Sports may divide schools in the Southeastern Conference, but one of Earth’s most basic resources has brought together three Southern institutions.
On March 12, Mississippi State University officially signed into a partnership with The University of Alabama and Auburn University to collaborate on water resource issues. Bennett Bearden, director of The University of Alabama’s Water Policy and Law Institute, said the initiative will bring together the strengths of each of the schools’ long-term research programs.
“It forms the approach we need, because most research on water needs to be interdisciplinary in order to be effective,” he said.
Bearden said the agreement, which is the first of its kind among these three schools, will utilize research each school. Each of the schools does water-related research independently, he said, but now they can combine their efforts.
“Areas of research that we have identified for collaborative and cooperative opportunities are water policy and law, agricultural water issues and agribusiness issues, economic development, environmental issues, watershed management, water quantity and water quality issues, ecosystems management, capacity building, integrated water resources, river basin management and sustainable water development,” he said.
Bearden said Mississippi State and Auburn, schools with strong agriculture programs, will provide valuable research on agricultural water issues. With the only state-supported law school in Alabama, The University of Alabama will contribute information on water policy and law.
Bearden said the agreement came from the administrative level of each university – specifically, the vice presidents for research and economic development. Concerns for water resources, some shared between the states, was a driving factor in forming the collaborative agreement.
“Our two states have tremendous common interests and challenges that we face in water quality and quantity,” said David Shaw, vice president for research and economic development at Mississippi State University. “No one institution can bring all of the strengths and capabilities that are needed for these complex issues, so a partnership between our universities is an excellent means of bringing a diversity of talents together.”
Bearden said the water centers at each university will play a big role in the combined research efforts, but they hope to include many other players on each campus. Under the leadership of the vice presidents for research and economic development, Bearden said the water centers will work with professors who do water-related research as well as the students working in their labs.
Mary Wallace Pitts, instructor in the UA department of geography and coordinator for the local North River Watershed group, has experience in watershed programs and water resources.
“Tuscaloosa is fortunate to have such an excellent water supply as Lake Tuscaloosa, but we have to continue to educate and manage it properly to ensure that clean, cheap water is available into the future,” she said. “Water is the most critical resource and ensuring water supply for a community is the most significant issue that any community faces. Alternatives exist for every other commodity that we use – this is not true for water.”
Bearden said the first step since the agreement was signed last month is for the vice presidents to meet and outline plans for the collaborative projects. After the overall plans are set, professors and water center personnel from the three campuses will meet to discuss the completion of the projects.
Bearden said they also plan to address water resource issues on a local, state, national and even international scale. One of the first projects he predicts will involve researching the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway, a man-made river connecting the Tennessee River to the Black Warrior-Tombigbee River junction near Demopolis. The river runs through both Mississippi and Alabama, making it a concern for both states.
