104(b) Grant Program: Arkansas Water Resources Center Announces Selected Projects

The Arkansas Water Resources Center (“AWRC”) announced in its Summer 2023 publication Arkansas Water News the six projects selected to receive seed funding from its 104(b) base grant.

The AWRC states that the projects selected will be conducted at four Arkansas institutions and will train at least seven students.

Funds are provided by the U.S. Geological Survey 104(b) grant program.

The projects selected for 2023 include:

• Monitoring Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances in Central Arkansas Water Systems, by Dr. Gunnar Boysen, Associate Professor, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
• Development of On-Site Fluorescence PFAS Sensors, by Dr. Lei Guo, Assistant Professor, University of Arkansas Fayetteville
• Influence of phytoplankton stoichiometry on the production of secondary metabolites in a central Arkansas reservoir, by Dr. Felicia Osburn, Post-Doctoral Researcher, and Dr. Halvor Halvorson, Assistant Professor, University of Central Arkansas
• Investigating Electrocoagulation as a Pretreatment for the Nanofiltration of Cyanotoxin-Contaminated Water Sources, by Dr. Ranil Wickramasinghe, Distinguished Professor, University of Arkansas Fayetteville
• Identifying Genetic Markers for Microcystin-Producing Algal Blooms, by Dr. Wen Zhang, Associate Professor, University of Arkansas Fayetteville
• Why and When does Microcystin Exceed Recreational Guidelines at Lake Fayetteville?, by Dr. Brian Haggard, University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture

AWRC describes itself as a water resource institution established, along with similar institutions, at land-grant universities, through the 1964 passage of the Federal Water Resources Act. The organization states that in cooperation with the U.S. Geological Survey and the National Institute of Water Resources it has “helped local, state, and federal agencies learn to manage Arkansas’s water resources for more than 30 years.”

A copy of the Arkansas Water News publication can be found here.