EXECUTIVE SUMMARY CONTENTS:
The National Institutes for Water Resources is a network of Research Institutes in every state. They conduct basic and applied research to solve water problems unique to their area. The bulk of Institute funding comes from non-federal sources.
The Water Resources Research Act authorized by P.L. 101-397 provides for Water Resources Research Institutes in each of the 50 states, the trust territories, and the District of Columbia. The programmatic responsibilities stipulated by the Water Resources Research Act provide a unified focus for the federal and non-federal components of the Institute Program. Under the Act, these institutes are to:
The Water Resources Research Institute for each state is located at a college or university designated by the Governor or State Legislature. Funding for the Institutes program requires a 2:1 non-federal match and must meet the following criteria as specified in Section 104 (d):
"Prior to and as a condition of the receipt each fiscal year of funds appropriated under subsection (f) of this section, each institute shall submit to the Secretary for his approval a water research program that includes assurances, satisfactory to the Secretary, that such program was developed in close consultation and collaboration with the director of that State departmen of water resources or similar agency, other leading water resources official within the State, and interested members of the public."
The state based program promotes research, training, information dissemination, and other activities meeting the needs of the States and Nation, and encourages regional cooperation among institutes in research into areas of water management, development, and conservation that have a regional or national character.
The federal water problem solving role could be significantly reduced and transferred to the states.
Federal regulations and programs designed to solve water problems have their primary impact at the state and local level. State and local government are in a far better position to tailor solutions to local water problems than is the federal government. Significant reduction and elimination of many in house federal water management and water research programs could free up funding to be transferred to states. Directing some of these funds to WRRIs would be a far more efficient way to conduct research, get the information to the people, and solve problems than maintaining that function in the federal government.
Science to support water management should be focused at the state level.
Water management is generally recognized as a state responsibility. As such, states are in a better position than the federal government to determine the kind of information needed to support water management. Scientific expertise related to water management and critical water-related issues resides in colleges and universities for the most part, which are state-based institutions. The WRRIs play a pivotal role in that respect.
The current federal role of interstate coordination of water information and programs could be decentralized and downsized.
Many federal agencies argue that interstate coordination of state activities can only be done at the federal level. What is often being coordinated, however, are geographically dispersed federal programs which have grown in an uncontrolled and uncoordinated fashion over the years. The downsizing and elimination of unnecessary federal programs and transferring management authority and research to the states would eliminate much of the real or perceived federal coordinating role. Furthermore, whatever legitimate federal coordination role that might remain after diffusion of authority to the states could be handled largely through existing state-based organizations such as governors' associations, interstate water commissions and networks like the National Institute for Water Resources.
Separation of governmental regulatory functions from science is essential.
Most federal water management interests are generally tied to some type of regulatory role. The information needed to support federal regulatory functions is often gathered by the federal agency in charge of enforcing its own regulations. Such "in-house" science is more susceptible to political pressure to generate conclusions in support of an agency's position than is independent scientific research and technology development conducted at universities.
The National Institutes for Water Resources (NIWR) combine the capabilities of 54 Institutes located at the Land Grant University in each of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, and Guam/Federated States of Micronesia. The Institutes have over a quarter century of involvement in water problems and issues. They have established themselves as a primary link between water-related personnel in the academic community; local, state, and federal government; and the private sector.
One measure of the program's success is the amount of additional revenue that the Institutes generate. Provided with base support of approximately $5.6 million per year by direct federal appropriation, the Institutes leveraged these funds into almost $65 million in FY 1994. They attracted over $11 for every appropriated dollar, with about $3 coming from other federal funds, and $8 coming from non-federal sources. Because each Institute operates with different amounts of state and local funding, total revenues per Institute range from $200,000 to over $7 million.
None of the federal funding appropriated directly for the Institutes is used to pay overhead costs.
The Water Resources Research Act requires that the Secretary of Interior conduct a careful and detailed evaluation of each institute at least once every five years. The most recent review was carried out in 1994 by an independent panel appointed by the U.S. Geological Survey. The panel was assisted by members of a committee of the Water Science and Technology Board of the National Research Council.
Among key findings of the panel were the following:
"The WRRIs serve as a catalyst and coordinator in their respective States or territories for identification of current and anticipated water problems and issues and resulting water research needs, and for recommending priorities for initiating research projects. In this role they utilize advisory councils that include State agency, Federal agency, industry and public representatives, as well as research faculty and administrators. These councils help to provide a sharp focus on the real problems and to define many of the decision making issues toward which research should be directed. The Evaluation Panel found that this process for identifying and prioritizing research needs is well in place and functioning effectively at the majority of the WRRIs."
"Another important element of the WRRI program is the seed money concept.The Evaluation Panel found this to have two beneficial effects. The first typically involves funding of small projects to bring junior faculty into the field of water-related research (so that a larger national capability can be developed to solve water-related problems). The second allows new ideas to be explored, developed, and tested by junior and senior faculty before larger research expenditures are made. Total annual program funding of the WRRIs, now ten-fold the annual 104 Federal funding investment, further attests to the overall value of the seed-money concept and the resulting WRRI roles in problem-solving research."
"There is danger that section 104 funding is becoming too modest to attain it's goals in a number of States. In some programs the funds now support only 2-3 projects per year and information transfer efforts are being heavily impacted. Those negative impacts will become even more evident unless some means are found to increase basic funding for this program."
The 54 Institutes of NIWR are as unique as the states that they serve. Despite their diversities, a unifying theme, or core element, runs through the entire program. That core element is the programmatic responsibilities that are mandated by the Water Resources Research Act.
