Water Resources Research Act Program

Details for Project ID 2009MT201B

Statewide Education and Outreach

Institute: Montana
Year Established: 2009 Start Date: 2009-03-01 End Date: 2010-02-28
Total Federal Funds: $29,485 Total Non-Federal Funds: $64,110

Principal Investigators: Steve Guettermann, Mary Jo Nehasil

Project Summary: The Montana Water Center holds a unique position within the Montana University System. It supports and advises Montana State legislators, legislative committees and the Governors office on water resource issues. For the upcoming program year, these issues will include water quality and water quantity issues, drinking water treatment and delivery, waste water treatment, aquatic nuisance species and their control, drought, nonpoint source pollution, water borne toxic substances and organisms, aquatic species and habitat preservation, climate change studies and information transfer, watershed protection and restoration, and more.

The Montana Water Center partners with state and federal resource management agencies and university faculty to conduct conferences and symposia that disseminate the latest research findings on water resources and management. Its on-the-ground and on-the-web outreach channels water information to decision-makers and the general public throughout the state. Its participation in regional and national networks brings it into contact with water management approaches from other states that could hold promise in Montana. These approaches will be distilled at conferences and professional gatherings the Water Center sponsors to assure new possibilities are vetted in a critical, but constructive, format. Because of water quality and water quantity issues faced in the state brought on by such things as a long term drought and potential climate change, development and changes in land use, and nonpoint source pollution, water resource managers and policy makers throughout the state have asked the Water Center to provide the science necessary to make sound decisions regarding water management. It is imperative to the state of Montana that the Water Center has the capacity to answer these requests for information and bring science and people together in ways that address the highest needs of its Montana audiences.

With funding, Water Center will make significant additions to its Water Center, Montana Water and Montana Watershed Coordination Council websites. The centers computer specialist successfully developed website podcasts to enhance its websites and more podcasts and animated-types of information transfer will be used in the coming year, if funded, to the sites to help ensure appropriate information is available for water management decisions. The Center sees this as a key to success: that is to provide decision makers with accurate and detailed information when they need it.