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In Partnership:
Water Resources Center
University of Minnesota Extension
College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences

Water Resources Center
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St. Paul, MN 55108
612-624-9282
umwrc@umn.edu

WRC Home > Research

WRC Competitive Grants Program

The WRC grants funds to research projects concerned with the water resources of Minnesota and the Midwest, although the applicability of the research is usually broader in scope. The Center seeks to balance support between senior scientists with proven track records in quality research and young investigators in need of start-up funds to pursue new ideas.

Over the past decade, the WRC has sponsored research in a wide variety aquatic sciences and water resources disciplines, such as treatment and control methods for toxic wastes, wetland hydrology, river ecology, and non-point source pollution.

Research projects are usually funded for two-year periods and involve a combination of federal money and matching funds from state, university, or local sources. The WRC contributes funds from two of its component entities, the Water Resources Research Institute and the Center for Agricultural Impacts on Water Quality. A research advisory committee made up of university, state, and federal personnel meets before each two-year funding cycle and selects projects for the grant program. An announcement of research program interests is made biennially in a request for proposals. Findings from research supported by the WRC are published in technical reports. In addition, much of the research is published in scientific journals and presented at conferences and symposia.

Grants Awarded by Year

2008

Determination of appropriate metric's) for sediment-related total maximum daily loads (TMDLs)

PIs: Anne Lightbody, Patrick Belmont, Cailin Orr, and Chris Paola
Project Duration: 3/1/08 - 2/28/09

Enhanced degradation of stormwater petrochemicals within the rhizosphere of raingarden bioretention cells

PI: Paige Novak
Project Duration: 3/1/08 - 2/28/09

Integrating biological data into TMDL assessments: Refining a model to determine biologically meaningful target levels for dissolved oxygen

PI: Leonard Ferrington Jr.
Project Duration: 3/1/08 - 2/28/09

The cultivation, characterization, and detection of bacteria that biodegrade haloacetic acids in drinking water distribution systems

PIs: Raymond Hozalski and Timothy LaPara
Project Duration: 3/1/08 - 2/28/09

2007

Enhanced contaminant remediation: Fermentation as a method to enhance dissolution of hydrophobic compounds

PI: Paige Novak
Project Duration: 3/1/07 - 2/29/08

The influence of drainage on biogeochemical cycling of carbon in agricultural ecosystems

PIs: Jennifer King, Jacques Finlay, David Mulla, and Brent Dalzell
Project Duration: 3/1/07 - 2/29/08

The role of local stakeholders in water resource management: Characterization and diffusion of Minnesota LakeImprovement Districts

PI: Dennis Becker
Project Duration: 3/1/07 - 2/29/08

Triclosan and triclosan-derived dioxins in the Mississippi River sediment record

PIs: Kristopher McNeill and William Arnold
Project Duration: 3/1/07 - 2/29/08

2006

Development of a DNA marker gene system to determine sources of fecal E. coli in watersheds

PI: Michael Sadowsky
Project Duration: 3/1/06 - 2/28/08

Ecological stoichiometry and microbial biodiversity effects on water quality in Minnesota lakes

PIs: James Cotner and Timothy LaPara
Project Duration: 3/1/06 - 2/29/08

Factors affecting revegetation success in lakeshore restorations

PI: Susan Galatowitsch
Project Duration: 3/1/06 - 12/1/07

2005

A rapid bioassessment approach for integrating biological data into TMDL development for organic enrichment of streams in urbanizing watersheds

PI: Leonard Ferrington Jr.
Project Duration: 3/1/05-2/28/06

Estrogens and estrogenic activity in swine manure

PI: Kuldip Kumar
Project Duration: 3/01/05-02/28/06

Use of Arthrobacter aurescens for remediation of groundwater contaminated with Triazine Herbicides

PIs: Michael Sadowsky and Lawrence Wackett
Project Duration: 3/01/05-02/28/06

Water quality monitoring strategy based on agroecoregion boundaries in the Minnesota River Basin

PI: David Mulla
Project Duration: 3/01/05-02/28/06

Wireless technologies applied to environmental variables and nutrient loadings

PIs: Miki Hondzo and William Arnold
Project Duration: 3/01/05-02/28/06

2004

Assessing the ecotoxicology of 4-nonylphenol, a ubiquitous environmental estrogen, in two organismal bioassays

