphis Sand aquifer. Mississippi is seeking relief to the tune of $1 billion for water ‘stolen’ from beneath its land by the City of Memphis. The Columbia River Basalt Group is a pretty widespread aquifer like the Memphis Sand.  I hope that no water lawyers read my column.

5. Exporting Oregon’s Water. Whether from the Columbia River, beneath the eastern Cascades, or elsewhere, we need to take this seriously, whether it is proposed by an Oregonian or an outsider. But first we need to figure out how much water we have and what would happen to ecosystems and other things if we decided to ship it elsewhere. For those of you concerned with this, two words: virtual water.  

6. Statewide Water Roundtables. The IWW, with Oregon Sea Grant Extension and Institute for Natural Resources, conducted these last fall to provide input for a state water plan. What we did should have been done years ago. But we held only five and did not access enough Oregonians. These should be continued, with an improved design.  We really need a water plan given the vicissitudes in precipitation, ET, runoff, recharge, and snowmelt associated with climate change, and more importantly, to help educate the climate change refugees headed our way (take I-5 north and don’t stop till you reach BC).

7. Oregon Water Institute. A few years ago OSU, PSU, UO, and OIT began discussing this concept. The OWI was proposed as a water consortium among the Oregon University System schools that would harness the water expertise throughout the system. At the end of our first conference call, Roy Koch closed out the call thusly: “I’ve waited 20 years for this call.” We were on the right track, and received support from the schools involved and the Chancellor’s Office. The OWI even got in the Governor’s budget, only to be scrubbed when the economy headed south. My thanks to Roy Koch and David Jay of PSU; Patricia McDowell and Rich Linton of UO; OUS Chancellor George Pernsteiner; John Cassady of OSU; and Bill Feyerherm of PSU for their support and help.
   
   Roy, perhaps another concall will be forthcoming.     

8. OWRD and OWRC. The Oregon Water Resources Department and the Oregon Water Resources Commission deserve more support ($$$). If we want a secure water future, these folks need more help.

9. Interdisciplinary Program Support at OSU. Like many other universities’ foundations, the OSU Foundation focuses on soliciting funds from people who have ties to OSU – alumni, parents of alumni, businesses who might want to tap into OSU expertise, et al. This sometimes can make it difficult to garner support for interdisciplinary programs that do not produce graduates or tangible products that can generate income for the private sector. However, I suspect there are wealthy people in Oregon, perhaps very recent arrivals, who have no particular ties to OSU but who are interested in a cause, e.g., water, the environment, climate change. These people should be targeted and encouraged to support their pet programs at OSU. This would involve a strong partnership between the OSUF and the various programs; the latter would have to help identify donors.
   
   And while I’m discussing this, I’d like thank Mrs. Esther Rada for her generous gift to the OSUF to fund the important research on generating energy from spring water in the Cascades.

One Other Thing. Looks like we will soon have a state section of the American Water Resources Association. If you want to be a part of this or are simply curious, sign up for the email list.

The End…Or Not. This issue of H₂OSU signals the end to my term as Director of the IWW. It has been an enjoyable and challenging experience and I am much better for it. I won’t be going away, just returning to the classroom in the Department of Geosciences.

I have enjoyed writing this column for lo these 3+ years and thank all of you for your indulgence and comments. The WaterWired blog and Twitter will continue, as will The Oregon Water List, now with 800 subscribers. Other similar things might be in the works.

I have met many wonderful people since I arrived in May 2006. If I try to thank them all for enriching, educating, and tolerating me, I will invariably miss some. So let me thank the remarkable people in my immediately vicinity who made life here so enjoyable and fruitful: Todd Jarvis, Julie Bain, Kathryn Motter, Maria Wright, Shawn Tucker, and Lisa Gaines (an unofficial staff member since she belongs to INR). And let me not forget students Abby Brown, Yoshiko Sano, and Evan Miles. It’s hard to get pessimistic about the future with water professionals like these in the queue. Thank you all.

