In April, 2004, Washington State University (WSU) conducted its first Interdepartmental Water Quality Summit. This Summit allowed WSU administrators the opportunity to consider and acknowledge the breadth of water resources activities across the university and see how work being conducted in their own departments might fit into a bigger, multidisciplinary picture. The Summit provided a step in implementing WSU’s strategic plan by creating a university culture that supports efficient and effective collaboration. It brought together representatives from the Washington State Department of Ecology and from departments across the university that play strong roles in water quality research and education, and highlighted the fact that water quality research and education is a multidisciplinary “Area of Excellence” at WSU. The summit began with the program overview and introductions by Linda Kirk Fox, the Associate Dean and Associate Director of Extension at WSU. In her opening remarks, Dr. Fox stressed the importance of building partnerships throughout the university community. René-Marc Mangin, Eastern Regional Director for the Washington State Department of Ecology, followed with a keynote presentation discussing priority water issues and research needs for Washington State and included suggestions on how university personnel can better address the state’s needs for applied research in water resources. After an overview of water resources related research and education at WSU was presented by Ed Adams, Director of WSU’s Ag and Natural Resources Program, summaries of water resource related research and education were provided from departments across the university.

Pacific Northwest Regional Water Quality Coordination Project Partners Land Grant Universities Alaska Cooperative Extension Service Contact Fred Sorensen: 907-786-6311 http://www.uaf.edu/ces/water/ University Publications: http://www.alaska.edu/uaf/ces/publications/ Idaho University of Idaho Cooperative Extension System Contact Bob Mahler: 208-885-7025 http://www.uidaho.edu/wq/wqhome.html University Publications: http://info.ag.uidaho.edu/Catalog/catalog.html Oregon Oregon State University Extension Service Contact Mike Gamroth: 541-737-3316 http://extension.oregonstate.edu/ University Publications: http://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog/ Washington Washington State University WSU Extension Contact Bob Simmons: 360-427-9670 ext. 690 http://wawater.wsu.edu/ University Publications: http://pubs.wsu.edu/ Northwest Indian College Contact Dan Burns: 360-392-4328 dburns@nwic.edu or http://www.nwic.edu/ Water Resource Research Institutes Water and Environmental Research Center (Alaska) http://www.uaf.edu/water/ Idaho Water Resources Research Institute http://www.boise.uidaho.edu/ Institute for Water and Watersheds (Oregon) http://water.oregonstate.edu/ State of Washington Water Research Center http://www.swwrc.wsu.edu/ Environmental Protection Agency EPA, Region 10 The Pacific Northwest http://www.epa.gov/r10earth/ Office of Research and Development, Corvallis Laboratory http://www.epa.gov/wed/ For more information contact Jan Seago at 206-553-0038 or seago.jan@epa.gov
	The Project Land Grant Universities, Water Research Institutes and EPA Region 10 have formed a partnership to provide research and education to communities about protecting or restoring the quality of water resources. This partnership is being supported in part by the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA). Our Goal and Approach The goal of this Project is to provide leadership for water resources research, education and outreach to help people, industry and governments to prevent and solve current and emerging water quality and quantity problems. The approach to achieving this goal is for the Partners to develop a coordinated regional water quality effort based on, and strengthening, individual state programs. Our Strengths The Project promotes regional collaboration by acknowledging existing programs and successful efforts; assessing program gaps; identifying potential issues for cross-agency and private sector collaboration; and developing a clearinghouse of expertise and programs. In addition, the Project establishes or enhances partnerships with federal, state and local environmental and water resource management agencies, such as by placing a University Liaison within the offices of EPA Region 10.
	Representatives from departments within the Colleges of Agriculture (Agricultural Economics, Crop and Soils, Biological Systems), Science (Natural Resources, Entomology, Geology), Engineering (Civil and Environmental Engineering, Chemical Engineering), Veterinary Medicine, International Programs, and Extension gave brief overviews of the water quality-related research going on in their departments. Several areas of overlap were discovered that might lead to collaborative efforts in the future. Ken Spitzer, the Associate Vice Provost of WSU’s Office of Research, followed with a presentation on interdisciplinary research project funding opportunities. The summit closed with a summary of the roundtable discussions and identification of the next steps that include pursuing an interdepartmental Water Science and Engineering graduate curriculum and ways to promote a multidisciplinary research and outreach program. Demonstrating the extensive nature of water-related research and education at WSU, the Summit was co-sponsored by WSU Extension; the College of Engineering and Architecture; the College of Agricultural, Human and Natural Resource Sciences; the Office of Research; and the State of Washington Water Research Center.
	National Water Quality Program Areas The four land grant universities in the Pacific Northwest have aligned our water resource extension and research efforts with eight themes of the USDA's National Institute of Food and Agriculture. Animal Waste Management Drinking Water and Human Health Environmental Restoration Nutrient and Pesticide Management Pollution Assessment and Prevention Watershed Management Water Conservation and Agricultural Water Management Water Policy and Economics
	NIFA is the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, a sub-agency of the United States Department of Agriculture, and is the federal partner in this water quality program.

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HOME | About | Calendar | Contacts | Links | PNW Water Updates | Sitemap NIFA National Water Quality Program This material is based upon work supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, under Agreement No. 2008-51130-04734. all external sites will open in a new browser window page last modified on August 27, 2006