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FY 2018 WRC National Competitive Grants Program Call for Proposals

Deadline: Feb 15, 2018
Proposals are sought on the topic of improving and enhancing the nation’s water supply, including evaluation of innovative approaches to water treatment, infrastructure design, retrofitting, maintenance, management, and replacement; exploration and advancement of our understanding of changes in the quantity and quality of water resources in response to a changing climate, population shifts, and land use changes; development of methods for better estimation of water supply, both surface and groundwater, including estimation of the physical supply and of the economic supply of water; development and evaluation of processes and governance mechanisms for integrated surface/ground water management; and the evaluation and assessment of conservation practices. For more information and to apply.

Water today – water for the next hundred years

Cedar Ridge Pipe photo

Below are links to the new 100 Years of Water Law web page and story map.

Explore our Esri story map, including

• early photos of pre-water code municipal and irrigation water systems
• data maps of Washington endangered and threatened salmon runsolumbia River.
You’ll also find videos that track the history of our water code, a water rights primer for homeowners, and an overview of where our municipal water supplies come from.

Read the blog
Go to Ecology’s 100 Year of Water Law page

IWA World Water Congress & Exhibition 2018; Call for Papers

16 – 21 SEPTEMBER, 2018 TOKYO, JAPAN

Why submit your abstract to the IWA WWC&E 2018?
• Create new, inspiring solutions to the world’s urban and basin water challenges;
• Validate and disseminate your work by presenting it during a world class Congress;
• Learn and grow professionally through privileged access to the best content, cross-sector knowledge and diverse experiences;
• Expand your network and meet new professional partners by engaging with leading water experts.


24 JULY 2017
Online submission opens for outline papers (for platform and poster presentations).

1 OCTOBER 2017
Final deadline for submission of outline papers (for platform and poster presentations).

1 APRIL 2018
Presenters notified of acceptance/rejection.

1 JULY 2018
Deadline for accepted presenters to supply full papers, register and payment to attend the congress.

Further details are available on the congress website www.worldwatercongress.org
If you have any question please contact us through wwce2018programme@iwahq.org

Water Resources Club meetings

There’s a new club at WSU,  the Water Resources Club.

September 19th,  CUE 319 @ 7:00pm

Where undergraduate and graduate students interested in water-related sciences can have a hands-on opportunity to experience each other’s research, share in new opportunities, and socialize in a relaxed environment.

Attend the first meeting and learn more!

 

2016 Long-term water supply and demand forecast for washington state

In 2016, the State of Washington’s Office of the Columbia River submitted a long-term water supply and demand forecast to the Washington State Legislature. The forecast, due every five years, provides a system-wide assessment of how future economic and environmental conditions will impact water supply and demand by the 2030s. The forecast evaluates three geographic scopes: Eastern Washington’s watersheds, Washington’s Columbia River mainstem, and the entire Columbia River Basin.

The research, coordinated and managed through the State of Washington Water Research Center (WRC), is an analysis of the impacts of climate change, regional and global economic conditions, and state level water management actions on irrigation demands and surface water supplies across the Columbia River Basin, through the use of economic scenarios and state-of-the-art modeling techniques. The research team, led by Jennifer Adam and Jonathan Yoder of the WRC, includes nearly 30 researchers from Washington State University, the University of Utah, Aspect Consulting, and the Washington State Department of Ecology and Department Fish and Wildlife.

“The bulk of our work occurs during the five years between reports,” said Sonia Hall, one of the authors of the legislative report, and Sustainable Systems Analyst for Washington State University.

“All efforts have branched off each other, which led to our use of the modeling tools starting in 2011. We were able to do a much better job by using those tools and we find them to be a representation of science best understanding which have led to significant improvements between forecasts.”