Michael

"Nothing so needs reforming as other people's habits."  -- Mark Twain

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The OSU faculty and administration have been working hard on the IWW Phase-II plans.  The new IWW will be collaboratively funded by six colleges, the research office, and the USGS.  We plan on having two quarter-time co-directors drawn from the current OSU faculty.  Current plans call for the continuation of the Collaboratory, a focus on assisting teams of OUS faculty in developing large water-related research projects, and open and frequent conversations between water researchers across the state. The plans will be reviewed by the President’s Council on the 24th of June. Questions? Contact John Selker.

The Water Resources Graduate Program held a celebration to honor award recipients on Thursday May 28.  Honorees and their awards included:

• Julie Gabrielli - Alumni Award - Julie's great work this year as an officer for the Hydrophiles is matched by her leadership and efforts in her research team.  This award, supported by donations from Alumni, provides $250 for the recipient.
• Eric Andersen - Faculty Award - This award honors a student for presenting work at a professional meeting or publishing a paper highlighting research by OSU Water Resources students. Eric won the Best Student Poster award at the American Fisheries Society meeting. The $500 Faculty Award is supported by generous donations from our WRGP faculty members.
• Jay Zarnetske - Williamson Water Prize - This is the WRGP's most prestigious award. Jay received the Outstanding Student Presentation award at the American Geophysical Union meeting, the Best Poster Award at the WRGP Open House, has been invited to present his research at a Gordon Conference, has served as Vice President of the Hydrophiles twice, and will serve as President next year. The award certificate was presented by Ken Williamson himself this year, and provides $500 for its recipient.  This award is also funded by donations from faculty and friends of the program.
• Terry Frueh received the Park D. Snavely Jr Cascadia Research Award and grant for $3000 to Terry Freuh from Geological Society of America.
• Elina Lin, Kelly Kibler and Marco Clark won the USGS Best Poster Award at the WRGP Open House.
• Bridget Brown received honorable mention and TeraGrid computing time from the National Science Foundation.
• Elina Lin won the Muckleston award for excellence in Water Resources Policy Research.
• Cody Hale will be presenting his research at a Chapman Conference.

Congratulations also to the four students who completed their degrees in water resources this spring. They are:

• Karen DuBose, M.S. in Water Resources Policy and Management. Thesis: Water Reuse in Corvallis: Modeling Public Acceptance and a Plan for Public Involvement. Thesis Advisor: Brent Steel.
• Janet Rasmussen, M.S. in Water Resources Science. Thesis: Reactive polyphenols and dissolved nutrients in a nitrogen-limited headwater catchment. Thesis advisor: Kate Lajtha.
• Brock Tabor, M.S. in Water Resources Policy and Management. Thesis: Issues and influences on Alaska’s Coastal Program: Stakeholder Analysis. Thesis advisor: Michael Harte.
• Denise Elston, M.S. in Water Resources Policy and Management. Thesis: Characterizing the community impacts of small dam removal. Thesis advisor: Denise Lach.

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Watering Down the Fishery Gene Pool (Scientific American, 6/12/09) - Researchers at Oregon State University (O.S.U.) found that not only do hatchery-raised steelhead—a Pacific trout sharing the same genus, Oncorhynchus, as salmon—produce relatively fewer and weaker offspring once back in a natural environment, but so do their wild-born spawn. "Captive breeding programs are a popular and efficient strategy to save declining populations, but the genetic impact must seriously be taken into account," says Hitoshi Araki, a co-author on the paper who recently moved from O.S.U. to the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology.

The Water King (The Reef Tank, 6/10/09) - He's a water king? He can do anything? Ok, maybe there's no need for the Jim Morrison reference (Morrison referred to himself as The Lizard King instead). Michael Campana, after all, is no water king. But he does like to refer to himself as an inveterate, unrepentant, water wonk. You can also call him a hydrogeologist, Professor of Geosciences at Oregon State University, founder of the Ann Campana Judge Foundation, a water conservation projects developer,devout water protector, and about a million other names.

