UNL Faculty Provide Updates to the Water Resources Advisory Panel

By Rachael Herpel,
Outreach and Education Specialist, UNL Water Center and NU Rural Initiative

The University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Water Resources Advisory Panel (WRAP) met January 22, 2009, to kick off its fourth year as an important source of guidance for UNL’s water research, education and outreach programming.

When WRAP first met in 2006, the group focused on prioritizing state water research needs. While water quality research needs have yet to be officially added to the priority list, a recent review of the list showed that many of its water quantity-related research needs are still relevant and as yet numet.

With this in mind, at the January meeting faculty who developed project ideas in response to WRAP’s first priority list, but did not receive funding, provided updates on any research progress made since the original proposal was written and any project modifications that may have been needed.

WRAP also received updates on the three funded projects currently underway, information about a possible new project, and information about how the UNL School of Natural Resources’ survey and outreach expertise have been reorganized.

UNL faculty who presented at the meeting were: Suat Irmak, Ron Yoder, Derrel Martin and Wayne Woldt, Biological Systems Engineering; Mike Hayes, Cody Knutson, Erkan Istanbulluoglu and Ayse Irmak, School of Natural Resources; and Ray Supalla, Department of Agricultural Economics.

A WRAP website is currently under construction. It will provide basic information on activities, as well as facilitate information exchanges between university faculty and WRAP members.