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The projects cover a range of water issues across the state.

By Jeff Harrison, University Communications
November 2, 2007

Several researchers from The University of Arizona figure prominently in a wide-ranging grant to study water sustainability.

The Arizona Water Institute announced Friday that 12 projects will receive a total of $555,000 in AWI funds. All of the projects involve multiple collaborators and at least two of the three universities. UA researchers lead four projects and are involved in a total of nine.

The initial investment from the Arizona Water Institute was matched by $399,000 of leveraged funding and $85,000 in cash contributions from outside partners and agencies. All of the projects involve partners such as community groups, state agencies, tribes, utilities and private industry. Funds for these awards are from a legislative appropriation to the three universities.

The National Water Research Institute has chosen to partner with the Arizona institute and is co-funding one of the projects selected, "Reverse Osmosis Pretreatment Using Ion Exchange Brine Recycle and Selective Precipitation,” a proposal combining expertise at the UA and Northern Arizona University to address managing the salts in imported Central Arizona Project water. The national institute will provide $25,000 to support the project.

Wendell Ela, an associate professor of chemical and environmental engineering at the UA, is the principal investigator on the grant. Co-investigators include Robert Arnold, a UA professor in chemical and environmental engineering, and Michael Ketterer of NAU.

Channa Rock, a water quality specialist in the UA soil, water and environmental sciences department, heads a team that is evaluating treated wastewater, its various sources and possible uses. Her collaborators include Susanna Eden and Khristine Uhlman from the Water Resources Research Center, and Erin Westfall from the UA School of Natural Resources, along with Juliet Strombert, Peter Fox and Margaret White from Arizona State University, and Fred Solop and Shawn Newell from NAU. This project involves strong collaborations with the Arizona Department of Water Resources and the Department of Environmental Quality.

Chris Scott, an assistant professor in the UA Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy, is studying how the rapid population growth in the Arizona-Sonora border region will impact energy and water sustainability. His team includes Robert Varady, deputy director of the UA Udall Center, and Gregg Garfin, deputy director of the UA Institute for the Study of Planet Earth, along with Martin Pasqualetti and Subhrajit Guhathakurta from ASU.

George Frizvold, a specialist and professor in the agricultural and resource economics department, is developing future agriculture scenarios and their implications for water supplies, and heads a team of five researchers from ASU who will collaborate with the Agri-Business Council.

Other projects involving UA scientists range from the impacts of forest thinning on water balance, improving water management on the Navajo Nation, enhanced drought sensitivity and monitoring, and habitat protection along the Verde River.

The Arizona Water Institute was formed in January 2006, and is a collaboration of Arizona’s three universities. Its charge is to develop real-world solutions to the state’s water challenges. Its mission includes enhancing educational opportunities related to water and providing better access to information for the state’s water managers. Capitalizing on technology transfer and the state’s water management expertise, it is also expected to help develop sustainable water supply solutions that can be used throughout the arid regions of the world.

The Institute includes a partnership with three state agencies – the Water Resources, Environmental Quality and Commerce departments – to encourage flow of research information to agency personnel, and to ensure that the research done on their behalf at the universities is useful and timely. Unlike standard grants programs, the institute manages its projects to ensure that the products produced by university researchers are useful to its partners in real-world applications. Funding for these projects is dependent on negotiation of a scope of work that will be overseen by Arizona Water Institute staff.