Funded Projects

The Freshwater Collaborative of Wisconsin invests in programs that recruit, retain and train students for Wisconsin’s water workforce.

Our funding is part of a statewide initiative, backed by the Wisconsin State Legislature and Gov. Tony Evers, to tackle 10 grand water challenges. We support K-12 outreach programs, hands-on coursework, undergraduate research opportunities and internships, career development, and field training experiences at the 13 Universities of Wisconsin.

Read 2024 Outcomes Report: Training Wisconsin’s Future Workforce

A Collaborative Research on Synthesis of Carbon-based Materials

PFAS is a group of chemicals detected in the drinking water of millions of Americans due to their widespread applications. They have been linked to several health concerns. The main objective of this work is to synthesize graphene oxide (GO) from sustainable resources, such as walnut shells, and to investigate the performance of GO for PFAS removal from water. Several students from UW-Stevens Point and UW-Madison will be trained to perform the research. Moreover, they will participate in disseminating the results, collaborating with industrial partners, engaging our community with STEM education, and increasing public scientific literacy on PFAS contamination.

Creating an Institutional Infrastructure for a Communication Hub to Support a UW System-wide Water Policy Network

Original Project Description: This project provides long-term, institutional infrastructure for a communication hub to create a Water Policy Network of faculty, researchers and students who connect and collaborate on water policy issues across the UW System. The Center for Water Policy will convene regular virtual meetings of the Water Policy Network. The communication hub will support relationship-building across UW System, collaboration on research proposals and the development of water policy curriculum. It will also serve as a one-stop shop for government agencies, the private sector, NGOs, media and other stakeholders who would like to identify water policy collaborators and experts.

Outcomes: The Center for Water Policy hosted three events for the Water Policy Network and members of the public: UW Water Policy Network research methods presentation and discussion; Public Rights in Milwaukee’s Fresh Coast (which had nearly 300 registrants); and Depolarizing Water in Complex Social-Ecological Systems: Navigating Conflict and Consensus in Lake Beulah, East Troy, Wisconsin. Recordings from these events are posted on the Center for Water Policy’s YouTube channel. The center also helped lead the network’s working group on agriculture and water pollution. The working group includes several UW-System schools and is in the early stages of planning a retrospective conference on agricultural water management. The center also submitted one public comment to FEMA and one Nelson Issue Brief with members of the network.

Read more: Communications Hub Supports Water Policy Network

Deposition and removal of emerging contaminants in the Milwaukee Estuary Area of Concern

The Greater Milwaukee Estuary faces pollution from emerging contaminants, such as PFAS and pharmaceuticals, posing risks to both the environment and public health. These contaminants are removed from the water through natural processes and accumulate in sediment, where they can persist for long periods, threatening organisms and humans who come in contact with them. The pollution history of these contaminants in the estuary remains poorly understood. This collaborative research project involves the analysis of sediment cores to study the contaminants’ history and behavior. The findings will aid in managing and remediating aquatic contaminations.

Development of a Collaborative Undergraduate Research Experience to Improve Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl (PFAS) Adsorption in Nanoporous Solids

Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl substances (aka PFAS) are emerging contaminants in Wisconsin’s waterways. This project provides funding to develop a collaborative undergraduate research experience between UW-Stevens Point and UW-Milwaukee to develop new PFAS adsorption technology. Researchers will test our technology against PFAS contaminated waters including real-world samples from Wisconsin’s waterways. Hands-on experience using start-of-the-art instrumentation will prepare students to enter the workforce with experience in PFAS chemistry, analysis, and treatment.

Engaging Undergraduate Students in Cutting-Edge Research on the Use of Earth Materials for the Removal of Contaminants including Per- and Polyfluorinated Substances (PFAS)

Polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are forever chemicals, indicating that they stay in water and the environment permanently. UW-Parkside and UW-Milwaukee will engage 10 undergraduate students per year to conduct cutting-edge research for PFAS and color dyes removal from water. In addition, they will conduct PFAS analyses using state-of-the-art instruments for water samples collected from local drainage and Lake Michigan. The results will help southeastern Wisconsin to develop strategies to remove emerging contaminants from water and to help protect the region from contamination by forever chemicals.

