Sponsored Research

• Grant Award Year: 2023-2024
• Principal Investigator: Timothy Randhir, University of Massachusetts Amherst
• Research Description: More frequent and severe droughts due to climate change have caused water scarcity in communities in the Middle Connecticut River Watershed in Western Massachusetts, particularly during summer when water is in high demand for various uses. In response to this issue, this research study proposes using management practices to enhance soil moisture and recharge through suitable water harvesting methods that alleviate drought impacts and improve water availability in different land use conditions. In addition, the study will identify areas ideal for implementing conservation practices that will lessen the effects of drought at a watershed scale. The goal is to develop land use and subbasin level plans to mitigate drought and promote sustainable water resource management in the Middle Connecticut River watershed. The study will also support the local communities in identifying suitable spots for water storage during rainy seasons to alleviate drought and floods.

• Grant Award Year: 2023-2024
• Principal Investigator: Dr. Wan-Ting (Grace) Chen,  Assistant Professor, University of Massachusetts Lowell
• Research Description: Microplastics are tiny plastic particles and fibers that are less than 5 millimeters in size and can harm the environment. Recent studies have shown that microplastics can promote the growth of harmful algal blooms (HABs). This project aims to recycle microplastics and HABs together into a useful substance called biocrude oil, using a process called hydrothermal conversion. The goal is to determine whether combining microplastics and HABs in this process will result in greater energy efficiency than processing them separately. To test this idea, the researchers will convert common microplastics and model algae separately, then in different ratios together, and finally, environmental microplastics and HABs together, to see which yields the most biocrude oil. The chemical composition of the biocrude oil produced will be studied to see if it can be used as a replacement for petroleum-derived fuels.

• Grant Award Year: 2023-2024
• Principal Investigator: James Reuther, Assistant Professor
• Research Description: Clean drinking water is the most ubiquitous and necessary resource on the planet as it is required for every living organism to survive. As populations increase globally, the upsurge of waste and pollution has increased demand of clean drinking water to crisis levels necessi-tating transformative solutions to mitigate this growing issue. Herein, we describe our implementation of brand-new water purification materials with facile, user-friendly regeneration protocols introducing, for the first time, highly sustainable materials alternatives for water treatment. These new systems can be implemented disruptively in applications as point-of-use or point-of-entry purification devices, used in domestic and industrial settings, introducing sustainable materials where commercial gold-standards are single-use disposable devices. Furthermore, the tailorable nature of these polymer-based materials allows for targeted removal of emerging pollutants of concern providing a far more versatile materials platform for the design of next-generation water treatment systems.

• Grant Award Year: 2022-2023
• Principal Investigator: Mariana Lanzarini-Lopes, Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Massachusetts Amherst
• Research Description: This project will test the reduction of toxicity of disinfection byproducts (DBPs) in drinking water through practical ultraviolet light distribution in pipes at point of use.

Grant Award Year: 2022-2023

Principal Investigator: Samuel Muñoz, Marine and Environmental Science, Northeastern University

Research Description: This project will study how to enhance understanding of how climate variability and change influence floods in rivers in new England.

• Grant Award Year: 2021-2022
• Principal Investigator: Allison Roy, Environmental Conservation,University of Massachusetts Amherst
• Research Description: Small, surface-release dams impair natural stream connectivity by disrupting the flow of water, sediment, nutrients, and biota. Many dams built during the 19th and 20th centuries have exceeded their functional lifespan, and as a result, dam removal has become an increasingly prevalent stream restoration method. However, many streams have not been consistently monitored before and after dam removal, and there is a paucity of information regarding how dam removals affect stream ecosystems across different dam, stream, and landscape characteristics. Therefore, we propose to quantify the impacts of dam removals on water quality through assessments of temperature and dissolved oxygen before and after dam removal and assess the potential benefits of removal in the context of climate change. This study will focus on 16 Massachusetts streams with completed or upcoming dam removals. Within upstream and downstream reaches and within impoundments or former impoundments, we will collect continuous temperature and dissolved oxygen data for 1-3 years prior to removal and up to 5 years following removal. We will also collect ancillary habitat data, which, coupled with dam and landscape characteristics, will lead to a better understanding of the factors influencing stream water quality recovery across Massachusetts. To understand dam removal in the context of climate change, we will further investigate how removals may mitigate for predicted temperature increases improve climate resilience. Results from this study will be used to guide the prioritization of dam removal projects and provide critical information to resource managers and public stakeholders regarding the timing and extent of stream recovery following dam removal.

