AWRC Funds Drinking Water, Ag Research
We are pleased to announce this year’s grant recipients from the AWRC through the US Geological Survey 104B Competitive Grants Program.
“We had a lot of good proposals submitted that addressed some critical water research needs in the State,” said Center Director Brian Haggard.
This year, the Center is funding three faculty and two student research proposals, covering drinking water issues and a variety of agriculture-related issues from irrigation to aquaculture. The following research proposals were selected:
Faculty proposals:
- Herbicide mitigation potential of tailwater recovery systems in the Cache River critical groundwater area; Dr. Cammy Willett, UA Department of Crop, Soil, and Environmental Sciences
- Combined application of nutrient manipulation and hydrogen peroxide exposure to selectively control cyanobacteria growth and promote eukaryote phytoplankton production in aquaculture ponds; Dr. Amit Sinha, UA Pine Bluff Department of Aquaculture and Fisheries
- Regionalizing agricultural field evapotranspiration observations; Dr. Benjamin Runkle, UA Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering
Student proposals:
- Investigating impact of lead service lines in drinking water distribution systems at the City of Tulsa; Kaleb Belcher and Dr. Wen Zhang, UA Department of Civil Engineering
- Assessment of strategies to address future irrigation water shortage in the Arkansas Delta; Tyler Knapp and Dr. Qiuqiong Huang, UA Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness
“We thank our advisory committee for taking the time to review proposals and provide critical comments and feedback,” Haggard said.
The AWRC Technical Advisory Committee is comprised of a diverse group of water resource stakeholders from academia, industry and state organizations throughout Arkansas who provide external peer review of all proposals submitted.
About the 104B Program
Section 104 of the Water Resources Research Act of 1984 requires federal base grants to be awarded annually to Institutes like the AWRC in each state. The AWRC funnels the majority of funds as seed grants to support water research by faculty throughout the State. The Center also uses funds to conduct Center-related research and monitoring, train young scientists and engineers, and disseminate water research results and information to stakeholders.