Establishment of the Center for Rural Opportunities, Prosperity and Sustainability

This project supports the establishment of a center at UW-Stout that will help develop successful rural communities in the region through environmental and economic sustainability. The target audience of the center is UW-Stout faculty, students and the regional rural community of the Red Cedar Watershed. The goals of the center are to identify opportunities for research, service learning, outreach, community involvement and student experiences that will examine agricultural water management and the nonpoint source runoff of nutrients to address issues in environmental, social and economic sustainability.

Outcomes: The grant provided research assistantships to three undergraduates who wish to enter the workforce in water. In addition, the project worked with individual farmers and those interested in becoming farmers (specifically graziers) to find the opportunities and enter that occupation. The university in this capacity is providing valuable technical support to the community. Partners included WDNR, City of Menomonie, Trout Unlimited, 3M, Menomonie County Land and Water, and local farmers.

Read more: UW-Stout’s Center for Sustainable Communities Will Help Rural Communities Thrive

Land Application and the Occurrence, Fate and Mitigation of Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances and Nitrate

Original Project Description: In Wisconsin, land application is typically the most cost-effective and common practice for handling biosolids, the semi-solid residual of wastewater treatment. However, groundwater contamination is a potential risk Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), a suspected hazardous chemical present in numerous household products and used in manufacturing, aren’t included in biosolids land application regulations. This research will help predict future PFAS groundwater contamination, generate future guidelines to protect groundwater wells from PFAS, identify Wisconsin groundwater sources at risk, and evaluate a low-cost treatment (biochar produced from agricultural waste) to minimize PFAS and nitrate leaching. Undergraduates will be trained in methods for measuring the fate and transport of contaminants that affect water quality.

Outcomes: This project funded a total of eight undergraduates from four universities — UW-Green Bay, UW-Madison, UW-Platteville and UW-Stevens Point — to work on research under the mentorship of the PI from UW-Green Bay. Students conducted water quality monitoring and leaching experiments. Their preliminary data was used in two submitted proposals to the USDA, which are pending review. It was also included in a publication in ACS EST Water 2024, 4, 2, 413–426, and presented at the America Water Resources Association virtual conference in 2024.

Mitigating PFAS Contamination of Groundwater: Biochar Sequestration of PFAS in Biosolid Leachate at the Field Scale

Sewage sludge or biosolids generated in Wisconsin are largely applied to agricultural lands. Through this practice, biosolids may be the most diffuse source PFAS contamination of groundwater resources. This project aims to evaluate onsite the PFAS immobilization performance of activated biochar incorporated in soils receiving biosolids, and to develop methods for PFAS analysis of soil and groundwater leachate. Four undergraduate students involved in the project will contribute to experimental setup, soil and water sampling; laboratory and data analysis; and results publication. The project will provide students and faculty with research experience critical to the development of an emerging contaminant workforce.

Pilot Project: Development of an In Vivo Method to Assess the Innate Immune Response in Fathead minnow Larvae

Original Project Description: Two undergraduate students will work with faculty from UW-La Crosse and UW-Madison to develop a new bioassay to study the immune response of wild fish. As part of their training, they will job shadow at the Wisconsin State Lab of Hygiene to gain a deeper understanding of how bioassays are used in the field of environmental toxicology. They will meet with experts from the Wisconsin Department of Health to see how data from these bioassays can be used to inform water quality standards. Finally, they will network at science conferences to learn about job opportunities in the field of environmental toxicology.

Outcomes: Students and faculty developed an assay to examine the immunotoxicity of environmental contaminants and are using it in the lab. Their technical report, “Adaptation of the in vivo respiratory burst assay for fathead minnow larvae (Pimephales promelas),” has been submitted and accepted to the Journal of Immunological Methods. They are working on a second manuscript using these methods to test for immunotoxicity of two neonicotinoid pesticides in zebrafish and fathead minnow. Students also met with scientists at UW Madison Limnological center and Wisconsin State Lab of Hygiene to learn about career paths related to water and toxicology.

Findings from this grant were used to secure a $259,990 grant from WI Sea Grant/National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association.