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Eric Andersen thinks about where the fish are headed.

Eric Andersen is a M.S. candidate in the Water Resources Sciences program.  For his thesis, he is creating a decision support tool for prioritizing the replacement of culverts that impede anadromous fish passage in Western Oregon.  The tool evaluates culverts consistently by combining the key drivers of culvert replacement: the degree of passage impairment, biological benefit and cost.  While culverts are frequently good at passing water under roads, sometimes they don't do so well passing fish.  Reestablishing aquatic connectivity is crucial to maintaining and recovering fish populations.  The tool will help focus restoration investments and prioritize among the tremendous number of barrier culverts in the state.

Eric is active within his department and field and served as treasurer for the Hydrophiles graduate student club and volunteers with the American Fisheries Society.  He was recently awarded a travel grant and Best Student Poster at the 2009 Western Division American Fisheries Society Annual Meeting, the 2009 Faculty Excellence Award from the Water Resources Graduate Program and the 2009 Myron G. Cropsey Scholarship from the Department of Biological and Ecological Engineering.

Before attending Oregon State University, Eric’s career path included working for the Nature Conservancy overseeing large scale forest road decommissioning, at the US Forest Service as an ecological restoration specialist and with private firms performing forestry and biological survey work.  “Attending graduate school has been great because it’s allowed me to really dive into the details of restoration and, ultimately, have a positive effect on aquatic habitats and habitants,” says Andersen.

Eric's thesis advisor is Desiree Tullos in the Department of Biological and Ecological Engineering. For more information about Eric’s research, please visit his student Web page and his project Web page.

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Jack Istok and Pete Klingeman congratulate Wayne Huber at his June 11 retirement reception.

Wayne Huber, a leader in urban stormwater management retires. The OSU water community will miss the teaching and research expertise of Dr. Wayne Huber when he retires this summer. Wayne was one of the original authors of the Environmental Protection Agency's Storm Water Management Model (SWMM) and of the well known textbook Hydrology and Floodplain Analysis. Wayne's distinguished career includes numorous publications and project experiences in his fields of expertise: urban hydrology and stormwater management, nonpoint source pollution, and transport processes related to water quality. Congratulations on your retirement, Wayne, we look forward to your continued involvement with the OSU water community in your new role as a professor emeritus!

Over 70 researchers attend OSU's successful isotope workshop. On June 8-9 OSU hosted 70 researchers from as far away as Cyprus and England for the 2009 Isotope Hydrology and Biogeochemistry Workshop. The workshop covered the fundamentals of  isotope hydrology and biogeochemistry with presentations by Dr. Jeff McDonnell (Oregon State University), Dr. Carol Kendall (USGS) and Dr. Rick Hooper (CUAHSI). It also included invited presentations from experts in the field on "isoscapes", plant water-soil water, vadose zone and groundwater, carbon and nitrogen dynamics in soils, isotopes & food webs, and fish habitat identification. There was an evening poster session and reception which also coincided with demonstrations of cavity ring-down laser spectroscopy instruments. Tuesday afternoon featured a hands-on computer modeling tutorial on End Member Mixture Analysis (EMMA). Presentations were digitally captured and are available through the OSU Hydrophiles Web page. This workshop was jointly sponsored by the USGS, OSU Water Resources Graduate Program, and the CUAHSI-Hydrologic Measurement Facility. This generous sponsorship provided registration waivers for over 15 students who otherwise would not have been able to attend.

OSU to host internationally known hydrologist Malin Falkenmark. Dr. Falkenmark, a researcher from Stockholm University, will visit OSU from October 12-15. The Swedish hydrologist is known for her interdisciplinary work on water scarcity and linkages between humans, land, water and ecosystems. Dr. Falkenmark's trip is partially funded by a grant from the OSU Graduate School that was awarded to Mary Santelmann to enhance the graduate experience for students in the Water Resources Graduate Program. Stay tuned in the fall for more information!

