Tag Water
Bird’s-eye view of geology using drones offers new way to protect groundwater
Researchers at the Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey are spending a little less time on the ground and more time in the air — looking at the ground. What they're finding could help improve water quality.
Summer road trip finds small streams have big impacts on Great Lakes
While decades of monitoring and regulatory efforts have paid little attention to these tiny tributaries, Mooney’s research shows that they play an outsized role in feeding algae blooms and impacting coastal waters.
Virtual symposium addresses key resource during pandemic: clean water
COVID-19 may have forced the event to go virtual, but it also brought the importance of its topic into sharp focus. “You can’t wash your hands if you don’t have water,” says Water@UW–Madison's Matt Ginder-Vogel.
Climate change impacts Wisconsin’s inland lakes
The UW Water Resources Institute studied the effect on lake levels, water quality, aquatic invasive species and fisheries for 15,000 of the state's "true water treasures."
Science meets seat-of-the-tractor observations with Discovery Farms
“By the time Discovery Farms left Cashton in 2017,” says Jack Herricks, “the relationship had changed, the era of finger pointing and distrust had left. It was a pretty dramatic shift.”
Pepin County, UW–Madison team up for latest ‘UniverCity’ collaboration
UniverCity Year brings together faculty, students and members of Wisconsin communities to address local challenges through university courses and research.
New “traffic lights” warn Lake Michigan beachgoers of rip currents
The new warning system was spearheaded by Yuli Liu, a Ph.D. candidate in civil and environmental engineering. It's dubbed BLINK - Beach LIghts and Notifying Kiosk.
Extension’s statewide reach aids water quality collaboration
Nearly 100 people packed a room on the UW–Madison campus, appropriately overlooking the world’s best-studied lake, Lake Mendota. They were there to think about and to talk about water.
Forget ‘needle in a haystack.’ Try finding an invasive species in a lake.
A new study may explain why the tiny and invasive spiny water flea passed undetected in Lake Mendota, one of the most-studied lakes in the world, for a decade.
Food processors, UW collaborate to remove guesswork from wastewater disposal
The results of a three-year study offer some support for the belief that much of the nitrogen in the wastewater from cheese-making and vegetable processing leaves the soil and harmlessly enters the atmosphere.
Go Big Read author will share appreciation of, and concern for, Great Lakes
Dan Egan's full-time beat covering the Great Lakes for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has evolved into a book, “The Death and Life of the Great Lakes,” which is this year's selection for UW–Madison’s common-reading program.
Go Big Read author coming to UW–Madison
In “The Death and Life of the Great Lakes, Dan Egan writes, “Like generations of the past, we know the damage we are doing to the lakes, and we know how to begin to stop it; unlike generations of the past, we aren’t doing it."
UW project asks: What happens to irrigation water in Wisconsin’s Central Sands?
“You can't grow much here without irrigation," says farmer Justin Isherwood, "but we’re not sure how much is enough, and how to leave the same groundwater resource for the next generation."
Spinoff that puts phosphorus in its place signs key contract
In a bit of high-tech judo, a UW–Madison spinoff has started selling a technology to transform phosphorus at wastewater treatment plants from a major headache into an asset.
Study quantifies role of ‘legacy phosphorus’ in reduced water quality
Though farmers have taken steps to reduce the quantity of phosphorus applied to and running off their fields, researchers say an abundance of the nutrient has a long-lasting impact on lakes and rivers.
Study shows many lakes getting murkier, but gives hope for improvement
While water clarity in most Wisconsin lakes has not changed in 20 years, researchers say the fact that more lakes are getting worse signals there is work to be done.
Report reveals a big dependence on freshwater fish for global food security
What is clear, the study authors say, is that society should safeguard freshwater ecosystems for the sake of both fish and people.
New virus found during investigation into largemouth bass fish kill
The virus has been identified in association with a die-off of largemouth bass in Pine Lake in Wisconsin’s Forest County.
UW scientists say invasive species impacts much worse than thought
According to UW researchers, a single non-native species in a single inland lake has racked up $80 million to $163 million in damage.
Small landscape changes can mean big freshwater gains
A typical bird's-eye view of the Midwest offers a patchwork landscape covered mostly by agriculture but mottled with forest, wetland, grassland, buildings and pavement. This pattern influences the quality and supply of the many natural benefits the landscape provides people, including freshwater.