Center for Watershed Reservoir Assessment and Management

The Center for Watershed Reservoir Assessment and Management was created in order to better study water usage.

Projections show that by 2050, water as a resource will be scarce in the southwestern and western regions of the United States. By looking at areas of population growth and development, the center staff can predict if and where reservoirs will be needed to sustain growth.

Center members, primarily UNT faculty and graduate students, use geographic information systems to map out urban and rural areas over time to see how populations grow and expand in the West and Southwest. They then assess the amount of water in the regions to determine if they will support the growth.

In addition, they examine how society deals with water quantity and water quality, such as urban watershed, sedimentary runoff and the effects of chemicals on water and aquatic life, as the population continues to grow.

The research is used not only for academic and governmental purposes, but also to educate children and teachers about the importance of water and its conservation through the Elm Fork Education Center and the resources of the Environmental Education, Science and Technology Building.

Tom Waller, Regents Professor of biological sciences, currently heads the center. He can be contacted via e-mail at waller@unt.edu.

BY WILLIAM ABERCROMBIE paiswri2@unt.edu

Other featured articles in this issue:

• Regents confirm Lee Jackson as new UNT System chancellor
• There's a new bird on campus
• Summer graduation is Aug. 10
• About the commencement speaker
• Mean Green Village to return to practice field for Homecoming 2002
• UNT enters agreement with Mexican university
• 2002 Summer II enrollment climbs 8.5 percent over 2001
• UNT professor works to predict a fire's probable pathway
• UNT group ranks among the world's best computer security teams

homepage