Hydrophiles elects officers for 2009-2010. At their annual Spring barbeque, OSU's student water resources club, Hydrophiles, elected their officers for next year. They will be:

• President - Jay Zarnetske
• Vice President - Bridget Brown
• Treasurer - Terry Frueh
• Webmaster - Abby Brown

Congratulations officers, we look forward to a new year of great seminars, field trips and social events!

IWW honors Mrs. Esther Rada for her gift for water resources research. During graduation last week, water resources graduate student Jennifer Holderman and her thesis advisor Todd Jarvis presented a plaque of appreciation to Mrs. Esther Rada.  Mrs. Rada's gift to the Water Resource Management Research Fund at OSU supported Jennifer's thesis research on feasibility of a small scale hydropower project on a series of springs outside of Mill City, Oregon. The Rada Family attended graduation to celebrate the award of a Ph.D. in Resource Economics to Mrs. Rada's grandson, Nick Rada.  Nick followed in the footsteps of his grandfather who earned both his Bachelors and Masters degrees in Agricultural Economics from OSU in the late 1930s and early 1940s. Link to a short video of the presentation.

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Wednesday, June 24 - Friday, June 26, La Sells Stewart Center. 8th Annual American Ecological & Engineering Society Conference. The meeting theme is Engineering for Ecosystem Services - Design at the Interface of Human and Natural Systems and will feature research, assessment and design for a variety of ecosystem services across multiple scales. The meeting is co-hosted by the OSU Department of Biological and Ecological Engineering and AEES.

Saturday, July 18, LaSells Stewart Center and Burt Hall. COAS 50th Anniversary & Reunion "50 Years of Discovery" - Science Symposium, 9-11 a.m. in the Constuction & Engineering Auditorium of LaSells Stewart Center. COAS Open House, 2-5 p.m., in Burt Hall, showcasing research projects (also part of da Vinci Days displays). Both events are open to the public.

Thursday July 23- Friday, July 24, LaSells Stewart Center, OSU. Subsurface Biosphere Initiative Summer Workshop. This gathering of faculty and students interested in subsurface microbial life will include invited speakers and a poster session. Some of the speakers will be: Julie Pett-Ridge, presently NERC Research Fellow, Department of Earth Sciences, University of Oxford and future Assistant Professor, Crop and Soil Science, Oregon State University (July 2009); Brad Tebo, Professor and Division Head, Division of Environmental and Biomolecular Systems, Oregon Health and Science University; Affiliate Scientist, Center for Coastal Margin Observation and Prediction; Karmen Fore, District Director, Congressman Peter DeFazio, Eugene, Oregon; Rich Phillips, Assistant Professor, Indiana University.

Monday, August 10 - Friday, August 14.Water Engineering for a Sustainable Environment (33rd International Association of Hydraulic Engineers & Research Congress). Co-located with the 19th Canadian Hydrotechnical Conference. Location: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Tuesday, August 11. Deadline to Submit Abstracts for the 2009 Geological Society of America Annual Meeting. The meeting will be held October 18-21 in Portland, Oregon and have a theme of: From Volcanoes to Vineyards: Living with Dynamic LandscapesSome examples of sessions (from 28 hydrology sessions) are Applications of Groundwater-Surface Water Interactions to Management and Restoration of Streams; Characterizing, Predicting, and Managing Long-Term Contaminant Flux for Complex Subsurface Environments; Coupled Surface-Subsurface Modeling across a Range of Temporal and Spatial Scales; Fate, Transport, and Effects of Pesticides in the Environment; Snow Science as Related to Water Supplies in the West; Diurnal Biogeochemical Processes in Rivers, Lakes, and Shallow Groundwater; Science of Geologic Carbon Sequestration; Sustainability of Water Resources for Energy Needs.