Administered by the Department of the Interior, the federal program provides a critical base for all Institute activities, even though it constitutes less than ten percent of total revenues. Specifically, federal authorization requirements provide positive influence on the overall program of the NIWR by:
The Institutes had significant research collaboration with 80 other universities, 147 state agencies (an average of 3 per state) and over 238 private sector or local government entities in FY94. In addition, 153 projects involved collaboration with a federal agency. Each Institute, on average, worked with over ten agencies or organizations on research efforts in FY94.
Consistent with authorizing legislation, a common thread of program components links all Institutes. Although the relative percentages may vary, each Institute conducts research, information transfer, and education/ training activities. In FY94, program administration costs accounted for only 9% of the total budget.
RESEARCH
With 69% of their annual budgets targeted to research, the Water Institutes manage research projects addressing a wide range of problems and issues. Representatives of the water interests in each state participate in the research program development. This results in research programs that individually target local, state and regional needs, and that collectively address issues of national priority. Recent high priority research topics focus on issues involving water quality (both ground and surface water) and toxic substances. Over 800 projects were funded in FY94, at an average cost of about $42,000 per project.
INFORMATION TRANSFERThe Institutes maintain a vigorous program to transfer technical information from the producer to the user. The primary means of communicating research results is through written reports, theses, journal articles, books, and major conferences. Nearly one-fourth of the publications are in refereed journals. Most publications are also available on the Internet and the National Technical Information Service.
In addition to disseminating information to the scientific community, the Water Institutes provide outreach to other research users through newsletters and conferences.
Specifically:
The Institute Program helps to insure a continuing flow of water scientists and managers to the profession. The training program includes professional and academic training on campus and continuing education off campus. Students receive professional training by participating in Institute-sponsored research and information transfer projects. Seminars and specialized course work for graduate and undergraduate students are also sponsored. In each of the past two years over 1,200students received training through the program.
Several Institutes sponsor off-campus continuing education programs and/or special courses. These short courses provide current information for water professionals, and for primary and secondary school teachers and pupils.
Each Institute takes pride in its ability to support projects that are relevant to their individual state and regional needs. Recognition for quality accomplishments has come from both the academic and professional communities as well as state and local agencies. Some notable achievements for FY1994 include:
The Utah Water Research Laboratory (UWRL) researchers pioneered the application of bioventing to clean up petroleum spills. This technology has now been transferred to practitioners and is being used at more than 50 sites in Utah at 25-50% of the cost of conventional remediation techniques.
The UWRL has also conducted laboratory investigations which have provided numerous options for cost-saving methods for improving the performance of dam spillways in Utah. These investigations can be expected to play an important role in future dam safety rehabilitation in the state. Savings of at least ten million dollars have already been reported by one Utah dam owner who applied dam safety evaluation procedures developed by the UWRL.
The California Water Resources Control Board has designated a task force to address issues raised by a Water Resources Center report entitled Management of Coarse Sediments on Regulated Rivers. The task force will attempt to solve a state-wide problem concerning erosion of riparian areas and river beds.
The Oregon Water Resources Research Institute recently completed a comprehensive study of the impact of gravel removal from Oregon streams. Limited gravel removal appears to be compatible with maintaining salmonid populations in streams. Several recommendations have been made concerning the present permitting and monitoring process used by Oregon s Division of State Lands. The report will be used by the 1995 Oregon Legislature to draft further legislation to protect Oregon streams.
The Virginia Institute sponsored a two year project on a Colorimetric Viral Detection Technique which has been patented and is now under commercial development by Dominion Biosciences in conjunction with the Virginia Center for Innovative Technology.
A small grant in 1988 of $10,000 by the Wyoming Water Resources Center led to over $1.0 million in additional research funding and the development of a high-tech company in Laramie, Detection Limit Technology, which specializes in sensors for contaminants and industrial manufacturing control processes.
The Arizona Water Resources Research Center published a highly regarded Issue Paper entitled Indian Water Rights: Negotiating the Future with combined support from the Institute and the Ford Foundation. The Institute prepared jointly with the State of Arizona a bilingual (English/Spanish) Field Manual for Water Quality Sampling to help address environmental problems along the U.S.-Mexico border.
The Arkansas Water Resources Center study of poultry litter effects on water quality was submitted to the Arkansas Soil and Water Conservation Commission. This is of special importance because Moore's Creek is located in the Illinois River Basin along the Oklahoma-Arkansas border. The Illinois River was the focus of a Supreme Court case on water quality between these two states. The Center is continuing to make major contributions to Arkansas' groundwater protection plan in working with the Arkansas State Plant Board and the Arkansas Soil and Water Conservation Commission.
Best Management Practices for Irrigated Agriculture, A Guide for Colorado Producers was published by the Colorado Water Resources Research Institute in conjunction with the Soil & Crop Sciences Department at Colorado State University, Cooperative Extension Service, and the Northern Colorado Conservancy District.
Research outcomes from small seed grants from the North Dakota Institute have resulted in founding a new company and receipt of joint funding with the Unisys Corporation of St. Paul in the amount of $1.6 million for commercialization of the Rapid Optical Screening Tool for groundwater contaminants.
At the request of the Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Cabinet of the State of Kentucky, the Kentucky Institute entered into a five year Memorandum of Agreement with the Division of Water Management of the State to assist in the environmental oversight of all federal facilities in Kentucky. A team of professional staff and faculty members interact with the contractors for the Department of Energy and the Department of Defense as it relates to various remediation actions at these sites.
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