Water Resources Research Act Program

Principal Investigators: Susan Riha, Stephen Shaw

Abstract: The Director and staff of the NYS Water Resources Institute carry out numerous facilitation and public service activities each year. Many of the activities are initiated in conjunction with multidisciplinary projects funded externally to the Water Resources Research Act. In order to cross-link the WRRA activities in this program to many other WRI activities, a small portion of WRRA resources are devoted to information transfer and professional networking. The primary objective of this activity is to build knowledge and awareness with partners across New York State in universities, Federal & State agencies and other key constituencies in environmental, water supply, agricultural, and other sectors. In FY10, much of our emphasis will continued to be placed on two emerging issues of significant importance to New York State: adapting water resources to climate change and gas well drilling in the Marcellus Shale. We engage our stakeholders and partners through a variety of mechanism, including: convening / attending meetings, hosting workshops and seminars, and through telephone calls and electronic mail exchanges. We will also continue to support our revitalized website. We are continuously improving its functionality to make it as interactive and up-to-date as possible. Recent activities therein includes a gas well drilling 'blog' that is used as a forum for discussing recent progress in the ongoing environmental review of this activity in New York.