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

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OSU Undergraduate Research, Innovation, Scholarship and Creativity Grants for 2009-2010 - The URISC Fund is intended to enable undergraduate students to initiate a scholarly relationship with faculty members 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. Proposals due June 26, 2009.

Student Travel Awards to attend Estuaries and Coasts in a Changing World. A conference held November 1-5 in Portland, Oregon and sponsored by EPA, OWOW, Coastal Management Branch, NOAA Fisheries, Office of Habitat Conservation, Western Association for Marine Laboratories, and the Lower Columbia River Estuary Partnership. Student travel award deadline June 30, 2009.

NSF Earth Sciences Postdoctoral Fellowships (EAR-PF). These fellowships are awarded to highly qualified investigators within 3 years of obtaining their PhD to carry out an integrated program of independent research and education. The program supports researchers for a period of up to 2 years with fellowships that can be taken to the institution or national facility of their choice. The program is intended to recognize beginning investigators of significant potential, and provide them with experience in research and education that will establish them in leadership positions in the Earth Sciences community. Because the fellowships are offered only to postdoctoral scientists early in their career, doctoral advisors are encouraged to discuss the availability of EAR fellowships with their graduate students early in their doctoral programs. Fellowships are awards to individuals, not institutions, and are administered by the Fellows. Proposals due July 1, 2009.

The National Academies Research Associateship Program. The Research Associateship awards are open to doctoral level scientists and engineers (U.S and Foreign Nationals) who can apply their special knowledge and talents to research areas that are of interest to them and to the participating host laboratories and centers. Awards are available for Postdoctoral Associates (within 5 years of the doctorate) and Senior Associates (normally 5 years or more beyond the doctorate). Associates conduct research in residence at the participating host laboratory they have chosen. Applications due: August 1, 2009.

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(listed by due date when available)

New Dear Colleague Letter: Expanded Directions in Cyberinfrastructure.

Dear Colleague: The Office of Cyberinfrastructure (OCI) would like to inform the community about some expanded directions that the National Science Foundation (NSF) is planning to take in the future. We are strengthening the national cyberinfrastructure (CI) through investments in the TeraGrid, and the Track 1 and Track 2 programs, while forging important new activities in areas of expanded computing services, data, networking, virtual organizations, and education. We plan to continue building in these areas as well as expanding in the areas listed below that will help round out the portfolio of activities needed to advance science through CI. As an overarching theme, OCI will promote the development of collaborative computational science---defined broadly to encompass research and development of comprehensive CI in all areas described below, as well as the application of CI to solve complex problems in science and engineering---as one of OCI's primary missions. OCI will work to provide stewardship for computational science at NSF, in strong collaborations with other offices, directorates, and agencies.

Preproposals due 1 July 2009. Academic Research Infrastructure Program: Recovery and Reinvestment (ARI-R²) (Full proposals due: 24 August 2009).

Description: The purpose of this program is to enhance the Nation's existing research facilities where sponsored and/or unsponsored research activities and research training take place to enable next-generation research infrastructure that integrates shared resources across user communities. The funds can be used to: Update existing research facilities at institutions of higher education, Enable academic departments, disciplinary and cross-disciplinary units, or multi-organization consortia to renovate research facilities through the addition or augmentation of cyberinfrastructure, Improve access to and increase use of next-generation research facilities for researchers, educators and students, and Assist research organizations, including those that have historically received limited Federal research and development funds, to improve their science and engineering research environments.
Funding Details: Approximately 100 awards ranging from a total of $250,000 to $2,000,000; approximately 6-10 awards ranging from a total of over $2 million to $5 million; approximately 3-5 awards ranging from a total of over $5 million to $10 million.

15 July 2009. USDA CSREES Integrated Research, Education, and Extension Competitive Grants Program – National Integrated Water Quality Program - National Water Resources Projects (Program Area Code 110.A).