Grant Award Year: 2021-2022

Principal Investigator: Christine Hatch, Geosciences, UMass Amherst

Research Description: 

Natural and restored wetlands are among the most biodiverse ecosystems present in Massachusetts, providing unique habitat for species ranging from insects and endangered native fishes to coastal and songbirds, and plants which thrive in environments that range from completely saturated year-round to dry. Because this niche environment is crucially important for ecosystem services (including, but not limited to verdant habitat and food supply for a large diversity of plant, animal and insect species, water filtration, slowing and spreading of floodwaters, limiting erosion, storage of carbon and other nutrients, temperature buffering, pollinator habitat and forage lands, and water storage), significant attention has been paid to conserving and restoring wetlands and their optimum function wherever possible. Cranberry production has been a popular and profitable venture in southeastern Massachusetts for the past 150-200 years. In recent decades, the economic viability of cranberry farming in Massachusetts has declined due to increasing operating costs and growing competition from newer farms with more productive varietals in the Midwest and Canada (Hoekstra et al., 2019). Farmers looking for a green exit strategy to retire their farms are considering ecological restoration as an alternative to abandoning farms. There is evidence to suggest active restoration (farms that have been manually reconfigured and planted to encourage wetland species growth, hydrologic characteristics and hydric soil enhancement or mixing) begin to resemble a natural wetland faster than those simply left without human intervention (Living Observatory, 2020). Soil organic content, water table depth, plant assemblages and nitrate concentrations in actively restored wetlands more closely resemble natural wetlands than abandoned fallow, retired cranberry farms (which often results in recolonization of these former wetlands by upland species such as pitch pines due to an overly-deep water table beneath quickly-draining agricultural sand layers). While these characteristics are promising for active restoration, it is not known how quickly changes in water table and redox conditions will affect water chemistry. Therefore, it is important to quantify the rate of change after wetland restoration, to provide more robust predictions for restoration timescales and success. Of particular interest to this study is the improvement in water quality provided by functioning wetlands, in particular contrast to the net nutrient export (and potential for problems caused by excess nutrients) typically found in outflows of functioning cranberry bogs (Ballantine et al., 2017). We have a unique opportunity by partnering with the MA DER Cranberry Bog Program, which seeks to restore retired cranberry bogs into freshwater wetlands, and Living Observatory, a non-profit consortium of researchers and educators that share field sites, data, and knowledge of these systems (Living Observatory, 2020). For this work, we will quantify hydrologic conditions (water table elevations, using direct-push piezometers, and streamflow measurements), and test water samples for nutrient and other chemical concentrations. We plan to quantify the change in water quality from a fallow cranberry farm (4-years post-harvest) to a newly restored wetland (1-year post restoration) to provide a first look at nature’s filter in action. We foresee a continued interest in wetland restoration in Massachusetts as more cranberry farms are retired. Proof of positive changes in water chemistry play an important role in facilitating wetland development; so quantification of these properties can document the success of these efforts.

