Great Lakes WATER Institute

Center for Water Security
@ the UWM Great Lakes WATER Institute

Mission: To conduct research that aims to ensure the security, quality, and quantity of freshwater supplies serving the citizens of the U.S.

Targeted Research designed to engage University researchers and their collaborators in the development and/or implementation of strategies, techniques, and protocols, for methodologies and systems that will:

§ improve our ability to discern and detect potentially harmful chemical and biological alterations in aquatic and atmospherically coupled surface reservoirs, treatment operations, and distribution systems supplying freshwater to the nation’s communities;

§ improve our ability to forecast and predict the dispersion, transport and fate of such contaminants within these systems;

§ provide in situ monitoring and early warning systems and networks capable of operating in large lake and coastal systems over the range of sea states and climatic conditions observed in the Laurentian Great Lakes;

§ assist, where appropriate, the responsible public agencies in efficiently and effectively responding to threats to water supply systems and in determining the appropriate means and efficacy of remediation efforts.

Initial Studies: To date, scientists in the departments of biological science, chemistry, math, and engineering as well as the Great Lakes WATER Institute are conducting research in a wide variety of areas including:

developing a fiber optic based sensor network that will safeguard distribution systems over kilometer distances in real time
bio-sentinel systems in which aquatic organisms themselves act as early-warning “canaries in the mine”, e.g. zebra fish that “light up” like fireflies in the presence of pollutants; laser illuminated camera systems that can track alterations in swimming, feeding, and mating behavior of microscopic zooplankton in real time; continuous monitoring of water supplies by a small clam – Dreissena polymorpha – more commonly known as the zebra mussel
new, rapid molecular techniques for the detection of a single cell of a water borne pathogen in natural waters which contain over one million non-pathogenic bacterial cells in every thimble-full of water
a new high speed test, with “in time, today” results for bacterial contamination responsible for beach closings through out the GL and marine coasts – the current test takes 24 hours
atmospheric and hydrological forecast models to determine where, to what extent and how quickly a contamination event is dispersed in the air and water of the Great Lakes region.

Pilot projects:

Real-time Physical Modeling for the Assessment of the Fate of Hazardous Materials in the Lake Michigan Basin - Paul Roebber, Jon Kahl, Kyle Swanson, Anatasios Tsonis
A Remote Monitoring System of Potable Water Distribution Networks Using Quasi-Distributed Optical-Fiber Sensing Techniques. Alan Schwabacher & Peter Geissinger
Development of a “Chemical Threat Agent Database” for the Monitoring of Threats to Municipal Water Distribution Systems. Joseph Aldstadt
Genetic Targets and Direct Detection Methods for Bacterial Pathogens in the Environment. Sandra McLellan
Detection of Infectious Agents. Mary Lynne Collins
Transgenic Zebrafish: Sentinels for Water Security. Michael Carvan
Ciliary Response to Chemo-contaminants: Sentinels for municipal water supply security. Jerry Kaster
Real-time Detection of Waterborne Chemicals Using Daphnia as Biosensors. J. Rudi Strickler
The Vulnerability and Effectiveness of Biological Filters in the Events of Biological Warfare. Jin Li, Sandra McLellan & Erik Christensen

Infrastructure Improvements:

32 processor Origin 3800 supercomputer. This is the largest computational platform of its kind in Milwaukee. The current configuration allows a national forecast to be run at the same grid spacing as the current model from the National Center for Environmental Prediction in real-time. However, the CWS will be using the computer to do real-time predictions in ENSEMBLE mode at high resolution (approximately 3 times that of the national model) over the Great Lakes region, in order to provide probabilistic information concerning weather conditions, atmospheric transport and deposition models for forecasting trajectories and impacts of airborne contamination to the target reservoir.
Agilent 1100SL Liquid Chromatograph-Ion Trap Mass Spectrometer. For high-resolution chemical “finger-printing” and analysis of target compounds.
DNA fragment analyzer and sequencer. A fully automated genetic analysis system.
Delta Consult MosselMonitor. A bio-sentinel system utilizing either native or exotic bivalves as agents for continuous monitoring of water supplies, reservoirs and intakes

Supported by:

Water Harvesting and Water Purification program - Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

For further information contact:

Director, Center for Water Security
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Great Lakes WATER Institute
600 E. Greenfield Ave.
Milwaukee, WI 53204