was founded in 1965 by authority of Congress as one of the 54 Institutes throughout the nation and is administered through the United States Geological Survey. The NDWRRI receives funding through section 104 of the Water Resources Research Act of 1984 and it applies its Federal allotment funds to research that fosters: (A) the entry of new research scientists into the water resources field, (B) training and education of future water resources scientists, engineers, and technicians; (C) the preliminary exploration of new ideas that address water problems or that expand understanding of water and water-related phenomena; and (D) the dissemination of research results to water managers and the public. The Institute has a State Advisory Committee consisting of three members representing the three principal agencies dealing with water issues – State Water Commission, State Health Department, and the USGS - and a Technical Advisory Committee consisting of faculty from NDSU and UND. The North Dakota State University and the University of North Dakota administrations consider the Institute’s activities important and are supportive of its efforts. The Institute’s core funding comes from annual appropriation granted under the authority of Section 104 of the Federal Water Resources Research Act by the US Geological Survey. Though modest, the Section 104 program has provided crucial seed funding for research, education, and information dissemination activities of the Institute drawing on the water expertise of the two universities of the State – North Dakota State University, Fargo and University of North Dakota, Grand Forks.
The NDWRRI continues to meet its mission by dedicating most of the Federal allotment funds toward competitive graduate student research fellowships. Each of the Fellowship is also a research project that will result in a master’s thesis or doctoral dissertation. The faculty advisors find matching or co-funding for the research through the university, or grants from local, county, state or federal agencies, foundations, or industry. Also, the Institute co-sponsors seminars and conferences on water themes. A newsletter is published annually.
Fellowship projects for the year 2002 include a comparison of two public water supply ozonation systems in terms of their disinfection by-products formation, modeling feedlot runoff quantity and quality, phosphorus transport through wetlands, influence of timber harvesting on wetlands and habitat use. Another ecological research on periphyton communities in the Sheyenne River provides baseline data for the Devils Lake outlet project. In recent years, one Fellow was hired by the USGS WRD North Dakota district, and another for the ND State Water Commission. Several Fellows work for municipalities and watershed districts, and water resources engineering firms in the region. While one Fellow is involved in pilot testing of UV disinfection systems for drinking water treatment, another has had interest shown by the U.S. Forest Service in conducting a study on forested wetlands to develop ecologically based Best Management Practices. One other Fellow is doing post-doctoral work in aquatic ecology field. One Fellowship permitted the development of a screening method, that can determine total PCB and PCDF in water sample and tell before-hand whether the sample merits detailed chromatographic analysis.