Grant Award Year: 2021-2022

Principal Investigator: Christian Guzman, Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Research Description: 

This study brings together traditional earth science research with new emerging methodologies to enhance research, graduate training, and outreach surrounding the soil, water, and societal changes exacerbated by environmental changes, climatic variations, and intensification of resource utilization. In these study areas, we propose an investigation on the variability of the ecohydrological conditions that delay or quicken the passage of water through a catchment as subsurface flow (deep and laterally) over dry conditions, storm periods, and post-storm period seasonal precipitation. Each site has attempted biological (re-forestation), structural, or regulatory (reduced discharge) conservation measures to improve or retain water supply and water quality indicators known to impair ecological or human health. The study sites chosen have particular infiltration patterns based on physical properties (saturated hydraulic conductivities, bulk density) that have been evolving as a result of land use change and increased soil chemical changes (leaching, erosion, plant uptake) that alter effective storage capacity of soils at varying depths. By incorporating stable water isotope analysis of the storm and discharge waters into the analysis of the ongoing hydrometric database, this project will provide a comparison of the main climatic (storm intensity), anthropogenic (vegetative changes), and ecohydrological (soils, land use) controls on changes in water supply and water quality in these watersheds at varying distances from urban centers in Western Massachusetts (USA). Over the span of at least one main precipitation season across three tributaries (four sampling sites at each tributary,;12 sites total), isotopic composition (d2H, d18O) and water quality (phosphates, suspended sediment) of streamflow of up to twenty storms per season will help demonstrate the basins’ response to evolution of landscape patterns upstream as compared to assessments made in recent years by Friends of Lake Warner. Understanding whether these controls have uneven or evenly distributed impacts on the recharge and mean transit time of seasonal flows, will help managers identify the most effective areas and strategies of investment in watershed protection programs. With this research our team aims to initiate an integration of research with practical patterns of conservation from communities with deep connection to natural resources dictating the capture and filtration of water.

Grant Award Year: 2021-2022

Principal Investigator: 

Anna Martini, Geology and Environmental Studies, Amherst College

Brian Yellen, Geosciences, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Research Description: 

Floodplain reconnection has been proposed as a means to allow urbanized streams to access functioning floodplains leading to the potential sequestering of sediment, nutrients, and industrial pollutants, effectively improving downstream water quality. To restore these functions, efforts have focused on lowering aggraded floodplains by excavating sediments, largely resulting from 1800s era land clearance, give the stream the ability to access a floodplain. Most studies to date on the effectiveness of floodplain reconstruction are from the Piedmont region in mid-to southeastern USA. Critically, studies evaluating the efficacy of floodplain reconnection in the post glacial Northeastern US, where landscape erosion rates are an order of magnitude lower than in the Piedmont, are lacking. As a result, we have little ability to quantify a particular project's impact and thus prioritize future efforts to mitigate harm with the limited funding available. Herein we propose to rigorously monitor water, sediment and bacteria for a funded floodplain restoration project in Amherst, MA. We will evaluate baseline water quality parameters before, during and after the project. This study will provide a unique opportunity to engage students and the community in monitoring this local watershed.

Grant Award Year: 2021-2022

Principal Investigator: Robert Stevenson, Biology - Animal Physiology, University of Massachusetts Boston

Research Description: 

Low flow in rivers results from the lack of rainfall and groundwater discharge, that in New England, is most prevalent during August, September and October. Flow can be also reduced at the same time of year by human withdrawals, either directly from the river, or from adjacent aquifers exacerbating the low flow conditions. Low flow negatively impacts the health of rivers because of the loss of habitat, reduced dissolved oxygen (DO), and increased water temperatures, all contributing to stress or extirpation of the biota. Here we propose to monitor flow upstream and downstream of well fields in the Parker River (Essex County, MA) using equipment suitable for watershed association teams. In addition, we propose to profile water quality in the main stem using a YSI Pro-Digital Optical DO/Temperature/Conductivity sonde. The sonde technology will allow us to profile the river system spatially by mounting it on a “boat” drone. We can then remotely sample reaches of the river as well as ponds in the river system. Watershed associations traditionally use point sampling methods, but the approaches described here, based on advances in instrumentation, allow us to collect vastly more water quality data at reasonable costs. Our long-term goal is to forecast both river flow and impacts on river health by combining our field data with USGS streamflow records, ground water levels, rainfall data, well data and municipality water withdrawal data.