PIs: Heiko Schoenfuss and Larry Barber
Project Duration: 3/1/04-2/29/05

Development of a rapid bioassessment technique for integrating biological data into TMDL assessments in urban streams

PI: Leonard Ferrington Jr.
Project Duration: 3/1/04-2/29/05

Phyto-enhanced remediation: A wetland treatment system for surface water protection

PIs: William Arnold and Timothy LaPara
Project Duration: 3/1/04-2/28/06

The effects of long-term low-level antibiotic exposure on the development of antibiotic resistance

PI: Kristine Wammer
Project Duration: 3/1/04-2/29/05

2003

Photochemistry of antibiotics and estrogens in surface water: Persistence and potency

PIs: Kristopher McNeill, William Arnold, and Deb Swackhamer
Project Duration: 9/1/03-2/28/05

2002

Arsenic in Minnesota groundwater and it's impact on drinking water supply

PI: Randal Barnes
Project Duration: 3/1/02-2/29/04

Biodiversity in urban ponds and lakes: Human effects on plankton populations

PI: Robert Sterner
Project Duration: 3/1/02-2/29/04

Characterization of nitrifying bacterial populations in wastewater treatment plants

PI: Timothy LaPara
Project Duration: 3/1/02-2/29-04

Effect of riparian forest harvest on in-stream habitat and fish and invertebrate communities

PIs: Raymond Newman, Bruce Vondracek, and James Perry
Project Duration: 3/1/02-2/29/05

2001

Antibiotic losses in runoff and drainage from manure-applied fields

PI: Satish Gupta
Project Duration: 9/1/01-8/31/03

Eutrophication and remediation in context: High-resolution study of the past 200 years in the sedimentary record of Lake McCarrons (Roseville, Minnesota)

PI: Emi Ito
Project Duration: 3/1/01-2/28/02

Fluorochemicals in Minnesota waters: an emerging environmental issue

PI: Matt Simcik
Project Duration: 3/1/01-2/28/03

Paleohydrologic response of the Mississippi Headwaters Watershed to Holocene climate change

PI: Howard Mooers
Project Duration: 3/1/01-6/30/03

Photochemical fate of pharmaceutical compounds discharged and detected in natural waters

PIs: William Arnold and Kristopher McNeill
Project Duration: 9/1/01-8/31/03

Runoff water quality and crop responses to variable manure application rate

PIs: Neil Hansen and Sagar Goyal
Project Duration: 3/1/01-2/28/01

2000

A novel in situ technology for the treatment of groundwater contaminated with agriculturally-derived nitrate

PIs: Paige Novak and Michael Semmens
Project Duration: 3/1/00-2/28/03

Evaluation of bank erosion inputs to the Blue Earth River with airborne laser scanner

PIs: Satish Gupta and Marvin Bauer
Project Duration: 3/1/00-2/28/01

In-situ measurement of denitrification in agricultural streams

PIs: Patrick Brezonik and Lorin Hatch
Project Duration: 9/1/00-8/31/02

Investigation of the abiotic reduction of the herbicides Trifluralin and Pendimethalin

PI: William Arnold
Project Duration: 3/1/00-2/28/01

1999

An investigation of the factors affecting removal of Cryptosporidium and Giardia from drinking water supplies by granular media filtration

PI: Raymond Hozalski
Project Duration: 3/1/99-2/29/01

Assessing the effects of endocrine disrupters from a St. Paul sewage treatment plant on sperm viability and testicular development in fish

PIs: Peter Sorensen, Heiko Schoenfuss, and Ira Adelman
Project Duration: 3/1/99-2/29/01

Characterizing the fate of nitrogen fertilizer to improve nitrogen use efficiency in irrigated potato production

PIs: Carl Rosen, Michael Russelle, and Satish Gupta
Project Duration: 3/01/99- 2/28/00

Feasibility of controlled drainage for mitigating nutrient loss from tile drainage systems in south central Minnesota

PIs: Gary Sands, David Mulla, Lowell Busman, and Steve Taff
Project Duration: 2/1/99-2/28/01

Investigation of a novel biomolecule active in the degradation of common groundwater contaminants

PI: Paige Novak
Project Duration: 3/1/99- 6/13/00

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