New Mexico Water Resources Research Institute

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New Mexico Water Resources Research Institute
MISSION Conduct research on New Mexico water
resources problems. Train students to become
tomorrows water professionals. Disseminate
results of research.
Presentation made by Dr. Bobby Creel, Associate
Director, WRRI to NMSU Chemical Engineering
Seminar on March 16, 2007.
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- Established in 1963 - Headquartered at NMSU -
Funding from Federal, State, and private sources
- One of 54 institutes nationwide - Member of
National Institutes for Water Resources
NMHU
UNM
ENMU
NMT
WNMU
NMSU
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- Member of Powell Consortium
Arizona Water Resources Research Center
California Water Resources Center Colorado
Water Resources Research Institute Nevada
Water Resources Center New Mexico Water
Resources Research Institute Oklahoma Water
Research Institute Texas Water Research
Institute Utah Water Research Laboratory
Wyoming Water Research Program
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1. Encourages university faculty to pursue
critical areas of water resources research 2.
Provides training opportunities for students who
will become our future water resources
scientists, technicians, and managers
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Research Priorities

• Water Conservation, planning and management
• Atmospheric-surface-groundwater relationships
• Water Quality
• Utilization of Saline and other Impaired Waters

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Research Program RFPs Projects database PI
Guidelines
wrri.nmsu.edu/research/researchprogram.html
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Seed Money Grant Program Support of small "seed
money" projects allows State University faculties
to explore and develop research ideas that can
attract more substantial outside funding. This is
done with the federal base grant (Section 104B of
the Water Resources Research Act - Public Law
98-242 as amended) and part of the funds
provided by the State of New Mexico. These
grants are limited to 30,000 per year and may be
up to 3 years in duration. These grants are
available to any tenure track faculty member in
any department at any of the state's 6
universities (UNM, NMTech, NMSU, NMHU, NMWU,
NMEU). There were 9 awards made in the 2005-06
program. Announcement of FY08 FRP expected in
early summer.
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• Current seed projects

Mitigation of Membrane Biofouling by Harnessing
Bacterial Cannibalism New Mexico Tech Frank
Huang, Department of Civil and Environmental
Engineering and Snezna Rogelj, Department of
Biology A major problem with treating produced
water with membrane separation is that its
large-scale implementation has been plagued by
the reoccurring biofouling of the membranes and
the associated high operating costs. Conventional
de-fouling techniques, such as acid and
alkaline/detergent cleaning, are generally
ineffective. This research looks at using
bacterias ability to eat their neighboring
siblings under nutrient-limited conditions and
feed on the released nutrients. This
cannibalism may be used to control membrane
biofouling. A Physically Based Parsimonious
Approach for Spatial Disaggregation and Recovery
of NEXRAD Precipitation Data in Mountainous
Terrains New Mexico Tech John Wilson, Department
of Earth and Environmental Sciences Mountain
rains are a major source of fresh water in New
Mexico. Characterizing the spatial variability of
precipitation is critical for understanding and
predicting both natural and human-influenced
hydrologic responses, like recharge, runoff, and
reservoir releases. NEXRAD radar is used to
provide continuous temporal and spatial
precipitation data. This study provides a
statistical approach to improve the quality of
NEXRAD estimation, which will be valuable to
water resources managers, water regulators,
planners, and decision makers like the Office of
the State Engineer and the Interstate Stream
Commission.
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• Current seed projects (continued)

Development of Geospatial Modeling Tools for
Watershed-based Water Resources Management in New
Mexico New Mexico Tech Enrique Vivoni,
Department of Earth and Environmental
Sciences Providing decision makers with better
forecasts of water supply is the aim of this
research that will develop new geospatial
modeling tools for managing water supplies in New
Mexico using scientific knowledge on climate,
surface, and groundwater relations. Although the
modeling results are sophisticated, they will be
made amenable to water managers via the web in a
similar fashion to existing drought maps. The
modeling tool is expected to provide detailed
simulation capabilities for flood and drought
forecasting, estimate runoff, evaporation and
aquifer recharge, and simulate basin water
storage and supply. Predicting Land Use Change
and its Effect on Nonpoint Source
Pollution University of New Mexico Jennifer
Thacher and Janie Chermak, Department of
Economics This project will provide an economic
model of land use change within the Middle Rio
Grande basin. The model will be used to predict
future land use patterns in the region and to
estimate future nonpoint pollution levels. City
managers and water quality agencies could use
this model for planning purposes.
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• Current seed projects (continued)

Estimating Water Use Through Satellite Remote
Sensing New Mexico State University Max
Bleiweiss and Rhonda Skaggs, College of
Agriculture and Home Economics and Zohrab Samani
College of Engineering This project will develop
software to provide regional ET maps from the
NASA-TERRA satellite. These maps can be used to
help schedule irrigation. The maps will also
allow for assessing the impact of water
conservation policies on a regional basis by
measuring water use before and after the
implementation of policies. Real time ET maps
will be made available to the public thereby
allowing farmers to compare the water use of
different crops and determine the best irrigation
schedule. Land Application of Industrial
Effluent on a Chihuahuan Desert Ecosystem New
Mexico State University, John Mexal and Ted
Sammis, Department of Agronomy and
Horticulture Using conventional treatment
technologies to treat wastewater to a high
standard is not always practical, especially in
communities that lack the required infrastructure
and cannot afford the installation and
maintenance. This research looks at land
application systems, a biological treatment
technology that has low costs and easy management
compared to conventional technologies. This
project will evaluate a land application system
installed at the West Mesa Industrial Park near
the city of Las Cruces.
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• Current seed projects (continued)

