Environmental Monitoring Commons^™

Community Water Systems, Joanne Hilton, Susan Kelly, Sarah Armstrong

Water Matters!

Apart from the major cities along the Rio Grande corridor, much of New Mexico remains relatively rural. Recent studies estimate a 2013population of around 2,085,500 statewide. In the state fiscal year 2011,about 1,836,000 people, or 88 percent of New Mexico’s population obtain their water from community water systems. Approximately 284,000 people, or about14 percent of the population, receive their drinking water from community water systems serving fewer than 5,000 people. As of 2012, there are 1,148 public water systems that provide drinking water in New Mexico. Of these systems, 593are community water systems; of these, 546 serve fewer than 5,000 …

Deep Water Regulation, Paul Bossert, Kari Olson

Water Matters!

With most of the surface water in New Mexico fully appropriated and with groundwater sources being drawn down and becoming less reliable, the search for new sources of water is reaching further and further afield of traditional sources and methods. Water wells deeper than 2,000 feet have been rare due to the expense of deep drilling and the uncertainty of finding potable water. Yet the combined circumstances of advances in hydrology and the escalating demand for new water have driven the search for water deeper than was previously considered practical.

Water Marketing, Jeremy Oat, Laura Paskus

Water Matters!

Water doesn’t just flow around New Mexico in streams and rivers: it also moves around on paper. Since all of the state’s surface-water and most of its groundwater have already been allocated, the only way for cities, developers, or conservation organizations to find new water supplies is to buy and transfer water rights from old uses and places to new uses and places. The N.M. Office of the State Engineer (OSE) approves each of these transfers, most of which are relatively small, but the numbers can add up over time. Between 1982 and 2011, for instance, 21,000 acre-feet of Middle …

Water Quality Regulation, Joanne Hilton, Susan Kelly, James Hogan, Kimberly Kirby, Jerry Schoeppner

Water Matters!

While many of the water issues in New Mexico center around having an adequate supply of water, the quality of the water is just as important as the quantity in supplying water for drinking and other uses that rely on clean water. Protecting water quality is financially more feasible than conducting expensive cleanup programs. New Mexico has a strong interest in water quality regulation to protect public health and the environment and to minimize expenditures for mitigation of contaminated supplies. Water quality is a difficult subject to navigate; there is a complex web of statutes and agency involvement. This paper …

Water Litigation In The Lower Rio Grande, Darcy S. Bushnell

Water Matters!

The water allocation issues are hotly contested in south-central New Mexico and the surrounding area. Today, the river and those who depend on it face more administrative challenges in the face of shrinking water supplies and increased population. These challenges have given rise to two ongoing lawsuits: the Lower Rio Grande Adjudication,New Mexico v. EBID, et al., 96-CV-888 (1996) (N.M. v. EBID) in the New Mexico Third Judicial District Court (adjudication court) and the New Mexico v. United States,et al., D.N.M. 11-CV-691 (2011) (N.M. v.U.S.) in United States District Court of New Mexico (U.S. District Court).

Eastern New Mexico Rural Water System (Ute Pipeline Project), Jerold Widdison, Paul Van Gulick, Darcy S. Bushnell

Water Matters!

The Ute Pipeline Project (Project), officially known as the Eastern New Mexico Rural Water System (ENMRWS),is a 151-mile-long pipeline project to provide a sustainable municipal and industrial water supply for several eastern New Mexico communities and a military base. The Congress authorized major federal funding for the Ute Pipeline in the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009. This important milestone for the project was reached after about 45 years of effort.Attention now shifts to myriad details involved in actually constructing, financing,and administering the project.

The Rio Grande As An International River, Margaret J. Vick

Water Matters!

