The Center is facilitating stakeholder input into the design of a Drought Dashboard for the ACF. The Dashboard will be a free web-based information portal that will provide users with a ‘one stop shop’ for drought-related information for the ACF. It will support better understanding, decision-making, and communication about drought in the region. The Center is hosting listening sessions and workshops with stakeholders across the ACF region to inform the development of the dashboard by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
The Center is leading implementation of a Memorandum of Agreement between the Flint RiverQuarium and Albany State University to enhance water-related research and educational programs at the two institutions. Through the Partnership, ASU faculty and staff are engaged in water quality monitoring, assessment of microbial community dynamics, tracking expression of biomarkers in mussels, and expanding community gardens at the RiverQuarium and on campus. Additional research is under development in partnership with the Jones Center at Ichauway and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
This project brings scientists and stakeholders together in a participatory process designed to identify paths for economic and environmental sustainability of agriculture and silviculture while protecting water quantity, quality, and habitat in the Upper Floridan Aquifer and the springs and rivers it feeds. The project focuses on the Upper Floridan in North Florida and South Georgia and is funded by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture. For more information, see the FACETS website.
The Center is collaborating with behavior scientists at the University of Delaware and other institutions to evaluate incentives for Best Management Practices for feral hog control. The project has supported the installation of 44 feral hog traps in the Southeastern US and provided data to support the design of cost-share approaches to feral hog control for water protection. Funded by USDA.
The Center is collaborating with several research institutions to use behavioral science to explore the effectiveness of technology and incentives to support monthly reporting of agricultural water use by farmers. Funded by USDA.
To support regional water planning, the Center led development of agricultural water use forecasts for Georgia. Forecasts incorporated predictions of crops and acreages expected to be irrigated. Future water needs were then calculated for a range of weather conditions and probable water sources identified. Completed in cooperation with the University of Georgia and funded by the Georgia Environmental Protection Division.
The Center conducts on-farm visits to map irrigated acres and inventory the use of irrigation conservation technology. Mapping and inventory activities began in the Lower Flint River Basin in 2012. A substantial portion of the Flint River Basin has been surveyed, as well as thousands of irrigated acres in other Coastal Plain watersheds. The Center has supplemented the on-farm mapping with analysis of remote sensing images for areas where on-farm mapping has not been completed. Funded by the Georgia Environmental Protection Division, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and Georgia Soil and Water Conservation Commission.
The Water Policy Center has received two seed grants to help implement regional water plans. The first was a study of water supply alternatives in the Ichawaynochaway watershed, completed in 2017. In the second, information on flow-dependent benefits and values of waters in the Upper Oconee Region is being compiled for use in resource assessments and update of the Upper Oconee Regional Water Plan. Funded by the Georgia Environmental Protection Division.
