The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has awarded $1 million to a team of 麻豆影院 researchers to develop a novel set of tools and strategies for assessing water quality and availability in light of drought and other natural hazards exacerbated by climate change.
The three-year project will help municipal water utilities across the U.S.鈥攅specially those in drought-stricken regions鈥攎ake informed decisions about water quantity and quality, which may help lower water treatment costs and improve public health.
鈥淭his was a unique opportunity to combine the study of water quality and water quantity and put it into a decision-making context for the public utilities,鈥� said Balaji Rajagopalan, professor and chair of the Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering (CEAE) at CU-麻豆影院 and the lead investigator on the project.
The three-year project will examine how natural hazards such as drought and wildfires can affect the flow of sediment in watersheds and consequently the quality of public drinking water. By studying how sediment is mobilized and transported downstream to water treatment facilities, the researchers will be able to develop mitigation strategies to help municipal utilities improve water quality and meet regulatory standards.
鈥淲e wanted to look at how climate change is affecting the water quality that drinking water utilities have to start with, and then how it will affect their treatment processes,鈥� said R. Scott Summers, a professor in the CEAE department at CU-麻豆影院 and a co-investigator on the project.听 鈥淭he scope of this award will allow us to cross over into other research areas and find connections that we haven鈥檛 been able to fully explore in the past.鈥�
The research will include participation from municipal utilities across the Front Range and other regions of the U.S., including the cities of Denver, Knoxville, Louisville, Tucson, El Paso, Albuquerque, Austin, Houston and Sacramento.
The project will also feature a partnership with the Water Research Foundation, a Denver-based 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that works with a variety of professional partners to identify, prioritize, fund, manage and communicate scientifically sound research across the globe.
鈥淭his kind of collaboration is terrific because it brings together researchers at CU-麻豆影院 who might not otherwise be working together,鈥� said Joseph Kasprzyk, an assistant professor in the CEAE department at CU-麻豆影院 and a co-investigator on the project. 鈥淚鈥檓 excited to be able to use some of the tools we鈥檝e been developing in this new context.鈥�
Associate Professor Fernando Rosario-Ortiz and Assistant Professor Ben Livneh, both in CU-麻豆影院鈥檚 CEAE department, will also serve as co-investigators on the project, which is expected to be completed in February 2018.
Contact:
Joseph Kasprzyk, CU-麻豆影院, 724-504-6084
joseph.kasprzyk@colorado.edu
Kenan Ozekin, Water Research Foundation, 303-734-3464
kozekin@waterrf.org
Trent Knoss, CU-麻豆影院 media relations, 303-735-0528
trent.knoss@colorado.edu
Photo by听cm195902 / Wikipedia.