TWRI funds 12 water resources research projects for 2003-04
The Texas Water Resources Institute has announced that it will fund 12 graduate student research projects for 2003–04. The projects will be carried out by graduate students and researchers at Texas A&M University, the University of Texas at Austin, and the University of Texas at El Paso.
According to TWRI Director Allan Jones, this year’s recipients were selected from among more than 75 proposals that were submitted to this competitive program.
Seven of the projects will be carried out by the TAMU College of Agriculture, while 2 projects will be conducted by the TAMU College of Science, and 2 by the TAMU College of Engineering. Two projects will be carried out by the University of Texas at Austin, while one study will be conducted at the University of Texas–El Paso.
Academic disciplines that will be funded through this program include civil engineering (5 studies); soil and crop sciences (3); biological and agricultural engineering (2 projects); geology and geophysics, rangeland ecology and management, biology, and oceanography.
The projects address a variety of issues covering such diverse topics as agricultural water use, surface and ground water quality; habitat and ecosystem issues, and bays and estuaries.
- Specific topics that will be investigated include the following:
- Examining the effects of brush control on water yields;
- More accurately modeling water quality using geographic information systems (GIS),
- Determining the irrigation needs of residential landscapes in order to encourage conservation;
- Investigating the extent to which saltcedar in the Pecos River consume waters released by reservoirs,
- Explore how reduced freshwater inflows may affect ecosystems of Texas bays and estuaries;
- Developing strategies to optimize the yield of agricultural crops that can be produced in the Edwards Aquifer region while using the least amount of water;
- Developing innovative approaches to treat arsenic-contaminated waters, and residual treatment with aluminum-substituted ferric oxide
- Studying the biology and water quality of the stretch of the Rio Grande from El Paso to Presidio (”the forgotten river”),
- Field testing the effectiveness of rainfall simulators in brush control studies,
- Assessing radon concentrations in groundwaters of the Hickory Aquifer,
- Developing geographic information systems (GIS) using ArcHydro software to model groundwater systems, and
- Quantifying runoff and leaching losses of nitrogen and phosphorus from fields where Bermudagrass is grown with composted dairy manure.
Note: These projects are funded through the U.S. Geological Survey as part of the National Institutes for Water Research annual research program. These studies begin in March 2003 and run through February 2004. Each of these projects provided matching funds that support these research efforts. Throughout the life of each project, TWRI will communicate the work of these projects and will publish articles and reports about these studies.