Three modeling tools are developed and integrated together to provide the most accurate results. The Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC) model allows us to track the water balance across the geography of the Columbia River Basin, including how much evaporates and infiltrates into the soil for crops to use; this shows us how crops react to different weather conditions. The Cropping Systems Simulation (CropSyst) tool determines how much water is needed by crops through irrigation, how the crop will change during the season under a variety of weather conditions. The Columbia River Simulator (ColSim) simulates the movement of water in the reservoirs and provides detailed information of where water is stored for use by irrigators, municipalities, hydropower generation, and for ecological purposes. The tools work together and complement each other. For instance, VIC informs CropSyst about water supply along with daily weather and Cropsyst informs VIC of water stress levels and crop water needs.

Through the use of these integrated modeling tools the research team submitted their latest long-term water supply and demand forecast in December of 2016. They found in the results of their latest forecast that the average annual supply of water for all uses across the Columbia River Basin down to Bonneville Dam is expected to increase around 12 percent by 2035. Their research also concluded that water will be available earlier in the spring than it has been in the past, and the demand for eastern Washington’s irrigated acres will decrease almost 5 percent. If current trends in the proportion of irrigated acres growing different crops continue, we can expect to see more acres growing crops like wine grapes, that demand relatively little water per acre, and less acres growing others like pasture, that demand more water per acre. If this happens, demand for water would decrease close to 7 percent.

“The demand forecast is important because it helps in knowing how drought conditions will impact the various users, enabling managers to better know how to mitigate the effects of drought,” said Hall.

Note: The information in this article was provided by the Agriculture Climate Network, State of Washington Department of Ecology, the University of Washington, The 2016 Columbia River Basin Long-Term Water Supply and Demand Forecast Legislative Report, and the State of Washington Water Research Center.

Link to publication in NIWR

An Equitable Water Future Report

An Equitable Water Future, a new report that explores the impacts of water management on disadvantaged communities, and the opportunities to build more equitable water systems. The paper highlights many promising strategies being developed around the country, and aims to build the field of practice around equitable water management in the United States.

An Equitable Water Future draws on the knowledge and expertise of more than 125 water leaders, from utilities, nonprofits, community-based organizations, research institutions, philanthropy, and the private sector. The report is organized around three key areas where we believe progress towards water equity is being made:

o Ensure all people have access to clean, safe, affordable water service
o Maximize the community and economic benefits of water infrastructure investment
o Foster community resilience in the face of a changing climate

We want to share this report with water research centers, as we believe that academic and research institutions have an important role to play in advancing equitable water policies and practices. We hope that this report is helpful as you advance your work on water and equity.

You can find the full report online here: http://uswateralliance.org/initiatives/water-equity

CALL FOR SPECIAL SESSIONS: 2018 Annual Water Resources Conference

Universities Council on Water Resources (UCOWR) and National Institutes of Water Resources (NIWR)
2018 Annual Water Resources Conference
June 26-28, 2018 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

 

The Conference Planning Committee invites you to propose a Special Session for the conference. A special session organizers’ role is to propose a relevant and timely topic, recruit speakers to submit abstracts to the session, and moderate the session during the June 2018 Conference. Special sessions can be in the form of a panel discussion, a group of 4 or more oral presentations on a specific topic, or a group of lightning (5 minute) talks followed by group discussion. Multiple session track proposals are welcome. Those interested in organizing and hosting a special session should provide
the following information:

• Title of proposed special session
• A brief description (less than 350 words) stating the importance of the topic and the rationale for the proposed session
• Organizer(s), including contact information
• Type of proposed session(s): panel discussion, full length talks (20 min), or lightning talks (5 min) followed by discussion
• A draft list of presenters (to submit abstracts via the general call for abstracts) and their tentative titles.

The above information should be submitted directly to the Conference Chair, Kevin McGuire (kevin.mcguire@vt.edu), and Technical Program Chair, Bryan Swistock (brs@psu.edu), no later than September 22, 2017.

Proposals for Special Sessions will be evaluated by the Conference Planning Committee based on the timeliness and relevance of the topic, and the degree to which the topic will bring together key researchers, educators, and practitioners to disseminate recent advances to the water resources community.
Abstracts submitted for an accepted Special Session will be subject to the same submittal and review process as all other abstracts. Proposed special sessions with less than 4 presenters may be filled with talks from the general call for abstracts. However, we encourage special session organizers to propose complete sessions, divisible by units of 4.

