WaterWired

Ted Hullar's 1996 White Paper - Water and NASULGC: Challenge and Opportunity, Take Hold or Not?

NASULGC? Is that a new nasal spray? Nope - read on!

While rummaging through some electronic files I ran across a white paper written by Dr. Theodore L. "Ted" Hullar in 1996. It was presented to an organization then  known as the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges (NASULGC), now known as the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU).

Hullar was a distinguished academic researcher (biochemist) and administrator - chancellor of UC-Riverside and UC-Davis - who is now a consultant.

In his paper, he implored NASULGC to give more support to water issues in the USA and around the world: Water and NASULGC: Challenge and Opportunity, Take Hold or Not?

When the paper came out I was directing the Water Resources Program at the University of New Mexico, which is a state university but not a land-grant university. I mention that distinction because at the time, it was common knowledge that the land-grant schools really controlled the agenda at NASULGC. As one of my UNM administrators said, the ag deans ran the show. I doubt if much has changed. 

The paper created quite a buzz among the academic water community. I'm sure much of the buzz was really prompted by the drooling over the prospect of NASULGC helping to secure large Federal earmarks for the public-university water community.

The more things change, the more they remain the same.

As UNM's water point man, I was tasked with getting UNM's foot in the door on this issue. NASULGC had charged one of its commissions, the Commission on Food, Environment, and Renewable Resources (CFERR) with pursuing Hullar's vision. I got myself appointed as UNM's official CFERR representative and to the ad hoc 'water vision' committee. I went to a few NASULGC meetings and participated, but by about 1999 or so, the effort petered out. I don't think it went anywhere.

It was actually a good experience. I met some bright people, including Hullar himself, who chaired the committee. A very perceptive fellow.

So why do I bring up a 13-year old water white paper? I reread it, and found it to be quite prescient. Hullar, citing extensively, addressed a number of issues now discussed widely - global warming effects on water resources, coordination of Federal water agencies, ownership of water vs. the public trust doctrine, water and health, ecosystem services, etc.

Here is a copy of it -- a PDF of a scanned copy, but still readable:

Download Ted Hullar water paper NASULGC1996

It's worth your time.

I especially like this quote:

 ...and even more sobering, the future has both context and challenges fundamentally different than the past. If we wish to be relevant to this daunting future in water resources, we must, perforce, respond affirmatively to changed, and changing, water issues, and we must do so differently than in the past." -- Theodore L. Hullar, page 17 of the aforementioned paper.

MSU Loses Geological Sciences; OSU Just Misplaces Its Department

Reader Mike Brennan sent me an email about the closure of Michigan State University's Department of Geological Sciences.

I understand that Michigan is facing economic disaster but it strikes me as odd that the state's land-grant university would want to close down a department with such close ties to the land.  

More information can be found on the MSU Geology Alumni site on Facebook (content open to all). There you can find email addresses if you wish to voice your opinion.

As an aside, one of the best hydrogeologists and nicest human beings I know is MSU alum and hydrogeologist/hydrogeochemist extraordinaire Warren W. Wood, who's back at MSU after a distinguished career with the USGS.

[Whine alert!] I can feel for my colleagues at MSU. Here at OSU, we're not facing extinction, but that doesn't mean we have smart people reorganizing the place. Gotta do something and do it fast, right? OSU is being reorganized into four divisions. We've just learned that our department ,Geosciences, will not be in the Division of Earth Systems Science, but in the Division of Arts and Sciences. Hey, that makes perfect sense -  geologists and geographers don't deal with earth systems, right?

Will it save money? I don't know.

Healthy People, Healthy Economy, Healthy Planet - that's our mantra now. 

Think I'll reread Jane Smiley's Moo.

"Academic arguments are the bitterest because the stakes are the lowest." -- Unknown, sometimes attributed to Henry Kissinger

My WaTER Conference Presentation in Absentia

I am supposed to be in Norman, OK, at the OU International WaTER Conference but was sidelined by the H1N1 flu. It is the first time I can recall ever missing attending a conference due to illness.

