University of Oklahoma International Water Prize Awarded to Dawn Martin-Hill

Research examines the sources of water contamination on both Six Nations and the Lubicon Cree in Alberta, Canada

View photos, program and presentation. NORMAN, Okla., Oct. 6, 2022 – Dawn Martin-Hill is a storyteller, because it is in stories where the truth lies. She tells one story of leading a water ceremony out on the west coast of the United States. One participant brought a pottery bowl that was engraved with “Water is Life” in many different languages. That bowl is a symbol of Martin-Hill's lifework – to honor and celebrate the sacramental gift that water is to all peoples using the stories and myths of her culture, the Haudenosaunee peoples of Canada’s Six Nations of the Grand River.  The two-row wampum belt is another symbol that expresses a journey of two cultures who travel down the river together, side by side, without trying to steer one another. Surrounded by the Great Lakes, Martin-Hill's tribal culture is defined and nourished by freshwater. She says that “our entire way of life is governed by water. It is spiritual, it is cultural, it is our identity. When you take that away from us, you are literally taking away our culture.”   Traditional indigenous knowledge is relayed through oral tradition, primarily from stories, arts, crafts and ceremonies, all done in the indigenous language. Under colonization, the residential schools outlawed the indigenous language, and yet indigenous knowledge about water and ecology is embedded in the native language. When the language is lost, so is the indigenous knowledge. Thus, Martin-Hill's integrated teams of elders, youth, biologists, scientists, and engineers present their work in bilingual format. The seventh biennial OU International Water Conference was held in a virtual format on Sept. 26-27 and featured 104 registrants presenting on and discussing such topics as engineering with nature, hydrology and water security, water for disadvantaged populations, wastewater epidemiology, water resources and climate change, and household water, sanitation and hygiene (WaSH). An in-person prize banquet was held on Sept. 26 with 128 people in attendance at the beautiful First Americans Museum (FAM) in Oklahoma City.  Martin-Hill, Ph.D. was honored at the banquet with the 2022 OU International Water Prize. Martin-Hill is an Indigenous (Haudenosaunee) woman, a cultural anthropologist and an associate professor at McMaster University. In addition, she is a mother who raised her girls in a home with periods of no running water. Using grants from the Global Water Futures, she and her students from McMaster University have developed indigenous water quality tools to monitor and assess the rich water life that surrounds them.  Her research examines the sources of water contamination on both Six Nations and the Lubicon Cree in Alberta. At the prize banquet, Martin-Hill spoke of her passionate commitment to study and improve the health impacts of water quality on people and animals that live in both communities. She presented her work in water as relationship, not utility alone. Martin-Hill is committed to understanding how water quality and security are linked to Indigenous community culture, livelihood and health, all important in pursuit of future water security. Water is life . . . to all peoples.

Study Finds U.S. Future Floods Becoming More Frequent, Wider Spread, Yet Less Seasonal

Summer 2022 has been an unprecedented one with five “1-in-1,000-year” floods experienced across the U.S.: St. Louis and Eastern Kentucky both in July, and Southeast Illinois, Death Valley and Dallas all in August.

“The intense rainfall combined with conducive land surface conditions, known as impervious surfaces, have caused flash floods and widespread inundation in cities,” said Yang Hong, Ph.D., professor of hydrology and remote sensing in the School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science in the Gallogly College of Engineering at the University of Oklahoma. “The continued warming climate and aging water infrastructure will exacerbate flood risks.”

Hong is leading a research team with Zhi Li, Ph.D., and Jonathan Gourley, Ph.D., research hydrometeorologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Severe Storms Laboratory. Their latest study, published in Earth’s Future, has shown that future flooding in the U.S. is becoming more frequent, wider spread, yet less seasonal.

In a previous study, the team demonstrated flash flooding is becoming 7.9% more extreme, including higher peak flows and faster arrival times across the country.

In their new study “Spatiotemporal characteristics of US floods: Current status and forecast under a future warmer climate,” the researchers used computer modeling to simulate variability of rainfall and flooding over the contiguous U.S. Changes in rainfall and flood frequency, spatial scale, and seasonality are explored within major climate divisions.

