The IWRSP team has a range of technical skillsets to address the emerging research problems related to water quality, quantity, and security. Research is divided into thrust areas focused on five areas of collaborative excellence: 1) health, 2) security, 3) energy and the environment, 4) human and social development, and 5) sustainability.
IWRSP Research Thrust 1: Hydrology, Hydrogeology, and Flood Control
- Hydrology — climate and hydrologic cycle; precipitation, runoff, and baseflow; land usage and hydrology; surface water and geomorphology
- Hydrogeology — aquifer characterization; groundwater storage; effects of climate change on water availability, ecosystems, people, health, agriculture, and economy
- Flood Control — flood warning systems and mitigation
- Water Supply and Agriculture
- Rainwater Harvesting
IWRSP Research Thrust 2: Water Chemistry, Contaminants, Nutrients, and Public Health
- Water Chemistry — water quality (surface water, groundwater, stormwater) analysis and assessment; laboratory and field capabilities for analyzing water chemistry; chemical modeling; isotopic investigation
- Contaminants and Nutrients — regulated and emerging contaminants; natural and anthropogenic contaminants; nutrients (N and P) in water bodies; pathogens and viruses; mobilization processes of contaminants and nutrients; spatial and temporal distribution of contaminants; organic matter characterization
- Public Health — contaminants of health concerns; risk assessment
- Ocean Chemistry — biogeochemical cycling in oceans; terrestrial influx
IWRSP Research Thrust 3: Advanced Water Treatment and Reuse
- Advanced Water Treatment — reverse osmosis; brackish groundwater desalination; brine minimization; advanced oxidation
- Reuse — direct and indirect potable reuse; brackish groundwater desalination
- Artificial Aquifer Recharge
- Bench-Scale and Pilot Scale Capabilities
- Clean Water Technology
IWRSP Research Thrust 4: Monitoring and Modeling of Water Resources and Climate
- Water Budget — mapping and modeling of water availability and usage
- Water Quality Modeling — flow and reactive transport modeling
- Water Systems Modeling — geospatial, remote sensing, hydrogeological, and chemical modeling of water systems under changing climatic scenarios
- Arctic Ice, Permafrost, and Environmental Sustainability
- Projected Water Resources
IWRSP Research Thrust 5: Sustainable Water Use, Reuse, and Policy Research
- Water Usage — current and projected water usages
- Water Reuse — direct and indirect potable water reuse options
- Water Policy Analysis and Research — effective communication, education, and advocacy; improved financial and economic approaches; legal and institutional arrangements; technology; infrastructure
- Hydro-Economics
- Demography and Water Utility of Texas and Across
IWRSP Research Thrust 6: Aquifer Sustainability, Groundwater Resources, and Ecology
- Sustainable Usage of Aquifer — current and projected water usages; groundwater resources; fresh, brackish, and saline groundwater; confined and unconfined groundwater; Karst geomorphology, hydrology, and environment; irrigation practices in Texas and water availability; changes in land use pattern
- Aquifer Ecology — microbial ecology of producing aquifers that impact the water quality; biotic fluxes and species interactions in groundwater; aquatic endangered species, wetland habitation, and restoration; functions of groundwater ecosystems; ecological basis for groundwater management
IWRSP Research Thrust 7: Cross Border Water Solutions
- Transboundary Aquifers Study — groundwater availability and sustainable usage; flow and reactive transport modeling to ensure safe water across the border; policy analysis and research related to cross border water systems; utility of social science in applied hydrologic research in U.S.-Mexico transboundary aquifers; cooperative framework for the transboundary aquifer assessment
IWRSP Research Thrust 8: Water and STEM Education
- Broadening and Diversifying Participation in STEM to all Learners — using STEM to solve grand challenges related to water quality and quantity.
- Deepening Learners' Knowledge in STEM as a Lens to Promote Water Quality Literacy
- Understand water as a fundamental condition for all life forms
- Understand and address local and global challenges for equitable access to clean water
- Understand and address availability and sustainability of clean water to all human beings
- Engaging International Communities of Practice — through water science, systems thinking, and model-based reasoning to foster disciplinary integration in STEM as a lens to improve quality of life and protect the environment.