Solar Desalination of Brackish Water Using
Membrane Distillation Process New Mexico State
University Shuguang Deng, Department of Chemical
Engineering This project is evaluating the
technical and economic feasibility of a solar
evaporative desalination process that uses
membrane distillation technology. Membrane
distillation is a relatively new process that is
being looked at worldwide as a low cost, energy
saving alternative to conventional separation
processes such as distillation and reverse
osmosis. The technology uses a porous hydrophobic
membrane that excludes liquid from the pores but
not vapors. The process can be operated at a
lower temperature than regular thermal
distillation. This process could be powered with
New Mexicos solar energy. Sustainable Recovery
of Potable Water from Saline Waters New Mexico
State University Nirmala Khandan, Department of
Civil and Geological Engineering This project is
developing a solar-powered desalination system
and will conduct pilot scale studies on the
system. The approach has the potential for wider
applications in reclaiming high quality water
from wastewaters and industrial side streams such
as produced waters from oil fields. An advantage
to this approach is that it does not consume
nonrenewable energy resources, reduces reliance
on energy imports, and is not harmful to the
environment.
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• Current seed projects (continued)

Utilization of Saline and Other Impaired Waters
for Turfgrass Irrigation New Mexico State
University Bernd Leinauer, Department of
Extension Plant Sciences and Ryan Goss,
Department of Agronomy and Horticulture This
project looks at trying to make use of the vast
amount of brackish water in New Mexico by
determining if saline and other impaired waters
can be utilized for turf irrigation. New and
improved salt tolerant warm season grasses have
made the prospect of using these grasses in
conjunction with saline irrigation water quite
promising. These grasses are now being tested for
their combined cold hardiness and salt tolerance
under harsh high altitude climate conditions.
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NMWRRI initiated a student research grant program
in FY 2003. This initial grant program was made
possible by an increase in state appropriations
and resulted in the award of 12 grants to
students in the state's universities. These
grants were limited to 5,000 and 1 year. These
student research grants are available to any
full-time graduate or undergraduate student in
any degree program at any of the state's 6
universities.
Jesus Q. Cantu, Department of Physics (advisor
Jacob Urquidi), New Mexico State University,
Characterization of Heavy Metal Binding by
Functional Groups Found in Biomaterials Ryan
McShane, Department of Fishery and Wildlife
Sciences (advisor David Cowley), New Mexico
State University, Community and Ecosystem
Effects of a Nonnative Fish in Refugia in an
Intermittent Stream Implications for Native Fish
Restoration Kristin Swaim, Department of Fishery
and Wildlife Sciences (advisor Wiebke J.
Boeing), New Mexico State University, Relating
Fish Abundance and Condition to Environmental
Factors in Desert Sinkholes David J. VanHorn,
Department of Biology (advisor Clifford Dahm),
University of New Mexico, The Effects of
Eutrophication on the Structure and Function of
Stream Biofilms Matthew F. Kirk, Department of
Earth and Planetary Sciences (advisor Laura
Crossey), University of New Mexico, Experimental
and Numerical Modeling Analysis of
Arsenic-sulfide Precipitation in Groundwater
Environments
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• Student Research Grants (continued)

Irene M. Roselli, Department of Biology (advisor
Marvin M.F. Lutnesky), Eastern New Mexico
University, The Influence of Predator Detection
on Life History Strategies in DAPHNIA Nicole M.
Harings, Department of Biology, (advisor Marvin
M.F. Lutnesky), Eastern New Mexico University,
The Influence of Larval Culiseta sp. (Diptera
Culicidae) on Behavior and Growth Rate of Tadpole
Shrimp Triops longicaudatus (LeConte)
(Notostraca Triopsidae) Chemanji Shu-Nyamboli
and Joel Lowry, Department of Natural Sciences
(advisor Edward A. Martinez), New Mexico
Highlands University, Determination of Heavy
Metal Distribution in the Gallinas River Using
Aquatic Macrophytes Carlos R. Herrera,
Department of Natural Sciences (advisor Michael
L. Meyer), New Mexico Highlands University,
Uranium and Heavy Metals in Macroinvertebrates
in the Santa Fe River on the Cochiti
Reservation Marty D. Frisbee, Department of
Earth and Environmental Science (advisor Fred
Phillips), New Mexico Tech, Runoff Processes and
the Evolution of Water Chemistry in the Saguache
Creek Watershed of the Upper Rio Grande
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• Student Research Grants (continued)

Taufique Mahmood, Department of Earth and
Environmental Science (advisor Enrique Vivoni),
New Mexico Tech, Use of Remotely Sensed
Observations for Improved Distributed
Hydrological Modeling in the Jemez River
Basin Katrina Koski, Department of Earth and
Environmental Science (advisor Penelope J.
Boston), New Mexico Tech, Multi-disciplinary
Analysis of a New Mexico Cold Water Tufa Spring
Mound
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During the last three decades, WRRI has 1.
Administered over 300 research and educational
projects, funded from federal, state, local and
privates sources, led by approximately 250
investigators statewide. 2. These research
projects have resulted in publication of over 337
technical reports.
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3. Provides an outlet for transferring research
findings and other related information to keep
water managers and the general public apprised of
new technology and research advances. 4.
Maintains a unique infrastructure that links it
with many federal, state, regional, and local
entities to provide expertise and specialized
assistance.
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Publication series

• Technical reports

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• Water Conference Proceedings

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• Miscellaneous reports

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• Other reports

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• Newsletter

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• Conferences Symposia

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Facilities
A reference room located at WRRI includes over
10,000 books, technical reports, periodicals and
maps. A Geographic
Information System (GIS) laboratory
for water resources data. web
servers http//wrri.nmsu.edu/ -- Gateway to
NMWRRI information and data. http//river.nmsu.edu
/ -- NMWRRI GIS Laboratory projects
http//water.nmsu.edu/ -- Internet Map server
for the New Mexico Rio Grande Basin Initiative