Fortunately, good friend and conference guru Dave Sabatini offered to give my Power Point presentation yesterday, and another good friend, Steve Silliman, helped out by answering questions. I am grateful to both of them!

Here is a pdf of the presentation:

Download Campana_WaTER_Conference_26_Oct_2009

"Half an orange tastes just as sweet as a whole one." -- Panamanian proverb

Lecture: Hydrology in an Era of Global Change

The 2008 Robert E. Horton Lecture was given by Dr. Dennis P. Lettenmaier of the University of Washington last December at the American Geophysical Union meeting.

Here's the blurb:

In this lecture Dr. Lettenmaier traces the history of how hydrologists and meteorologists have helped us to understand the water cycle. As hydrology moves from a qualitative to quantitative science, some are concerned about whether we will be able to answer questions essential to our nation and our world in this era of global change. Lettenmaier uses a projection of the water resources at the Colorado River Basin as a key example of this concern.

The lecture is named in honor of Robert E. Horton, considered by some to be the father of modern hydrology (Hortonian theory of infiltration and runoff).

Enjoy!

Charisma Queen's SUSIE Shout-Out

Muchas gracias to Charisma Queen Ava over at The Reef Tank for her SUSIE Program shout-out, Say Hello to SUSIE. Much appreciated!

Great students!

"It's not what is poured into a student, but what is planted." -- Linda Conway

SUSIE Trip to the Oregon Coast

Last weekend we took our SUSIE students on a trip to the Oregon coast. Todd Jarvis produced this video.

We're off to Mt. Hood tomorrow to get our students their first glimpse of snow. Then it's off to DC for visits to the State Department, The World Bank, and USAID.

"Success is a journey, not a destination. The doing is often more important than the outcome." -- Arthur Ashe

NGWA Seeks Director of Science and Technology

The National Ground Water Association (NGWA), based in Westerville, OH (greater Columbus area), is seeking a Director of Science and Technology:

Download Science Position Ad GW 09

A PhD in hydrogeology or other closely-related science/engineering field is one of the minimum requirements. Applications are due 1 October 2009 (ignore due date on flyer).

"If I were alive I'd apply for this position!" -- O.E. Meinzer

Hey! SUSIE's Online!

So who or what is SUSIE?

The latest 20-something Twitter-er? Or the most recent American Idiot (Oops - American Idol) winner to squander her 15 minutes of fame?

No, it is the Study of the U.S. Institute for the Environment, a program we at Oregon State University will be running this summer!

It is funded and sponsored by the Study of the U.S. Branch in the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.

Here is the Program Overview from the WWW site:

The Oregon State University Study of the U.S. Institute for the Environment (SUSIE) program brings 23 undergraduates from Central American and Caribbean countries to visit Corvallis, Oregon and engage in a multi-disciplinary Environmental Institute. The students will participate in classroom study and field trips that will focus on the relationship of water in environmental sciences, public health, engineering, policy and governance. The goal is to create a cohort of students who understand the complexity of water issues in their environment, and who return to their home countries with the tools to help create a broader understanding of the overall role of the environment in ensuring quality of life, and the specific role that water issues play in their country’s development.

During the institute the students will interact with instructors from Oregon State University as well as professionals and citizens from a host of environmental organizations active in Oregon. The Institute will combine academic seminars with field trips that give the participants an opportunity to apply the knowledge learned in seminars, question practitioners about the interrelated roles of science, technology, policy and regulation, and provide opportunities to take part in community based volunteer work to improve the environment.

The program is sponsored by the Study of the U.S. Branch in the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. It is led by the OSU Institute for Water and Watersheds and by OSU International Programs.

We will be updating this site periodically with institute materials and related items.

