Water Resources

Many of the tribes that have been most successful in getting their voice heard in resource protection have used education, says Elizabeth Hoover, a Brown University assistant professor and researcher of environmental health and justice in native communities. “If you don’t have people in your community with those science degrees, they [state and federal agencies] don’t see you as qualified,” she says.

In 1982, the Hydrology Section of AGU was granted access to a portion of the income of the Robert E. Horton Fund for Hydrologic Research. This permitted the initiation of the Horton Research Grant for Ph.D. students, with a purpose to promote excellence through encouragement of the next generation of professionals in the hydrological sciences. The first Horton Research Grant was awarded in 1983. Each year the grant has been awarded to up to three students during their candidacy for a Ph.D. degree in hydrology, water resources, or a closely related field.

Local differences in rainfall can be a key factor in how a river erodes its riverbed, altering the chemical weathering and weakening of riverbed rock, according to a new study published in the journal Nature.

As part of the White House Water Summit, hosted today in honor of World Water Day, more than 150 institutions have announced their efforts to enhance the sustainability of water in the United States by managing our water resources and infrastructure for the long term. Commitments by two groups with ties to the Energy & Resources Group (ERG) are included:

Dipti Vaghela is passionate about micro hydro. Vaghela’s organization, the Hydropower Empowerment Network, takes a country-by-country approach to rural electrification, helping micro hydro and other technologies take root in places where electricity is expensive and hard – or even impossible – to come by. Her goal? To bring electricity in a sustainable and participatory way to places that need it.

Have you ever wondered how wetlands provide services to you and your community? If not, you are not alone. However, there are examples all across the country of ways that wetlands and the state programs that protect them are providing significant benefits to you. Wetlands are known as natural filters and sponges that absorb water. With these attributes, they provide invaluable functions for slowing and storing water from storm events in ways that limit flood damage. They filter pollutants out of runoff. They store carbon. They buffer the land