There is concern in the state of Delaware about water, although its issues are more related to quality than quantity. Human behaviors have negatively affected the environment, leaving many pollutants, such as arsenic, buried in the state’s marsh basins. Although currently undisturbed, of concern is the potential effect of rising sea levels on those contaminants and drinking water supplies. According to Kent Messer, University of Delaware applied economics professor, “92 percent of [the state’s] water bodies are impaired.”[1] Through the acquisition of federal and state grants, the higher education community has taken on the task of studying the issue to better understand possible affects and to suggest solutions. The result has been a collaboration of several institutions (the University of Delaware, Delaware State University, Delaware Technical Community College, and Wesley College) to launch Project WiCCED.
WiCCED stands for “Water in the Changing Coastal Environment of Delaware,” and the project’s goal is to “assess major threats to Delaware’s water quality and develop viable technological and policy solutions for meeting the challenges imposed by them,” according to its website.[2] Last year, the National Science Foundation awarded the group $19 million in funding for research which will focus on waterways in the state, such as the Murderkill and St. Jones Rivers as well as the Inland Bays watersheds.
Although focused on the issues facing the state of Delaware, Project WiCCED’s research will offer insight into issues of water quality that will have global implications. Additionally, the project gives more than 100 graduate students and 500 undergraduate students an opportunity to participate in an important research endeavor.
[1] Lauria, Maddy. “Will Rising Sea Levels Unleash Toxic Pollutants in Delaware? Researchers Aim to Find Out.” Delawareonline, Delaware News Journal, 29 Dec. 2018, www.delawareonline.com/story/news/local/2018/12/29/delawares-water-woes-there-solutions-biggest-threats/2262850002/.
[2] “About.” Project WiCCED, projectwicced.org/about/.
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