Institute At UNH Awards $3.1 Million To Develop Technology For Coastal Management

By Dolores Leonard, CICEET

The Cooperative Institute for Coastal and Estuarine Environmental Technology (CICEET) has awarded $3,182,826 to fund 12 environmental technology development projects for FY 2005. A partnership of the University of New Hampshire and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, CICEET fosters the development of tools for clean water and healthy coastal habitats nationwide. CICEET was established in 1997 with the support of U.S. Sen. Judd Gregg, R-NH.

“We are extremely pleased with the scientific caliber and high potential for application that these projects represent,” says Richard Langan, CICEET’s UNH co-director. “Coastal development is on the rise, and communities need the right technologies to manage and preserve the natural resources that make coastal living so desirable.”

Each of the environmental technology development projects funded by CICEET addresses a priority coastal management question. How, for example, can we improve the speed and efficiency of testing for harmful algal blooms such as red tide? How can we improve our stormwater and wastewater management to preserve water quality? Are there safer and more effective ways of treating contaminated sediments in coastal waters and estuaries?

The research will take place at National Estuarine Research Reserve System (NERRS) sites in Maine, California, Florida, Alabama, Rhode Island, New York, Maryland, and Virginia. At New Hampshire’s Great Bay NERRS, CICEET has funded 46 projects exploring topics such as microbial and toxic chemical contamination, habitat loss and restoration, stormwater management, and nutrient pollution.

“The NERRS system encompasses more than 1,000,000 acres of diverse, estuarine habitat around the U.S.,” says Dwight Trueblood, CICEET’s NOAA Co-Director. “Each site presents a unique opportunity for researchers to work on coastal management problems particular to that region.”

The environmental technology development projects were selected through an independent peer-reviewed competitive process. CICEET’s Request for Proposals (RFP) for 2006 projects will be released in October 2005.

If you would like to learn more about these projects, please visit CICEET online at http://ciceet.unh.edu/news/releases/etdRelease.html.