The Rio Grande is divided into two major river reaches and has different legal regimes for each. New Mexico is primarily concerned with the Rio Grande from the headwaters in Colorado to Ft. Quitman in Texas, a distance of approximately 670 miles. This section of the river is the subject of the1906 Rio Grande Convention (Treaty) between the United States and Mexico. The lower section of the Rio Grande from Ft. Quitman to the Gulf of Mexico is the subject of the 1944 Rivers Treaty between the United States and Mexico; the 1944 Rivers Treaty also includes the Colorado and …

Mapping And Decomposing Scale-Dependent Soil Moisture Variability Within An Inner Bluegrass Landscape, Carla Landrum

Theses and Dissertations--Plant and Soil Sciences

There is a shared desire among public and private sectors to make more reliable predictions, accurate mapping, and appropriate scaling of soil moisture and associated parameters across landscapes. A discrepancy often exists between the scale at which soil hydrologic properties are measured and the scale at which they are modeled for management purposes. Moreover, little is known about the relative importance of hydrologic modeling parameters as soil moisture fluctuates with time. More research is needed to establish which observation scales in space and time are optimal for managing soil moisture variation over large spatial extents and how these scales are …

Assessing Continuous Contamination Discharge From A Combined Sewer Outfall (Cso) Into A Tidal Wetland Creek: Bacteriological And Heavy Metals Indicators, Timothy Eaton, Gregory D. O'Mullan, Ashaki A. Rouff

Publications and Research

Continuous discharge from a combined sewer overflow (CSO) into a tidal wetland creek in the New York City urban area was analyzed to assess the extent of water quality degradation from fecal bacteria contamination during both dry and wet weather. A combination of fecal indicator bacteria (FIB), total suspended solids, and dissolved metals were used to infer the presence of sewage pollution from the CSO discharge and to constrain the spatial and temporal impact on water quality and dry season creek flows. Upstream of the CSO, creek flow was dominated by groundwater input, and FIB levels were very low or …

Bacillus Thuringiensis: Transgenic Crops, Julie A. Peterson, John J. Obrycki, James D. Harwood

Department of Entomology: Faculty Publications

Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) crops, genetically modified to express insecticidal toxins that target key pests of corn, cotton, rice, potato, and other crops, have been rapidly adopted and have become dominant fixtures in agroecosystems throughout the world. Due to the constitutive nature of Bt toxin expression, insecticidal proteins may be found in nearly all plant tissues, presenting multiple sources for Bt toxins to enter the environment, thus creating complex direct and indirect pathways for non-target organisms to be exposed to insecticidal proteins. The environmental impacts of Bt crops have been widely debated, although both benefits and risks do exist. Benefits of …

Experiments To Measure The Effects Of Timber Harvesting Equipment On Surface Lithic Scatters, Douglas J. Baughman

All Master's Theses

The importance of cultural resource preservation cannot be overstated; however local economies are at least as important. Due to conservative archaeological site protection practices in Region 5 of the United States Forest Service, the economy of Northeastern California is being adversely affected. In an attempt to help the Forest Service make more informed management decisions and improve the Northeastern California economy, I undertook experiments on the effects of timber harvesting on lithic scatters on Modoc National Forest. The experiments involved placement of 225 glass tiles (proxy lithics) in each of three plots subject to vehicle traffic and log dragging by …

Multi Geophysical Parameters For Earthquake Forecasting, Ramesh P. Singh

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

This article focuses on the importance of keeping the public aware of earthquake forecasting. This article also encourages proper seismic codes to design buildings in the seismic-prone regions because such practice can save lives and property associated with an earthquake.

Cave Ventilation Is Influenced By Variations In The Co2-Dependent Virtual Temperature, Enrique P. Sánchez-Cañete, Penélope Serrano-Ortiz, Francisco Domingo, Andrew S. Kowalski

International Journal of Speleology

Dynamics and drivers of ventilation in caves are of growing interest for different fields of science. Accumulated CO₂ in caves can be exchanged with the atmosphere, modifying the internal CO₂ content, affecting stalagmite growth rates, deteriorating rupestrian paintings or creating new minerals. Current estimates of cave ventilation neglect the role of high CO₂ concentrations in determining air density – approximated via the virtual temperature (T_v) –, affecting buoyancy and therefore the release or storage of CO₂. Here we try to improve knowledge and understanding of cave ventilation through the use of T …

Mine Closure Of Pit Lakes As Terminal Sinks: Best Available Practice When Options Are Limited?, C. D. Mccullough, G. Marchand, J Unseld

Research outputs 2013

In an arid climate, pit lake evaporation rates can exceed influx rates, causing the lake to function as a hydraulic terminal sink, with water levels in the pit remaining below surrounding groundwater levels. We present case studies from Western Australia for two mines nearing closure. At the first site, modelling indicates that waste dump covers for the potentially acid forming (PAF) material would not be successful over the long term (1,000 years or more). The second site is a case study where PAF management is limited by the current waste rock dump location and suitable cover materials. Pit lake water …

