The West Virginia Water Research Institute (WVWRI) at West Virginia University is slated to receive five awards totaling $1.67 million to conduct water research in the state.

The announcement was made by WVWRI Director Paul Ziemkiewicz during opening remarks at the public forum,Water Issues in the Appalachian Region,held Thursday and Friday, Oct. 2-3, at the WVU College of Law. Organized by the West Virginia Law Review, the forum was sponsored by the WVWRI .

The Institute, located at the National Research Center for Coal&Energy at WVU , seeks to improve West Virginias water quality and increase understanding of ways to manage and protect water resources in the state.

We dont want to be caught by surprise when we dont have enough water 30 years from now,Ziemkiewicz told the forum audience.We need to look ahead. The funds we will receive will allow us to do research on water quality, quantity and use. We look to the states citizens through forums like this one to help guide our work.

The Institute has already received two of the awards, while the remaining three are in various stages of negotiation. The two funded projects include the acid drainage technology initiative with a $198,700 award from the U.S. Office of Surface Mining and urbanization and climate change impacts on the Great Valley karst aquifer in West Virginia with $230,000 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The three pending projects include developing strategies for cooling electric generating facilities using mine water, classifying Appalachian headwater stream impairment for remediation and management, and improving the safety of coal slurry impoundments.

Ziemkiewicz attributes the institutes success to the development of strong, multi-disciplinary research teams.

Our strategy of teaming with faculty across the university works well in attracting the attention of federal funding agencies precisely because we can address highly complex issues that no single researcher could handle,he said.

The researchers include Ziemkiewicz, Bruce Leavitt, Jim Stiles, and John Quaranta from the WVWRI , Assistant Research Professor Dorothy Vesper and Associate Professor Joe Donovan from the Department of Geology and Geography in the WVU Eberly College of Arts and Sciences, and Professors Jeff Skousen and Louis McDonald of the Division of Plant and Soil Science and Todd Petty of the Forestry Division in the WVU Davis College of Agriculture, Forestry and Consumer Sciences.