B R I A N E . H A G G A R DP r e s i d e n t - E l e c t , N a t i o n a l I n s t i t u t e f o r W a t e r R e s o u r c e s

D i r e c t o r , A r k a n s a s W a t e r R e s o u r c e s C e n t e rP r o f e s s o r , B i o l o g i c a l E n g i n e e r i n g P r o g r a m

Great Plains Water Resources

Only nation-wide network focused on applied water resources research, education and outreach.

The 54 institutes are at theland-grant universities ineach of the 50 states, theterritories and the Districtof Columbia.

Federal Program – Water Resources Research Act

Historically, we were an authorized program (re-authorization pending).

104G Program – National Competitive Grants less than 10% funding rate

104B Program – Base Institute Funding 92,355$ per institute

Board of Directors executive committee regional representation

NIWR’s 8 REGIONS Pacific Northwest

Powell Consortium

Great Plains

Great Lakes

Northeastern

Mid-Atlantic

Southeastern

Islands & Oceania (Are there any jobs

open there?)

GREAT PLAINS REGION Montana

Dakotas

Nebraska

Iowa

(We are here)

Missouri

Kansas

Oklahoma

Arkansas

(I am from here)

W H A T D O W E H A V E I N C O M M O N

A C R O S S O U R R E G I O N ?

W H A T A R E T H E E M E R G I N G R E S E A R C H

P R I O R I T I E S A C R O S S T H E

G R E A T P L A I N S ?

Great Plains Water Resources

Why not look at the NIWR 104B funding?

ARKANSAS 104B Project Themes 2012 Drinking Water Treatment &

Disinfection Byproducts Effect of Climate Variability on

Algae & TOC in Drinking Water Supply Reservoirs

Nutrient Runoff Reduction Measures for Poultry Houses

FOCUS Quality – Nutrients Quantity – Water Treatment

Why not look at the NIWR 104B funding?

OKLAHOMA 104B Project Themes 2012 Effluent Impacts on Nitrogen

Cycling in Streams Effect of Climate Variability &

Land Use on Stream Flow Identifying Nutrient Pathways

into Streams

FOCUS Quality – Nutrients Quantity – Stream Flows

Why not look at the NIWR 104B funding?

KANSAS 104B Project Themes 2012 Sediment Core Analysis to

Understand Reservoir History Impacts of Dredging on the

Kansas River Morphology Evaluation of the Kansas

Phosphorus Index Investigation Recharge into the

High Plains Aquifer Extracting Hydrostatic

Information for Drilling Logs FOCUS Quality – Nutrients & Sediment Quantity – Ground Waters

Why not look at the NIWR 104B funding?

MISSOURI 104B Project Themes 2012 Urban Water Quality & the

Value of Green Roofs Membrane Biofouling in

Sewage Treatment Reactors Operated for Nitrification

FOCUS Quality – Nutrients &

Wastewater Treatment Quantity – Stormwater

Why not look at the NIWR 104B funding?

NEBRASKA 104B Project Themes 2012 Analysis of Potential Ground

Water Trading Programs Developing a 2-tier Screen to

Evaluate Wetland Health Direct Monitoring of

Knickpoint Progression

FOCUS Quality – Aquatic Health,

Erosion & Geomorphology Quantity – Ground Water Law,

Economics, & Policy

Why not look at the NIWR 104B funding?

IOWA 104B Project Themes 2012 Community Wide Urban

Stormwater Planning using LIDAR, GIS & Modeling

Dielectric Measurement of Soil Nitrate Concentrations

Field Water Balance & Minimizing Agricultural Impacts to Water Quality

FOCUS Quality – Nutrients Quantity – Stormwater

Why not look at the NIWR 104B funding?

DAKOTAS 104B Project Themes 2012 Agricultural Drainage,

Nutrients, and Pathogens Bioavailability of Estrogen

Bound to Soils & Manure Algal Dynamics across Lake

Physical & Chemical Changes Water Treatment Process &

Disinfection Byproducts Wastewater Treatment &

Bioreactor Nitrate Removal FOCUS Quality – Nutrients, BMPs, &

Wastewater Treatment Quantity – Runoff & Water

Treatment

Why not look at the NIWR 104B funding?

MONTANA 104B Project Themes 2012 Stream & Hyporheic Water

Temperature Response to Restoration Activities

Nutrient Dynamics & Eco-system Function in Coupled Aquatic-Terrestrial Systems

Student Research Fellowships Snowmelt, Spawning Habitat, Natural

Treatment Systems, River Treaty Negotiations, Invasive Species, etc.