• Grant Award Year: 2010
• Principal Investigator: Dr. David Boutt, University of Massachusetts Amherst
• Research Description: The Deerfield River in Massachusetts is heavily regulated by hydroelectric dams. It flows over glaciofluvial deposits typical of New England valleys. Piezometric data collected from the streambed in the Charlemont Basin of the Deerfield River show relative head reversals between the hyporheic zone and the channel during daily dam-release flood events. Efforts to identify and observe areas of focused hyporheic exchange using temperature anomalies proved inconclusive due lack of data across a heterogeneous streambed. Here, we propose using fiber optic distributed temperature sensing to identify surface water-groundwater (SWGW) exchange locations. Knowledge of substrate and underlying geology will allow us to delineate specific glaciostratigraphic units of the subsurface that are important to SWGW exchange. Last, we will employ coupled groundwater flux-heat flux models to estimate the magnitude of exchange between the stream and subsurface.

• Grant Award Year: 2010
• Principal Investigator: Qian Yu, University of Massachusetts Amherst
• Research Description: Dissolved organic carbon (DOC) is a key factor for water quality and climte change, but the field survey is insufficient to monitor DOC over a large spatial scale. We propose to use CDOM inversion from hypersepctral satellite images to monitor DOC distribution and dynamics, given the correlation between CDOM and DOC. Our study site is the Neponset River and Boston Harbor regions. We will sample in situ CDOM and water above-surface spectrum data monthly in growing season. Based on the field data, we will improve and calibrate our radiative transfer based algorithm, QAA-E (Extended Quasi Analytical Algorithm), to inverse the ag440 (the absorption coefficients of CDOM at 440nm) from EO-1 Hyperion images. CDOM concentration (in the unit of QSU)is linearly related to ag440 very well and could be derived by empirical relationship. To understand the sources, degradation and transport of CDOM, we will also model the relationship between CDOM and major watershed and hydrological variables with GIS support, including vegetation cover and density, flow, soil type and precipitation. This proposed work will be an important prior study before it is extended to regional scale.

• Grant Award Year: 2010
• Principal Investigator: Dr. Andrew Guswa, Smith College
• Research Description: In the northeastern United States, the hemlock woolly adelgid (HWA) poses a significant threat to eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis). Replacement of hemlock forests by other species, such as birch, maple, and oak, may alter the hydrologic cycle and impact water resources. Changes to hydrologic fluxes include both the input of water, which is affected by canopy interception, and the uptake of water for transpiration. This proposal seeks to build upon and complement earlier findings to better understand differences in hydrologic fluxes between hemlock and deciduous forests. The objectives of this project are to quantify the difference in average interception between hemlock and deciduous stands, quantify the spatial variability of throughfall in hemlock and deciduous stands, quantify differences in summertime water use for hemlock and deciduous stands. To achieve these objectives, this project will engage a cohort of three undergraduates in a two-month field campaign to measure and characterize hydrologic fluxes in hemlock and deciduous forest stands. The field work will be carried out at the Ada and Archibald MacLeish Field Station, a 200-acre site maintained by Smith College. We will establish two hemlock sites and two deciduous sites and instrument them to measure throughfall and sap flux. Achievement of the project objectives will address a variety of water resources research needs of regional importance. This project will also engage undergraduates in scientific research, which has the potential to advance science, enhance education, strengthen the research community, and raise general awareness of the importance and impact of scientific understanding.

