Water Resources Research Act Program

Details for Project ID 2003FL39B

Sustainable Land Application- Conference Support

Institute: Florida
Year Established: 2003 Start Date: 2003-03-01 End Date: 2004-02-28
Total Federal Funds: $16,029 Total Non-Federal Funds: $32,185

Principal Investigators: George O'Connor

Project Summary: Land application of non-hazardous materials (e.g., animal manures, biosolids, wastewater effluents, etc.) remains the most practical and economic means for farmers and municipalities to dispose of waters, while benefiting soil fertility, soil physical and microbial properties. Knowledge and understanding of the numerous waste constituent research have generated the needed information for many waste constitutes but the information tends to be waste-specific, known primarily to scientists working with specific wastes, or completely lacking, e.g. about "emerging pathogens. Presented together, this information would promote environmentally wise and sustainable land application, improve scientific/regulatory awareness of what is known, and identify research areas of high priority. We will convene an international conference in Jan '04 in FL to accomplish these lofty goals. Wastes, soils, and hydrology unique to FL will be considered. Experts on soil reactions of Metals, Nutrients, Pathogens, and Organic Compounds have been solicited to (collectively) prepare state0of-the-science summaries of research on constituents in carious non-hazardous wastes. With audience participation, high priority research needs will be on-hand to guide science interpretation and research agendas for the future. Results of the conference will be disseminated at the conference (abstract book), on a website following the conference, and in a series of per-reviewed journal articles. We expect the conference to have wide appeal, and have already received sponsor support to offset some of the conference costs. This proposal requests USGS/FL WRRC support to further aid in the technology transfer effort.