Description: Through these National Water Resource projects we intend to: (a) increase public understanding and involvement in community decision-making for water resources; (b) facilitate development and application of recommendations and tools to improve and inform public policy and decision-making; and (c) expand the capacity of targeted audiences to develop sustainable solutions to water resource issues. Successful projects should provide a synthesis of available information and develop appropriate training and educational materials for key target audiences. We expect project outcomes and impacts to describe changes in knowledge, action, and conditions for targeted audiences. In FY 2009, three (3) areas of special emphasis exist for Program Area Code 110.A. Global change projects (up to $100,000 per year); bioenergy projects (up to $100,000 per year); and Youth-Water (up to $150,000 for one year). Projects addressing one of these three areas of special emphasis will be given priority for funding.

15 July 2009. USDA CSREES Integrated Research, Education, and Extension Competitive Grants Program – National Integrated Water Quality Program - Watershed Scale Projects (Program Area Code 110.C).

Description: We are interested in projects that solve water resource issues using research, education, and extension activities. We encourage projects that explore the linkage between surface water and groundwater availability and quality. Successful projects must describe expected outcomes in terms of changes in knowledge, changes in behaviors, and changes in environmental conditions. Projects must be conducted at a watershed or equally-appropriate geographic scale. Projects at the plot- or field-scale will not be accepted. All projects may be one to three years in duration. Projects must include specific objectives for research, education, and extension.
Funding Details: Education projects (up to $60,000 per year), extension projects (up to $80,000 per year); or integrated research, education, and extension projects (up to $220,000 per year).

21 July 2009. NSF Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program.

Description: This program is a Foundation-wide activity that offers the NSF's most prestigious awards in support of the early career-development activities of those teacher-scholars who most effectively integrate research and education within the context of the mission of their organization. Such activities should build a firm foundation for a lifetime of integrated contributions to research and education. NSF encourages submission of CAREER proposals from junior faculty members at all CAREER-eligible organizations and especially encourages women, members of underrepresented minority groups, and persons with disabilities to apply. PECASE: Each year NSF selects nominees for the Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) from among the most meritorious new CAREER awardees.

5 August 2009. NSF Geography and Spatial Sciences.

Description: The Geography and Regional Science (GRS) Program sponsors research on the geographic distributions and interactions of human, physical, and biotic systems on the Earth's surface. Investigations are encouraged into the nature, causes, and consequences of human activity and natural environmental processes across a range of scales. Projects on a variety of topics (both domestic and international) qualify for support if they offer promise of contributing to scholarship by enhancing geographical knowledge, concepts, theories, methods, and their application to societal problems and concerns. Support also is provided for projects that explicitly integrate undergraduate and graduate education into the overall research agenda.

17 August 2009. OSU Faculty Release Time.

Description: The Faculty Release Time program provides limited funding for individuals developing external grant proposals or who wish to further their scholarly activities.
Funding Details: Award amounts range between $3,500 and $6,000.

18 August 2009. NSF Decision, Risk and Management Sciences.

Description: This program supports scientific research directed at increasing the understanding and effectiveness of decision making by individuals, groups, organizations, and society. Disciplinary and interdisciplinary research, doctoral dissertation research, and workshops are funded in the areas of judgment and decision making; decision analysis and decision aids; risk analysis, perception, and communication; societal and public policy decision making; management science and organizational design. The program also supports small grants for exploratory research of a time-critical or high-risk, potentially transformative nature.

8 September 2009. The United States - Israel Binational Agricultural Research and Development Fund.

Description: This program supports mission-oriented cooperative agricultural research projects of mutual interest to the United States and Israel. Among the six priority research areas is Biotic Protection of Animal and Plant Crops; Water Quality and Quantity; Functional Genomics and Proteomics; and Engineering of Sensors, Robotics.
Funding Details: The average BARD grant is $300,000 for a three- year award.

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 primarily 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.