We are looking forward to this institute! Thanks to the State Department and our project officer, Amy Rustan.

"We are interdependent and dependent on one another. We have got to find a way to make this whole planet work."  -- Andrew Young

Universities Partnership for Transboundary Waters - May 2009 Newsletter

Oregon State University belongs to a group called The Universities Partnership for Transboundary Waters (UPTW), a consortium of 17 universities on six continents who have substantial expertise in transboundary waters. 

I was one of the founding members when I was at the University of New Mexico. A group of us from the 10 original partner institutions met here in Corvallis in Spring 2000 to develop the concept. Aaron Wolf, now my colleague at OSU, was the 'founding father' and meeting convener. 

Here is our first newsletter:

Download UPTW Newsletter - May 2009

Don't forget to check out the Transboundary Freshwater Dispute Database (TFDD).

"Promoting peace, environmental protection, and human security thrugh transboundary water education, outreach, and research." -- UPTW mission

NYT Op-Ed 'End the University as We Know It' Discusses Water Programs

Mark C. Taylor, Professor and Chair of the Department of Religion at Columbia University, wrote this provocatively-titled Op-Ed in the New York Times. As you might guess, there were many comments - over 400 the last time I looked.

He has a number of recommendations bound to create waves.  Here's one:

Abolish permanent departments, even for undergraduate education, and create problem-focused programs. These constantly evolving programs would have sunset clauses, and every seven years each one should be evaluated and either abolished, continued or significantly changed. It is possible to imagine a broad range of topics around which such zones of inquiry could be organized: Mind, Body, Law, Information, Networks, Language, Space, Time, Media, Money, Life and Water.

To illustrate how this might work, Taylor invokes water:

Consider, for example, a Water program. In the coming decades, water will become a more pressing problem than oil, and the quantity, quality and distribution of water will pose significant scientific, technological and ecological difficulties as well as serious political and economic challenges. These vexing practical problems cannot be adequately addressed without also considering important philosophical, religious and ethical issues. After all, beliefs shape practices as much as practices shape beliefs.

A Water program would bring together people in the humanities, arts, social and natural sciences with representatives from professional schools like medicine, law, business, engineering, social work, theology and architecture. Through the intersection of multiple perspectives and approaches, new theoretical insights will develop and unexpected practical solutions will emerge.

This approach is being taken at a number of universities, including my two most recent: the Water Resources Graduate Program (WRGP) at Oregon State University and the Water Resources Program (WRP) at the University of New Mexico. The University of Idaho has its Water of the West (WoW) program.

At each of the aforementioned schools departments have not been abolished, and the multidisciplinary MD) and interdisciplinary (ID) programs have been crafted using faculty from a variety of departments, schools, and colleges. I don't see departments being abolished in the very near future; too much turf involved.

Taylor's approach is akin to the 'trade school theory' of universities. This is an age-old debate: should universities, especially ones with graduate programs, function like trade schools? Or should they seek knowledge for knowledge's sake? Or should they do both, depending upon the discipline involved?

But you cannot argue that the USA universities are the envy of the world. On one list 13 of the top 20 are USA schools. So something is right, but we can make some improvements. One of the dichotomies I see in USA higher education is that while universities are on the cutting edge of knowledge that is fomenting societal change, they are highly resistant to internal change. For some, it's the old 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it' argument.

My biggest complaint with ID and MD programs is that they are not adequately funded and there are seemingly interminable debates over which department/school/college gets credit for which things. These fatcts are true whether we are talking about degree programs or research endeavors. Many universities are great at 'talking the talk' when it comes to ID and MD programs, but 'walking the walk' is an entirely different matter.   

But as usual, I am digressing.

Do read Professor Taylor's article. It goes beyond water.

Thanks to Todd Jarvis for sending this my way.

“Do not do what I do; rather, take whatever I have to offer and do with it what I could never imagine doing and then come back and tell me about it.” -- Mark Taylor's advice to his students