Southeastern Water Resources Institute
Dr. Randall Gentry, Director
311 Conference Center Building
Knoxville, Tennessee 37996-4134
Phone: 865.974.1843
The Southeastern Water Resources Institute (SWRI), housed within the Institute for a Secure and Sustainable Environment, is a multi-disciplinary, multi-institutional research entity devoted to the study of the science, technology, and public policy of surface and groundwater issues, with specific attention to safety, disputes, ecological issues, and supply and demand.
Read more about SWRI by following the links below.
Press Release - September 27, 2007: Water Act Could Fund Vital UT Research
WASHINGTON, D.C.—The Water Resources Development Act (WRDA), passed by the U.S. Congress in September, authorizes funding of $2 million for the University of Tennessee (UT), Knoxville, for operation of the Southeastern Water Resources Institute (SWRI).
SWRI, which is housed in UT's Institute for a Secure and Sustainable Environment (ISSE), is a multi-disciplinary, multi-institutional research entity devoted to the study of issues related to surface and ground water. SWRI would use the funds to study sustainable development and utilization of water resources in the southeastern United States. The legislation will now be sent to the president.
"The Southeast, long regarded as water-rich and immune to some of the issues that have plagued the more arid West for decades, must be proactive in effecting essential improvements to its infrastructure and ensuring the long-term quantity and quality of its water supply," says Randall Gentry, ISSE director and associate professor in UT's Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. "This bill authorizes projects that will help our region, and the nation, achieve those goals."
WRDA authorizes funding through the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for flood control, environmental restoration, improvement to wastewater systems, dredging of U.S. ports, and protection of the nation's water supply through environmental restoration.
"If we do not invest in new water infrastructure projects and maintain the ones we have, we will be looking at a much bigger price tag down the road," said Congressman John J. Duncan, Jr. (R-TN), who supported the bill. "You have to look no farther than the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina to see the economic damage caused by not investing in our flood control projects–not to mention the loss of life and property."
Several of the other projects authorized by the act will directly benefit East Tennessee. While the bill authorizes these projects, money for the projects will have to be appropriated by Congress during the fiscal year 2009 appropriations cycle.
A roundtable was launched by the University of Tennessee in 1998 in Chattanooga, followed by a subsequent roundtable in Atlanta. The roundtables included state and local government water, environmental, and economic development officials; representatives from environmental and community groups; and federal officials. For three days, case studies of the region's water disputes and their causes were discussed in plenary sessions and smaller groups. There was broad agreement on four priority needs:
- Improving acquisition and dissemination of reliable and consistent regional water data;
- Increasing state and regional water conservation and end-use efficiency efforts;
- Better educating the public and decision makers on water supply issues; and
- Improving regional water management planning and capacity to resolve conflict.
In response to these needs, the concept for the Southeastern Water Resources Institute was formed.
The geographic purview of SWRI is the southeastern states, east of the Mississippi River. They are: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia.
The research and related activities of the Southeastern Water Resources Institute will help southeastern states to do the following:
- Better plan, inventory, regulate, manage, and utilize water supply;
- Better develop strong, consistent methods for protecting water supply; and
- Better understand ecological issues as they relate to water supply.
SWRI will work to:
- More effectively define how to involve relevant stakeholders in the development and implementation of water quality, water supply, and water allocation strategies--including source water protection;
- Research pertinent issues that drive demands for changes in reservoir levels, inter-basin diversions, and in-stream flows; and
- Develop tools to better define the role of climate, hydrologic transport and storage, population dynamics, and social and political attitudes on future supply.
Disputes over water supply and allocation, long a feature of the political landscape in the western United States, have begun to arise in the traditionally water-rich eastern part of the country. Several factors, each a driver of water disputes, place the management of water supply in the Southeast at a crossroads. These factors include
- Population growth, urban sprawl, and drought, which impose pressures on existing supplies. The population in the Southeast is projected to increase 50% by 2040. Three of the nation's fastest growing states—Florida , Georgia, and North Carolina—are in the region;
- Competition by different users over the same surface and groundwater resources. Demand patterns are changing as industrial usage is declining as a result of the Clean Water Act, while domestic, agricultural, and other needs are increasing;
- Difficulty in keeping local supplies safe, clean, and available, while also promoting economic development; and
- Generally poor understanding of regional water supply issues related to ecological integrity of aquatic ecosystems.