• Grant Award Year: 2010
• Principal Investigator: Dr. Michael Ash, University of Massachusetts Amherst
• Research Description: Release of toxic chemicals into surface water by industrial facilities in Massachusetts puts the drinking water of many communities at risk and potentially impacts human health. Previous research on environmental justice (EJ) has found that low income and minority populations are disproportionately impacted by industrial air pollution and by the siting of hazardous waste facilities, but no methodology exists for assessing the differential impact of surface-water releases of industrial toxics on EJ populations. We will examine social and economic characteristics of communities in proximity to facilities releasing toxics to surface water in Massachusetts. The methods and metrics developed for assessing community exposure and environmental justice in industrial water pollution will be applicable to the entire United States.

• Grant Award Year: 2010
• Principal Investigator: Dr. Ellen Douglas, Dept. of Environmental, Earth & Ocean Sciences, University of Massachusetts Boston
• Research Description: An ecosystem is a dynamic complex of plant, animal, and microorganism communities and the nonliving environment, interacting as a functional unit. Humans derive benefits from the network of interactions among organisms and within and among ecosystems; these benefits are called ecosystem services. Human consumption of ecosystem services has been especially detrimental to river systems and their associated aquatic and riparian ecosystems. One of the biggest human impacts on rivers has resulted from the building of dams. There are 2,964 dams in the Massachusetts dam inventory database, most of which are low head, run-of-the-river dams that no longer serve the purpose for which they were built. The presence of these dams has fragmented aquatic and riparian ecosystems, impeded fish passage and generally impacted the natural ecological and hydrological functioning of the streams in which they reside. In many cases, dam removal is less costly than dam maintenance or upgrade, hence dam removal decisions tend to be based on purely monetary considerations, and the environmental costs or benefits associated with the dam are not fully considered. Furthermore, dam removal projects can be delayed or completely derailed by the perception that doing so will result in the loss of aesthetic, recreational and property values associated with the impoundment behind the dam. While dam removal is a high priority in Massachusetts as well as across New England, the true cost of these efforts, which include direct (economic), indirect (environmental) and cultural (recreation, aesthetic) costs, are not well understood and hence are usually not well quantified in dam removal decisions. The main challenge of water resource management is to find a balance between the use of resources as a basis for human livelihood and the protection and conservation of the resource to sustain its ecosystem functions and benefits. We propose to develop a physically-based and policy-relevant classification scheme for sustainable water and ecosystem management decisions. We will begin with an existing physically-based ecological classification system (such as the EPA Wadeable Stream Assessment; and the Least Altered Streamflows in Massachusetts) and expand upon it by factoring in political, economic and social indicators. One of the overall goals of this proposed project is to provide a framework for estimating the total ecosystem service value that any particular riverine habitat has to the humans and ecosystems that benefit from it. The overall outcome of this work will be a decision support framework that will be useful to environmental managers and policy-makers in assessing the degree to which ecosystems can or should be restored. Our ultimate goal is to provide a useful tool that identifies ecosystem service value from a multitude of human influences, but for the research proposed herein, we focus our approach on dam removal, which is important Abstract 1to the restoration of aquatic and riparian ecosystems and fish passage in New England. Our proposed framework will address the complexities involved in ecosystem restoration, multi-objective decision making and the allocation of limited state and local resources.

• Grant Award Year: 2009
• Principal Investigator: Dr. Chul Park, Dept. of Civil & Environmental Engineering, University of Massachusetts Amherst

• Grant Award Year: 2009
• Principal Investigator: Dr. David Boutt, University of Massachusetts Amherst

• Grant Award Year: 2009-2010
• Principal Investigator: Suzanne LePage, Dr. Paul Mathisen, Worcester Polytechnic Institute
• Report

• Grant Award Year: 2009
• Principal Investigator: Dr. Juliette N. Rooney-Varga, Deepankar Goyal, Dept. of Biological Science, University of Massachusetts Lowell

• Grant Award Year: 2009
• Principal Investigator: Dr. Baoshan Xing, Dept. of Plant, Soil, Insect Sciences, University of Massachusetts Amherst

• Grant Award Year: 2008
• Principal Investigator: Pamela Westgate, Dr. Chul Park, Dept. of Civil & Environmental Engineering, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Grant Award Year: 2008

