The National Institutes for Water Resources is a 501(c)4 organization dedicated to providing representation for the State Water Research Institutes in collective activities to implement the provisions of the Water Resources Research Act of 1984.

Brian HaggardNIWR President, October 2013 to September 2014

Arkansas Water Resources Center • 203 Engineering Hall, Fayetteville, Arkansas 72701 • haggard@uark.edu

Maximizing Federal Impact NIWR’s ability to attract and match non-federal funds to USGS grant-sponsored research multiplies the federal investment in local water projects. The NIWR-USGS partnership also strengthens USGS’s own funding model, as NIWR institutes often allow funds to pass through the institutes to USGS State Water Science Centers—NIWR institutes often contract with the USGS State Water Science Centers for research related services and local expertise.  The NIWR institutes open doors for the USGS at the state-level to other funding sources that may require non-federal matching funds.

In recent years, the USGS State Water Science Centers have benefitted from funds that have flowed through NIWR institutes from external sources for technical assistance and scientific expertise on large-scale, multi-partner projects that address emerging water research needs. Examples:

• The USGS Arkansas Water Science Center received more than $100,000 from NIWR’s Arkansas Water Resources Center to help study the impact of gas development on wildlife areas and water resources.

• The USGS Colorado Water Science Center received $150,000 in non-federal funds through NIWR’s Colorado Water Institute to study the South Platte alluvial aquifer.

• The efforts of NIWR’s Arizona, New Mexico and Texas water institutes resulted in $1 million flowing to USGS state water science centers for the U.S.-Mexico Trans-boundary Aquifer Assessment Program.

NIWR’s ability to leverage non-federal dollars on multi-partner projects strengthens USGS’ bottom line, helps USGS meet its national water goals and ensures USGS ground-level involvement on regional issues of emerging concern.

Wanted: InternsThe USGS is encouraging NIWR institutes to take advantage of its nationwide internship program, details of which follow:

• The USGS funds paid internships for undergraduates and graduate students.

• Interns can be from any of the 54 NIWR institutes.• The interns are hired by the NIWR institute but work with

USGS Water Science Center researchers. • The USGS prepays the internships for four years.• Students receive valuable experience working on water-related

research.

www.NIWR.net

USGS and NIWR A Model Partnership

The federal government’s investment through the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in the National Institutes for Water Resources (NIWR) makes for a powerful combination of innovative water research and solutions for the most pressing challenges facing our nation’s water resources.

Housed in the nation’s leading research universities, NIWR institutes leverage world-class science and policy solutions to address emerging water issues. Member institutes help USGS efficiently address the entire spectrum of water issues, including those that fall between government agency missions as well as policy-driven or regulatory missions.

NIWR helps USGS meet the nation’s water needs by:• transferring the latest tools and knowledge to water

professionals around the country,• training the next generation of water scientists, and• tackling emerging water issues in collaboration with

USGS scientists.

The NIWR model is critical to helping USGS reach its national goals of:

• increasing our knowledge of water quality and quantity,• improving our understanding of water availability, • evaluating how climate, hydrology and landscape changes

influence water resources,• creating and delivering decision-making tools that support

water management, and • improving the country’s response to water-related

emergencies.

In 2012:• The 54 NIWR member institutes received $5.2 million

in federal funding through USGS’s 104b research program.• USGS 104b funding directly supported 237 regional

research projects that addressed USGS water goals. • NIWR-initiated matching funds more than tripled 104b

funding for a total investment of $16.7 million.

104b Research Expenditures

2012-2013

Information Transfer

Program Administration

Research

67%

15%

18%

Water Quality & Quantity

Water Availability

Climate, Hydrology, Landscape

Water-Related Emergencies

Decision-Support Tools

38%35%

3%2%

21%

104b Expenditures

The following are examples of NIWR 104b projects from across the country that meet USGS’s water mission goals of better understanding and protecting the country’s water resources.

Treating coal mine drainage with bacteriaOne of the most serious water-quality problems in the Appalachian coal mining regions is acid mine drainage (AMD), where high levels of acid and iron can create long stretches of “dead” streams. NIWR’s Ohio Water Resources Center discovered that adding certain bacteria to AMD speeds oxidation and removes the iron, a discovery that could lead to an inexpensive, efficient and sustainable solution to treating AMD.

Preserving wetland health The health of wetland ecosystems depends on many factors, including fluctuations in the amount of available groundwater and water that’s lost to evapotranspiration. Those are two unknowns in any water budget and are often ignored in regional groundwater flow models. They’re also the focus of a study by NIWR’s Montana Water Center, which is using the Gartside Reservoir prairie fen to model groundwater availability and evapotranspiration, and develop methods for defining the aquifer conditions affecting evapotranspiration.

Measuring reservoir evaporation from spaceMany factors affect reservoir levels but evaporation is the least understood and the most poorly measured. Methods for measuring air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed and water surface temperatures—all of which affect evaporation—are imprecise, so NIWR’s South Carolina Water Resources Center looked to NASA for help. Using data from two NASA satellites, researchers created a model to more precisely measure the quantity and variability of evaporation from reservoirs in the Savannah River Basin.

SNAPSHOTS OF SUCCESS

www.NIWR.net • 2012–2013

Historic photography meets cutting-edge scienceCombining historic aerial photography with long-term stream gaging data, NIWR’s New York State Water Resources Institute analyzed the role that land-cover plays on peak stream flows against the backdrop of our changing climate. Using four watersheds in which agricultural land transitioned to forested land, researchers found that the effects of land-cover in New York’s humid, temperate regions are not always consistent with standard hydrologic intuition. For example, an increase in the extent of forested land in some cases resulted in little change or even an increase in peak flows.

Gauging water availability through land-use Most streamflow studies factor in climate changes but few also consider land-use changes. NIWR’s Massachusetts Water Resources Research Center is studying how climate change, land-use and human water withdrawal impacts water availability. Among the results: Streamflow is extremely sensitive to changes in urban and forested land uses, just as it’s extremely sensitive to changes in intense rainfall.

Entering uncharted waters with carbon runoff In addition to the obvious damage from hurricanes, researchers at NIWR’s Delaware Water Resources Center are finding that hurricanes can have dramatic consequences on the environment as well. The research team studied carbon levels in stream runoff over a 16-month period that included hurricanes Nicole, Irene and Sandy. They found that particulate carbon levels were six to eight times higher than dissolved organic carbon levels. Such shifts in the proportion of carbon forms entering streams, lakes and rivers can have serious effects on ecosystems and human health.

Designing software for desert aquifersResearchers at NIWR’s Nevada Water Resources Research Institute are studying the complex dynamics of surface runoff and aquifer replenishing. Using unconventional methods combined with mathematics, researchers are working to create software for educators, regulators and practitioners that accurately quantifies water infiltration that’s so critical to sustaining life in arid regions.