Water and Ecosystems Management
Integrated Assessments for Water Supply and Water Quality Issues
Global water supply and water quality problems are addressed more efficiently by adopting an integrated, watershed-based perspective. The RTI Water and Ecosystems Management Center is at the forefront of efforts to examine water supply and water quality issues in the U.S. and around the world. We follow a multidisciplinary approach to solving water resource problems by combining our expertise in hydrology, ecology, engineering, and information technology.
Focus Areas
- Adaptive water quality management
- Integrated watershed management
- Sustainability and water supply assurance
- Demand-side management
- International sanitation and hygiene
- Technology evaluation
Capabilities
- Modeling and decision support tool development
- Watershed Flow and ALLocation (WaterFALL™) Model
- Nutrient loading, fate, and transport (SPARROW)
- Hydrodynamic (HSPF, SWAT)
- Pathogen source-receptor (multivariate linear regression)
- Groundwater (MODFLOW, etc.)
- Watershed-based TMDL development
- Ecological flow determination
- Water supply vulnerability analysis
- Water quality trading
- Economic impact assessment and ecosystems services valuation
- Wetlands delineation and mapping
- Geospatial applications
- Data management (WQX, STORET, ADB, NARS)
- Outreach, communications, and training
Projects
- Integrative model of climate change and water resources in Latin America (Inter-American Development Bank)
- Long-term vulnerability of water supplies in the southeastern United States (electric utility company)
- Development of pathogen TMDLs for Lake Michigan beaches (EPA Region 5)
- Economic impacts of dam removal in the Klamath River Basin (DoI, Bureau of Reclamation)
- Support for the Beaches Environmental Assessment and Coastal Health (BEACH) program (U.S. EPA)
- Water resources assessment and management policy review in Yemen (World Bank)
- Vulnerability of agricultural commodities to water shortages in the Snake River Basin (food and beverage company)
- Preparation of the National Coastal Condition Report (NCCR) series (U.S. EPA)
- Evaluation of water demand-side management and conservation options (Abu Dhabi, Executive Affairs Authority)
- Southeast isolated wetlands identification and mapping
Feature
Ecological Study at Camp Lejeune Earns Department of Defense AwardA six-year interdisciplinary ecological research program led by RTI International and sponsored by DoD’s Strategic Envir... Read more