Project and Water News

Many of Utah's national parks and monuments depend on a healthy Colorado River system to thrive in the decades to come. Planning for that future is critical, especially in the face of challenges.

CI-WATER researchers are harnessing the power of play to prepare the next generation of water resource managers.

Members of the CI-WATER Education and Outreach team are developing a set of games that challenge players to use math and reasoning skills as they learn about the water cycle, manage risk and make decisions about water resources. The games include two card games and two board games.

Hydrologist Herman Dolder, a doctoral candidate in Civil and Environment Engineering at Brigham Young University, was inspired to create the first, a card game involving risk and strategy, when presenting on water science to a nephew’s elementary school class. The CI-WATER researcher likens gaming to the kind of modeling CI-WATER researchers are doing. In both, he says, you get to try out different ideas about the future. And both filter out information to focus on core concepts.

The board game Hydropoly, designed by Heather Poulsen of the Natural History Museum of Utah, is included in the CI-WATER Teaching Toolboxes. Unlike the game’s famous predecessor, the goal of Hydropoly isn’t to amass the most money; it’s to manage water credits strategically.

Games are a great way to help teach water science concepts, says Dolder. “People relate games to having fun. Repetition is important to learning, and each time you play the game, you learn more.”

At first glance, it’s easy to see that the students participating in the Research Experience for Undergrads at the University of Wyoming have all become good friends. Laughing and joking with each other, it’s a fun environment.

For the last month, seven students from Wyoming and one student from Utah have been writing programs to model the impact of sunlight and shade on the water infiltration into the soil in the Colorado River basin.

Students participating in the REU course each gained something different, and look forward to being able to apply these new skills in their future. Geoff Foster, a Utah State University undergraduate majoring in Civil Engineering is proud of the skills he has learned. “I used to be afraid of the computer age, but because of the REU course I now have a background in computers and I can apply it to my studies,” he says.

Noll Roberts, a molecular biology student at the University of Wyoming, learned the importance of being able to work with people with diverse backgrounds. “One of the things that’s different about this program is that you’re working with many different types of people, so trying to learn how to bridge those gaps quicker is a really useful skill,” he says.

Now that students have created computer programs and models to understand how water enters the ground, they will spend the next month working on a CI-WATER project, using the knowledge they gained in the REU course.

Last week, researchers from across the nation gathered for the CUAHSI Conference on Hydroinformatics and Modeling at Utah State University (USU).  The conference ran from July 16 through July 18 and included workshops and dozens of presentations to share advances in water modeling.

CUAHSI, which stands for the Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of Hydrologic Science, is supported by the National Science Foundation.