Dr. Bob Pavlowsky, professor of geography and director of the Ozarks Environmental and Water Resources Institute (OEWRI) at Missouri State University, received a $150,240 grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency via the Missouri Department of Natural Resources and the Watershed Committee of the Ozarksfor a water pollution research project.
The OEWRI is one of several partners working on the project. Pavlowsky and the OEWRI will determine the effect of pollution controls on improvements in water quality in streams within the city of Springfield. These controls will be targets to hold back storm water runoff from urban areas and remove pollutants by settling, soil filtering and vegetation buffers.
Several types of controls will be constructed and tested, including water gardens, bio-retention cells and storm water basin upgrades. A large education and public information component will also be included in the project and implemented by the Watershed Committee of the Ozarks, James River Basin Partnership and Project Wet.
“We need to do a better job of preventing future pollution problems as well as fixing existing problems,” said Pavlowsky. “This project will help to develop cost-effective pollution control measures that will help to reduce the pollution of streams and lakes in the Ozarks.”
The grant will be used to pay staff, fund graduate students, construct monitoring facilities, and analyze water samples for nutrients, sediment and bacteria. Pavlowsky said the project will focus on reducing pollution and improving water quality in and around campus, and much of the work will be completed within a mile or two of Missouri State.
For more information, contact Pavlowsky at (417) 836-8473.