Principal Investigator: Lauren Luongo, Dr. Xiaoqi (Jackie) Zhang, Dept. of Civil & Environmental Engineering, University of Massachusetts Lowell

• Grant Award Year: 2008
• Principal Investigator: Yushiou Tsai, Dr. Richard Vogel, Dept. of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Tufts University

• Grant Award Year: 2008
• Principal Investigator: Steven Kichefski, Dr. Ellen Douglas, Dr. Allen Gontz, Dept. of Environmental, Earth & Ocean Sciences, University of Massachusetts Boston

• Grant Award Year: 2008
• Principal Investigator: Dr. Baoshan Xing, Dept. of Plant, Soil, Insect Sciences, University of Massachusetts Amherst

• Grant Award Year: 2007
• Principal Investigator: 
  Lauren Moffatt, PhD Candidate, and Dr. Kathleen Arcaro, Assistant Professor, Animal Biotechnology and Biomedical Sciences, University of Massachusetts Amherst
• Research Description: $5,000 one-year graduate student grant

• Grant Award Year: 2006 - 2007
• Principal Investigator: Ashish K Sahu, Doctoral Candidate, and Dr. Sarina Ergas, Associate Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Massachusetts, Amherst

Grant Award Year: 2006 - 2008

Principal Investigator: 

• Piotr Parasiewicz, Research Associate Professor, Natural Resources Conservation, Northeast Instream Habitat Program, University of Massachusetts Amherst
• Dr. Christina M. Cianfrani Assistant Professor, School of Natural Science, Hampshire College
• Scott D. Jackson, Director of Natural Resources & Environmental Conservation Program, College of Natural Sciences, University of Massachusetts Amherst

• Grant Award Year: 2005 - 2006
• Principal Investigator: Brian Tavernia, Doctoral Candidate, and Dr. Michael Reed, Professor, Department of Biology, Tufts University
• Research Description: $5,000 one-year graduate student grant

• Grant Award Year: 2005 - 2006
• Principal Investigator: Sarah Dorner, Research Assistant Professor, School of Public Health and Health Sciences, Department of Public Health, University of Massachusetts Amherst

• Grant Award Year: 2005 - 2007
• Principal Investigator: Yuegang Zuo, Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Graduate School of Marine Sciences and Technology, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth
• Research Description: $25,000, first year of two-year project

• Grant Award Year: 2003 - 2006
• Principal Investigator: Xiaoqi (Jackie) Zhang, Dept. of Civil & Environmental Engineering, UMass Lowell

• Grant Award Year: 2003 - 2006
• Principal Investigator: Baoshan Xing and William Torello, Dept. of Plant, Soil & Insect Sciences, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Principal Investigator: 

Bettina M. Voelker, Department of Civil and Enviornmental Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Research Description: 

Statement of critical regional or State water problem: Concentrations of copper in effluents from publicly-owned treatment works and other dischargers in Massachusetts regularly exceed permitted levels. It is generally agreed that current water quality criteria for copper, based on laboratory toxicity tests, are often stricter than intended by regulatory guidelines. The main reason for this is that complexation (binding) of copper by naturally present dissolved organic compounds decreases bioavailability of copper, resulting in lower toxicity in the natural waters than would be observed in the laboratory tests. Conducting toxicity tests in individual receiving waters to develop site-specific water quality criteria is possible, but prohibitively expensive. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office of Water has therefore supported the development of a chemical-biological model predicting copper toxicity in a given water as a function of easily measurable chemical parameters including pH, concentration of dissolved organic carbon, and concentrations of major ions such as calcium, magnesium, and sulfate. The EPA, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MADEP) and other states' regulatory agencies, as well as the region's dischargers, are all interested in the speedy validation of this "Biotic Ligand Model" as a low-cost technique for developing site-specific water quality criteria for copper.

See Report

Principal Investigator: David Reckhow, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Massachusetts Amherst