“Our models demonstrate that weakening rainfall and flood seasonality could result in more random and less predictable extreme events throughout the year,” Gourley said. “Specific impacts demonstrated through our modeling flooding seasons will begin happening earlier in the West in snow-dominated regions, while flooding is likely to be delayed in the East. We also found correlation between extreme rainfall and flood onsets becoming stronger in the West, yet weaker in the East in the future.”

Overall, their study predicts an overall 101.7% in flood frequency and 44.9% increase in the extent of flooding, mainly attributed to more extreme rainfall and variability in the future.

“Predicting future floods is becoming more challenging because of changing land surface conditions,” Li said. “Our past experience and knowledge are likely not applicable in preparing future floods.”

Hong added, “there is a pressing need for dynamically evolving knowledge about floods to design flood infrastructures, especially given the fact that many flood infrastructures, like dams, levees, drainage systems, and waterways, were built 50 to 100 years ago. We need more resilient flood defense measures in cities to address flood risks.”

CEES Team's Paper Selected as Editor's Choice After Seven-Year Study on Interactions Between Bridges and Pavements

Congratulations to Dr. Muralee and team for the distinction of having their paper titled "Influence of Lateral Movements of Approach Embankments on Bridges: A Case Study" selected and placed into the Editor's Choice Collection by the Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities page in the ASCE Library.

The paper is the result of a more than seven year study funded by the Oklahoma Department of Transportation and involved field monitoring of the interactions between bridges and pavements.

View paper here: https://ascelibrary.org/doi/10.1061/%28ASCE%29CF.1943-5509.0001742.

OU Environmental Engineering Students Recognized at ASRS Meeting

Two current members of the Center for Restoration of Ecosystems and Watersheds (CREW) have received top honors from the American Society of Reclamation Sciences (ASRS), an international society focusing on land reclamation and the protection and enhancement of soil and water resources.

OU doctoral student Nick Shepherd received first place in the ASRS Best Student Oral Presentation. A CREW member, Shepherd conducts research on watershed biogeochemistry and ecological engineering. His studies revolve around mine drainage at the Tar Creek Superfund Site ranging from the physical and chemical characterization of mine drainage to the biological impacts on receiving aquatic ecosystems.

OU doctoral student M’Kenzie Dorman was awarded second place in the ASRS Best Student Oral Presentation. Her research focuses on the passive treatment of acid mine drainage to create more sustainable treatment processes that limit the footprint and resources required to properly treat mine drainage. Her interests in the environmental field are concentrated on meeting the safety, cost and efficacy standards of both industries and people.

More than 200 attended the organization’s 39th annual meeting held June 12-16 in Duluth, Minnesota. Robert Nairn, David L. Boren Professor and Viersen Presidential Professor in the School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Sciences, serves as CREW director. Ten of the 200 attendees were current or former students mentored by Nairn.

ASRS had not met since 2019 and additional awards related to CREW members were also announced in Duluth. They are:

• 2020 BS-level Memorial Scholarship: Kristen Soucheck (OU BS EnvE 2021)
• 2020 MS-level Memorial Scholarship: M’Kenzie Dorman (OU MS EnvE 2019)
• 2020 Distinction in Reclamation Award: BioMost Inc. for the Southeast Commerce Passive Treatment System
• 2021 BS-level Memorial Scholarship: Hannah Curtis (OU BS EnvE 2021)
• 2021 PhD-level Memorial Scholarship: Brandon Holzbauer-Schweitzer (OU PhD ES 2021)
• 2021 Reclamation Researcher of the Year Award: Bill Strosnider (OU PhD EnvE 2010)

“I am incredibly proud of all my students and especially gratified that the hard work of Nick and M’Kenzie were recognized by a professional organization like ASRS,” Nairn said.

OU's Kianoosh Hatami Elected American Society of Civil Engineers Fellow

Kianoosh Hatami, a professor in the School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science in the Gallogly College of Engineering, has been elected to fellow status by the American Society of Civil Engineers, an honor held by only 3% of ASCE members.