FOCUS Quality – Nutrients, Water

Temperature & Habitat Quantity – Snow Melt, Stream

Flow, plus Water Law & Policy

The 104B Program allows institutes to address emerging issues in a timely manner, also perceived state centric.The 104B Program allows institutes to address emerging issues in a timely manner, also perceived state centric.

104B Program USGS external contract annual appropriations 3 or more state projects state advisory councils regional networks national network

What is the relevance of the 104B Program?

of the water issues we face across the Great Plains Region.of the water issues we face across the Great Plains Region.

COMMON THEMES Disinfection Byproducts Wastewater Treatment Stormwater Management Agricultural & Water Nutrients [Water Quality] Stream Geomorphology

The 104B Program gives a good sense…

The end points of projects for faculty might not be the end points measured of federal programs.

HOW DO WE MEASURE PROJECT SUCCESS?

• Faculty

• External Funding• Publications• Students Training• Land-grant Mission

• Students

• Job Ready Skills• EMPLOYED!• Life-Long-Learning

104B Funded Research Project

Like all federal programs, the 104B Program is evaluated annually and every three to five years.

HOW DO OTHERS MEASURE THE SUCCESS OF OUR PROGRAM?

• Water Supply & Use

• Agriculture & Industrial Needs

• Domestic Requirements

• Environmental In-stream Flow Needs

• Water Quality

• Nutrients• Algal Biomass• Geomorphology• Habitat• Emerging

Contaminants• Disinfection

Byproducts

104B Program

Sequestration

OMB, who else?

Water supply increases might be quantified and communicated a little easier than water quality.

It is critical that we (faculty) have the ability

to communicate our results to our stakeholders.

The state water resources research

institutes like Iowa’s Water Center play an

important role in information transfer.

We need to be communicating our

success stories, showing improvements in water

quantity and quality.

I wanted to focus on water quality changes…

SCALE DEPENDENT It matters where we are

monitoring for WQ changes? Large Watersheds (HUC8-) Small Watershed (HUC12+) Edge-of-field (landscape)

The time required to see WQ changes increases with size, i.e. catchment area.

We often have a lag in watershed response to the implementation of BMPs.

Sediment (8-50+ years) Nitrate (5-50+ years) Phosphorus (1-15+ years) Bacteria (1 year) Biology (2-25 years)

I wanted to focus on water quality changes…

MONITORING STRATEGIES It also matters how we are

monitoring for WQ changes? Small watershed to edge-of-

field requirements [differ] Large watersheds needs

Strategies need remove exogenous variables that influence WQ.

Stream flow, i.e. discharge Seasonality, i.e. bioprocesses Pesticide applications

Techniques need to have solid statistical base, but easy to communicate to everyone.

Parametric, i.e. regression Non-parametric, i.e. Kendall

LN MONTHLY WATER VOLUME (m3)

15 16 17 18 19 20

LN M

ON

THLY

TP

LO

AD

(kg)

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

TIME (1997 THROUGH 2008)

97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09

Flow

-Adj

uste

d Lo

ads

LOW

HIGH

Illinois River, Arkansas – Oklahoma Line

WHY DO WE SEE A LAG IN WATERSHED RESPONSE?

We know that nutrients cycle in aquatic systems, and that the cycles are displaced downstream, i.e. nutrient spiraling.

So, nutrients move downstream in the

dissolved form before being removed from the

water column.

The particulate forms also may be transported downstream, especially in more turbid systems

and during storm events.

WATERSHED NUTRIENT SPIRALINGLet’s move from the

river system upstream to some point on the

landscape.

In large rivers, nutrient uptake lengths are in the order of 1,000 to 10,000 m (1-10 km).

In smaller streams, uptake lengths range

from <100 to 1,00o m.

These distances are based on river km, and influence by discharge

and in-stream processes.

WATERSHED NUTRIENT SPIRALING

But, how far do nutrients move on the landscape, i.e. runoff?

There is not much data on this, in terms of

distances – however, we could look at past filter

strip studies.

These studies suggest nutrients, especially

phosphorus, are moving 10 m or less…

SHORT DISTANCES!

Watershed Nutrient Spiraling

Nutrient uptake lengths needs to be consider across the watershed.

Landscape distances are short, and storage capacity high (especially phosphorus)

Stream distance relatively longer, but storage capacity and time is important

TAKE HOME MESSAGE We can make changes at the

landscape level, but patience is required at watershed-scale.

Monitoring required at multiple scales, i.e. field to watershed

QUESTIONS