Important Dates
Proposal for special sessions due: September 22, 2017
Notification of special session acceptance: October 6, 2017
General call for abstracts issued: October 2017
Abstracts due: January 22, 2018
Notification of abstract acceptance: Late February 2018
General questions about the 2018 UCOWR/NIWR Conference can be directed to Karl Williard (williard@siu.edu), Executive Director of UCOWR, or Staci Eakins (ucowr@siu.edu), Administrative Assistant, UCOWR.
Want to learn more about UCOWR? Visit our website.

“An Overview of Residential Water Use and Conservation in the West”

Alexander Maas
Dept. of Agricultural Economics, University of Idaho
and a recent Water Resources Cluster Hire

presenting

“An Overview of Residential Water Use and Conservation in the West”

Tuesday Sept. 12, 2017
11:30-12:20 MT (10:30-11:20 Pacific)

Abstract:
This seminar provides an overview of water management issues and contextualizes residential water demand in the West. Residential water demand is determined by household characteristics, policies, social norms, personal motivations, climate, and weather. We will discuss the methods for estimating water demand based on these explanatory variables and our current understanding of household water use. We will also touch on key economic concepts, the institutions within which water is managed, the “buy and dry” phenomenon, water utility operations and policy, and the condition of water infrastructure in the United States.
Short Bio:
Alexander Maas is an Assistant Professor in the Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology Department at the University of Idaho. He received his doctorate in Resource Economics from Colorado State University and has spent the past five years researching water use decisions and management institutions. As part of the Urban Water Innovation Network, his research was primarily focused on the development of decision support systems for management of water resources and providing policy makers with the tools necessary to identify vulnerable areas and assess tradeoffs. In addition to his academic work, Dr. Maas served on the Fort Collins Water Board, which advises city council, acting as a quasi-judicial body. He also worked on a collaboration project with the Nature Conservancy and Dow Chemical investigating watershed ecosystem services which received the Roy Family Award for Environmental Partnership from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.
Locations:
UI-Moscow @ CNR 14
ISU-Pocatello @ Physical Sciences Room 232

or join us from anywhere on Zoom at https://uidaho.zoom.us/j/943388763388763Or iPhone one-tap (US Toll): +16465588656,,943388763# or +16468769923,,943388763#
Or Telephone:
Dial: +1 646 558 8656 (US Toll) or +1 646 876 9923 (US Toll)
Meeting ID: 943 388 763

2017 Outreach Program Request for Proposals (RFP)

The COMET® Program announces its 2017 Outreach Program Request for Proposals (RFP) for NWS/Office of Water Prediction/National Water Center (NWC) Cooperative and Partners Projects:

• NWC Cooperative Projects: COMET anticipates awarding two-four competitively reviewed, 1-2-year projects, each with a budget maximum of $40,000. The deadline for submission of a preliminary synopsis is October 2, 2017, with the final proposal due December 15, 2017. For more information, please see NWC Cooperative Projects RFP and the guidelines for NWC Cooperative Project proposal submissions.
• NWC Partners Projects: COMET is currently accepting 1-year NWC Partners proposals (budgets limited to $15,000). Proposals will be reviewed as received, and approved submissions will be funded until program resources are expended. For more information, please see NWC RFP Details. It is anticipated that up to six projects will be awarded. For details on these projects, see NWC Partners Proposals.

2017 Annual Washington State Conference October 3rd, 2017 – Seattle, Washington

American Water Resources Association Washington Section
2017 Annual Washington State Conference
October 3rd, 2017 – Seattle, Washington
“The 100 Year Anniversary of the Washington Water Code:
Where We Came From and Where We’re Going”
Mountaineers Seattle Program Center, 7700 Sand Point Way NE
8:00 AM to 5:00 PM (Reception 5:00 to 7:00 PM)
More information

The 100 year Anniversary