Hatami, a President’s Associates Presidential Professor, joined the University of Oklahoma in 2004. A well-known scholar in geosynthetics and soil reinforcement, he has five U.S. and international patents and more than 135 peer-reviewed technical publications. He has received numerous academic achievement awards from OU.

In addition to being an ASCE Fellow, Hatami has been recognized by organizations that include McMaster University and the Canadian Society for Civil Engineering. His research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, Southern Plains Transportation Center, Oklahoma Transportation Center and Oklahoma Department of Transportation. He has received industry support from many global manufacturers in geosynthetics and soil reinforcement.

Hatami holds a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering, a master’s degree in hydraulic structures and a doctorate in structural engineering. Before joining OU, he was an associate research director at the Royal Military College and Queen's University, both in Canada.

Call for Abstracts for the OU International WaTER Conference - Due April 30, 2022

Call for Abstracts
Deadline April 30, 2022

The OU Water Technologies for Emerging Regions (WaTER) Center is soliciting abstracts for poster and oral presentations for the OU International WaTER Conference to be held virtually on September 26-27, 2022.

Abstracts for oral or poster presentations dealing with issues in the topical areas listed below are invited. Subject matter areas include engineering, hydrology, water quality, meteorology, anthropology, sociology, social entrepreneurship, legal issues and related areas. Interested participants should submit an abstract of no more than 500 words to the conference Selection Committee by April 30, 2022.

The abstract should include a succinct but descriptive title of the proposed presentation, and name, affiliation, and contact information (including email) of all authors. The abstract should identify the topic of the proposed presentation and should include a brief description of the research, innovation, or project, and discuss the significant results of the efforts and conclusions or recommendations drawn from the study.

 

Critical Water Issues in Today’s World

Abstracts will be especially welcomed in the following targeted areas:

• WASH Interventions
  The WaSH (water, sanitation and hygiene) sector includes all research and activities relative to the improvement of health and well-being by the proper separation of sanitation and clean water access. Interventions that improve hand-washing and other hygienic behavior are relevant, as well as household and community-level implementations of safe water storage, water treatment, and improved sanitation technologies.
• Water Challenges for Underserved Populations
  Water availability, wastewater management, and water-related social justice issues for Native Americans, First Nations, or other underrepresented communities.
• Aging Water and Wastewater Infrastructure Systems
  Identification, removal, and replacement/restoration of water and wastewater infrastructure systems in both developing and developed regions.
• Wastewater-based Epidemiology
  Public health applications of using wastewater surveillance for monitoring pathogens and chemicals in a variety of locales. Examples include pathogens such as SARS-CoV-2 and/or chemicals such as pharmaceuticals, illicit drugs, or human-health biomarkers.
• Ecological Engineering and Engineering with Nature
  Design and analyses of Natural Infrastructure (NI) for water quality improvement, water management, and other environmental benefits. Broad-scale Nature and Nature Based Solutions (NNBS) and site-specific treatment wetlands, passive treatment systems, and related sustainable ecosystem-based technologies.
• Advances in Drought Monitoring, Modeling, and Prediction
  New tools and approaches that address the complex factors associated with drought from local to global scales, including (1) observations strategies focused on drought, (2) the temporal evolution of drought from flash drought to decadal and beyond, (3) the drivers of drought onset, development, intensification, and decay, (4) drought impacts to agriculture, water resources, ecosystem function, and human systems, and (5) research to operational tools that enhance drought prediction.
• Climate Change and Hydrology Extremes
  Climate change impacts on water scarcity and potential flooding and the use of hydrologic and global climate models to predict areas of future water extremes in the US and abroad to provide a scientific basis for water resource planning.
• Natural Hazards
  State-of-the-art discussion of impacts of natural hazards on freshwater resources, such as a wildfire burn areas and hurricane flooding. Current challenges and the impacts of water quantity or water quality to fresh water sources in inland riverine environments, lakes and reservoirs, with a special interest in highlighting needs and opportunities for cross-disciplinary collaboration.
• Other
  Presentations addressing subject matter related to the conference theme are also invited.

 

Submit your abstract here.

 

For more conference details, go to WaTER.ou.edu