Research Areas

 

 

In order to address Utah's critical water issues, iUTAH established a statewide network of researchers to explore how variables such as population growth, climate change, and land use affect water sustainability. iUTAH's three research areas focused on:

 

  • Monitoring the relationship between water and ecosystems
  • Assessing water use behaviors and decisions, and how these influence the urban environment
  • Creating innovative computer models that describe how water demand, infrastructure, and eco-hydrology intersect to affect sustainability


iUTAH Experimental Watersheds:

 

 

iUTAH researchers collected climate and water data in three targeted watersheds in Utah to measure aspects of the water cycle in the atmosphere, on land, and in streams along the Wasatch Front.

 

What is a watershed?

A watershed is an area of land that catches water, stores it, and then releases it. It contains streams and rivers that flow into a single body of water, like a lake or the ocean. As such, watersheds are vital to all life. They provide drinking water, and water for agriculture, industry, and recreation. Because of the importance of water to the state, iUTAH’s research has focused on three of Utah’s most populated watersheds: Red Butte Creek, Logan River, and Provo River, that traverse the landscape from mountain to urban settings.

 

 

Research News:

 

June 28, 2018

Going with the Flow: iUTAH GAMUT Transitions

  The Utah Center for Water Resources Research (UCWRR) at Utah State University recently featured a story on what is happening to the GAMUT (Gradients Along Mountain to Urban Transitions) network in the Logan River. Water bLog, a semi-annual Read More...

 

 

June 27, 2018

GRAs Continue Strong Ties to Water Research

Celebrating success with iUTAH’s graduate research assistants at Utah State University’s graduation ceremony. Credit Michelle Baker   Over the past six years, the iUTAH community has benefitted greatly from the graduate students that Read More...

 

 

June 26, 2018

iUTAH Researchers Use GAMUT Data to Improve QC

A new study focused on Quality Control (QC) methodology in the iUTAH project using GAMUT data. Researchers Amber Jones, Jeff Horsburgh, and Dave Eiriksson published an article titled “Assessing subjectivity in environmental sensor data Read More...

 

 

April 10, 2018

Aerial Imagery Gives Insight into Water Trends

iUTAH researcher Bethany Neilson and Tyler King, at Utah State University, have developed a new method to estimate river discharge using aerial imagery gathered from helicopters and drones.   A media release by USU’s Grace Michaelson says Read More...

 

 

April 2, 2018

Building Cross-Campus STEM Collaboration in Utah

The iUTAH EPSCoR project has built Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) capacity in Utah through its Research Catalyst Grant (RCG) program. These competitively funded grants targeted faculty at primarily undergraduate institutions Read More...