Water Resources

Fellow Story

Towards better worker and public safety

Switzer Fellows Evan Hansen and Mike Wilson testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment & Public Works about how we might prevent chemical threats and improve safety at facilities across the country.
March 7, 2014
Fellow Story

Hansen, Mulvaney fracking research highlighted on Yale Environment 360

An hour south of Pittsburgh, in Pennsylvania’s Washington County, millions of gallons of wastewater from hydraulic fracturing wells are stored in large impoundment ponds and so-called "closed container" tanks. The wastewater is then piped to treatment plants, where it is cleaned up and discharged into streams; trucked to Ohio and pumped deep down injection wells; or reused in other fracking operations.
February 25, 2014
Fellow Story

Rinker's BRI discovers pollutants in beaches surrounding Acapulco

Biodiversity Research Institute (BRI) announced the completion of its first project in Mexico in alignment with its technical-scientific agreement signed in December 2012 with Mexico's federal environmental agency, the National Institute of Ecology and Climate Change (INECC). The three-week survey of beach contaminants for the State of Guerrero, an area that encompasses several major resorts including Acapulco, found strong evidence of environmental pollutants including plastics, mercury, and petroleum pollution along the coastline.
January 31, 2014
Fellow Story

Culverts and Climate Adaptation in the Lake Champlain Basin

In 2012, through a Switzer Leadership Grant, I had the opportunity to join the Adirondack Chapter of The Nature Conservancy to help advance work in freshwater conservation and climate change adaptation in the bi-national Lake Champlain Basin.
January 30, 2014
Leadership Grant Grant

Supporting Wetlands Managers

The Association of State Wetland Managers received a $40,000 Leadership grant to hire Dr. Brenda Zollitsch in a new staff position of Policy Analyst. Brenda, a recent PhD graduate from the University of Southern Maine's Muskie School of...
January 22, 2014
Fellow Story

Hansen says 'everything' in response to West Virginia water crisis worrisome

In addition to multiple concerns related to the CDC’s safety standards, methodology, and transparency, Hansen said he feels much of the blame falls on the state and the long history of lax oversight this incident exposed.
January 20, 2014
Fellow Story

Hansen's tweets on water safety in West Virginia picked up by local media

Evan Hansen, an environmental consultant with the Morgantown firm Downstream Strategies, has been wondering for several days about whether the health studies and water-sampling efforts included the other constituents of Crude MCHM. Posting his thoughts on Twitter, Hansen said the distinction between the two substances is important. "Are water tests in area being done for all constituents of Crude MCHM or just for 4-MCHM," Hansen posted. Read more
January 20, 2014
Fellow Story

Mapping tool, policy analysis of West Virginia crisis

From 1996 Switzer Fellow Evan Hansen, whose West Virginia-based firm Downstream Strategies offers environmental consulting services with a core belief in the importance of protecting the environment and linking economic development with natural resource stewardship:
January 17, 2014
Fellow Story

Hall says tropical forests mitigate extreme weather events

"Our project aims to clearly quantify environmental services such as water flow, carbon storage and biodiversity conservation that decision makers will consider as they evaluate projects from forest restoration to watershed management," said Jefferson Hall, Smithsonian staff scientist and project director. Read more
January 17, 2014
Fellow Story

Mulvaney edits multimedia Green Atlas

This reference resource, in atlas format, is an online-only compendium of maps and data sets accompanied by multimedia elements designed to illustrate key concepts in green issues and environmentalism graphically and interactively. Topics for the maps presented in this work were selected from articles in the 12-volume SAGE Reference Series on Green Society: Toward a Sustainable Future. Each map includes links to one or more of the series articles. Maps include interactive components, with clickable icons to deliver the data and statistics that make up each map.
January 16, 2014