Millennial Scale Impact On The Marine Biogeochemical Cycle Of Mercury From Early Mining On The Iberian Peninsula, Oscar Serrano Gras, A. Martinez-Cortizas, M. A. Mateo, H. Biester, R. Bindler

Research outputs 2013

The high-resolution mercury record of a Posidonia oceanica mat in the northwest Mediterranean provides an unprecedented testimony of changes in environmental mercury (Hg) loading to the coastal marine environment over the past 4315 yr BP. The period reconstructed made it possible to establish tentative preanthropogenic background Hg levels for the area (6.8!1.5 ng g–1 in bulk sediments). A small, but significant, anthropogenic Hg increase was identifiable by ~2500 yr BP, in agreement with the beginning of intense mining in Spain. Changes in the record suggest four major periods of anthropogenic Hg pollution inputs to the Mediterranean: first, during the Roman …

Ecohydrology Effects Of An Invasive Grass (Phalaris Arundinacea) On Semi-Arid Riparian Zones, Adam D. Gebauer

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

"Riparian areas (floodplains) provide key ecological functions that are linked to the ecohydrology however; they are particularly susceptible to invasion by alien species. In much of the western United States, riparian zones are shifting from native woody and herbaceous species to invasive grass dominated ecosystems that may alter hydrology, including changes to stream flow. Compared to the woody species they often replace, dense grass stands may have higher rates of growth (productivity) and water loss through leaves (transpiration), yet may access shallower water sources and thus reduce stream flow. In eastern Washington, many streams experience low flow that degrades water …

Detection And Characterization Of Antibiotic Resistance Plasmids In Cheney Biosolids, Gaayathiri Paramasivam

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

"Biosolids are organic matter produced at the end of sewage treatment process. It has been shown that during sewage treatment, resistant bacteria are selected because of the presence of antibiotics and their byproducts. These resistant bacteria are more likely to transfer resistance genes to other bacteria. In the current study, we examined Cheney biosolids for the presence of drug resistant bacteria and the role of these bacteria in transfer of resistance genes to others. We screened 100 bacteria for drug resistance and found that 68% of the isolates were resistant to two or more drugs tested. Plasmids were separated from …

Nevada Interagency Volunteer Program: Helping Hands Across Public Lands—Phase Ii: Final Project Report, December 31, 2012, Margaret N. Rees

Get Outdoors Nevada

• Maintained a central clearinghouse created for Southern Nevada public lands volunteers, including: ─ an online volunteer data-management application (Volgistics) adopted and customized for the program and populated with 8,500 active and 961 mailing list volunteer records ─ a community outreach Web site that currently averages 8,230 pages viewed per month since July 2007 and has aided in the recruitment of 11,943 volunteers ─ updated website to word press for sustainability ─ branding development and marketing and outreach tool creation
• Updated Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for all areas of Interagency Volunteer Program Management—recruitment, training, recognition, retention of volunteers, event planning, and …

U.S. Drought Monitor, December 25, 2012, Richard R. Heim Jr.

United States Agricultural Commodities in Drought Archive

Drought map of the United States for December 25, 2012 (12/25/12) plus: United States crop areas experiencing drought (map), an approximate percentage of crop located in drought by state (bar graph), and the percentage of crop area located in drought during the past 52 weeks (line graph) for hay, cattle, and winter wheat.

Information Content Of Seasonal Forecasts In A Changing Climate, Nir Krakauer, Michael D. Grossberg, Irina Gladkova, Hannah Aizenman

Publications and Research

We study the potential value to stakeholders of probabilistic long-term forecasts, as quantified by the mean information gain of the forecast compared to climatology. We use as a case study the USA Climate Prediction Center (CPC) forecasts of 3-month temperature and precipitation anomalies made at 0.5-month lead time since 1995. Mean information gain was positive but low (about 2% and 0.5% of the maximum possible for temperature and precipitation forecasts, resp.) and has not increased over time. Information-based skill scores showed similar patterns to other, non-information-based, skill scores commonly used for evaluating seasonal forecasts but tended to be smaller, suggesting …