The Ohio Water Resources Center (Ohio WRC) has announced four grant awards related to projects that will address water quality issues in the state of Ohio.
John Lenhart, Co-Director, said that these grants will begin in March of 2020 just as spring blooms and water researchers all over the US are preparing for field research season.
“We are excited to be able to fund these projects and are looking forward to the results,” he said.
Results from two of the projects will add to existing knowledge about nutrient cycling and how it affects harmful algal blooms in Ohio’s lakes.
James Hood, Assistant Professor, Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology, The Ohio State University will evaluate internal nutrient cycling via zooplankton in Lake Erie while John M. Senko, Associate Professor, Geosciences and Biology and Chelsea Monty-Bromer, Associate Professor, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, The University of Akron, will test new electrochemical sensors measuring the release of phosphorous from sediments.
Emerging contaminants and their degradation and removal are the topics of the other two research projects.
Soryong Chae, Assistant Professor, Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, University of Cincinnati, will investigate removal of PFAS from drinking water and Matthew Saxton, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, Miami University, will evaluate degradation of glyphosate in surface water.
In the past five years, the Ohio WRC funded 34 projects at seven different universities in Ohio.
Linda Weavers, Co-Director, said these awards help achieve Ohio WRC’s research mission to address state water issues and to support the next generation of water scientists and researchers in early stages of their careers.
“The Center will help to connect these researchers with important stakeholders and to disseminate the results from these research projects to a broader water professional audience,” she stated.
More about the new research to address water quality issues.