Water Centers and Repositories
While the Western Waters Digital Library provides access to a variety of rich historical material, it also allows you to search for current research papers and materials about contemporary water issues. These materials come from established water research centers and the insitutional repositories of WWDL partners.
Searching the WWDL for recent research materials
Use the Western Waters Advanced search page if you want to refine your searches. You may wish to limit your search to "text" if you are interested in finding research papers. Many of the digital collections in the Western Waters Digital Library use Library of Congress subject headings to describe their items, so using subject headings in the subject area of the advanced search page can allow you to find materials on very specific topics, such as:
groundwater flow
water resources management
fresh water studies
environmental indicators and impact assessment
environmental chemistry
Searching the description field will allow you to search the abstracts for reports and technical papers.
The benefit of searching the Western Waters Digital Library for current reports and research materials is the ability to search many relevent digitial library collections at once, for example:
Center for Research in Water Resources
From the University of Texas, Austin. This collection contains CRWR reports, the Environmental Flows Information System, and information on the Trinity River Water Basin.
Cloud Seeding Documents
A collection of publications about the effects of cloud seeding, weather modifications, and related information regarding the Columbia River Basin. From the University of Washington.
Digital Commons @ University of Nebraska-Lincoln
The Water Center operates within the University of Nebraska's Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources (IANR) at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's (UNL) research and agricultural campus. Its mission is to implement and facilitate water and water-related research, teaching, extension and public outreach programming within the University of Nebraska system.
Oregon Water Conference 2011
This collection contains the abstracts and presentation files from The Oregon Water Conference 2011: Evaluating and Managing Water Resources in a Climate of Uncertainty hosted at Oregon State University, May 24-25, 2011. The Oregon Water Conference (TOWC) explored the region’s water future and addressed the following issues and themes. Oregon and the rest of the Pacific Northwest face an uncertain water future. Not only will the climate itself be uncertain, but also the political, social, legal, economic and regulatory climates. What will climate change produce in the way of hydroecological changes? How much will population change, perhaps fueled by climate refugees, stress our water resources? What will the regulatory climate embody? Will a revised Columbia River Treaty with Canada encompass more than power generation and flood control? Do we need a Columbia Basin Compact to cope with future shortages? Will the area see more in the way of regional water management agencies, perhaps straddling state lines? Can the prior appropriation doctrine adapt to the future? Will exempt wells remain ‘exempt’? Do we know how much water will be available? From Oregon State University.
ResearchWorks at the University of Washington
Resources from The Water Center at the Univesity of Washington.
ScholarsArchive@ Oregon State University
ScholarsArchive@OSU is Oregon State University's digital service for gathering, indexing, making available and storing the scholarly work of the Oregon State University community. It also includes materials from outside the institution in support of the university's land, sun, sea and space grant missions and other research interests.
The Texas Water Resources Institute
The Texas Water Resources Institute, a unit of the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station and Texas Cooperative Extension, and member of the National Institutes for Water Resources, provides leadership to stimulate priority research and Extension educational programs in water resources within the Texas A&M University System and throughout Texas.
UNLV Digital Commons Water Resources
One of the objectives of the digital project was to provide a digital repository for published technical and scientific reports related to geology, water supply, and water quality in the Las Vegas Valley. Although the collection of reports is not comprehensive, it does make available online as many of the most critical studies related to water in Southern Nevada. We hope to continue adding to this digital repository, which is maintained in the Library’s Digital Commons.
These publications include ground-water resource and supply bulletins and papers published by the USGS, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, The Nevada State Engineer and the Nevada Department of Conservation and Natural Resources; reports sponsored by the Southern Nevada Water Authority and the Clark County Sanitation District; and scientific studies conducted and published by the UNLV Lake Mead Limnological Research Center and the University of Nevada Desert Research Institute. There are also socioeconomic and biological impact studies conducted for the Bureau of Reclamation on the Southern Nevada Water Project. From the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
W. M. Keck Laboratory of Hydraulics and Water Resources
Caltech Library System manages CaltechKHR, a repository of technical reports, on behalf of the W. M. Keck Laboratory of Hydraulics and Water Resources at Caltech.
Water and Watersheds Initiative (1960-2005)
This collection includes the seminar series publications, published research reports, special reports and Tualatin River Basin reports published by the Center for Water and Environmental Sustainability (CWESt) which operated from 2000-2005 and the Oregon Water Resources Research Institute (OWRRI) which operated from 1960-2000. From Oregon State University.
Water Resources Research Center & Environmental Center
Hawaii's culture and climate present unique issues and problems of water resource management. Rainfall events in the islands are often intense and short compared to most temperate climates. Hawaiian hydrogeology differs markedly from most other areas. We are almost entirely dependent on groundwater for our drinking water. The islands are closed systems, importing water is not feasible if we overuse or contaminate our aquifers. Our tropical climate permits the usual pollution indicator organisms to grow in the soil, compromising their usefulness for detecting pollution. Our tourism-based economy is dependent upon vigilant stewardship of our nearshore water quality. As a key element of traditional Hawaiian life, water, both fresh and ocean, plays a unique and important cultural role. At WRRC we concentrate on addressing the unique water and wastewater management problems and issues that we in the Pacific face. From the University of Hawaii at Manoa.
