USDA Awards More Than $4 Million to Improve and Maintain a Healthy Water Supply

Media Contact: Jennifer Martin, (202) 720-8188

WASHINGTON, Jan. 6, 2010 – The USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) today awarded more than $4 million to conduct research aimed at improving and maintaining healthy watershed habitat and water supplies.

"Science-based information on both water quality and water scarcity is going to be key to addressing these critical issues for America's producers and the consumers in the years ahead," said Roger Beachy, NIFA director. "These grants will further research to help manage agricultural water supplies in the face of climate change, while better protecting aquatic habitats and the larger communities that we share the water supply with agriculture”

The grants are awarded through NIFA’s Agriculture and Food Research Initiative Water and Watershed competitive grants program. The program seeks to reduce pathogens, such as bacteria, viruses and protozoa; as well as hormones and pharmaceuticals in waters derived from agricultural and rural watersheds , while maintaining adequate water supplies for agricultural crop and livestock production and rural use. In the past five years, the program has awarded more than $24.2million in grants.

Fiscal Year 2009 grants were awarded to:

University of California, Davis, Calif., $399,808
University of Delaware, Newark, Del., $320,000
American Geophysical Union, Washington, D.C., $10,000
Ecological Society of America, Washington, D.C., $10,000
Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Ga., $400,000
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Ill, $386,775
Purdue University, West Lafayette, Ind., $400,000
Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, La., $110,000
Michigan State University, East Lansing, Mich., $399,970
Mississippi State University, Starkville, Miss., $398,821
University of Nevada, Reno, Nev., $399,945
Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., $299,370
North Dakota State University, Fargo, N.D., $393,297
Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, $110,352
Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas, $261,662

Through federal funding and leadership for research, education and extension programs, NIFA focuses on investing in science and solving critical issues impacting people's daily lives and the nation's future. For more information, visit www.nifa.usda.gov.

USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer and lender. To file a complaint of discrimination, write: USDA, Director, Office of Civil Rights, 1400 Independence Ave., S.W., Washington, D.C. 20250-9410 or call (800) 795-3272(voice), or (202) 720-6382 (TDD).