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<br />It's a great time to be in Minnesota. Spring came early, and
<br />summer is fallowing on her heels. I watched the ice go out on
<br />Lake Carnelian on April 8, and our pair of loons arrived the
<br />next morning. Trillium have come and gone, and Jack-in-the-
<br />Pulpitare currently showing off. We ate our first spinach salad
<br />from the garden this week. So yes, life is good. And on tap
<br />of all of it, we live in a place where the citizens amended the
<br />Consfftutlon to dedicate part of the sales tax to the arts and
<br />outdoors, even in the face of a major recession. The first step
<br />in implementing that commitment came this spring, with fhe
<br />first round of funding decisions made on the funds, includ-
<br />ing $151 million for water resources {see Legislative Update,
<br />page 3}. The hope I feel for the future of Minnesota's waters is
<br />nearly boundless.
<br />While spring is a time of renewal, summer is a time when
<br />things al the University slow down, a time to take stock. I am
<br />embarking on a new journey by accepting the Charles M.
<br />Denny, Jr., Chair in Science, Technology, and Public Policy
<br />al the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs,. where I will spend
<br />half my time. I am looking forward to this exciting opportunity
<br />to meld my scientific expertise with my interests in how sci-
<br />ence informs policy, and to learn from and interact with the
<br />faculty and students at Humphrey. The timing is right, given
<br />my involvement with the Statewide Water Framework (see
<br />page 1} and fhe US Environmental Protection Agency Science
<br />Advisory Board.
<br />This is also a time of transition for the Center -this month
<br />we say farewell and best wishes to two most valued and
<br />longtime staff, Maria Juergens and Barb Liukkonen. Maria
<br />has been the administrator of the Center since 1992, and has
<br />seen it grow from a staff of four part-time people to a staff of
<br />22 FTEs. She has managed a budget that grew to 40 times
<br />its original size, and helped bring life to the highly successful
<br />Water Resources Science graduate program. Barb has been
<br />our Renaissance Wafer Woman, handling education and
<br />outreach programs across all topics of water since 1996. She
<br />has been our voice on drinking water, shoreland protection,
<br />and volunteer monitoring as well as our face at every water
<br />event around the state. We will miss bofh of these women
<br />more than they can ever know.
<br />Enjoy fhe summer!
<br />Deb Swackhamer
<br />Great Lakes basin continued from page 1
<br />Camous example being the bald eagle, whose decline in the 1460s
<br />was traced to DDT, another long-lived PBT.
<br />With funding from the US EPA Great Lakes Air Deposition
<br />Program, University of Minnesota's Water Resources Center Co-
<br />Director Deb Swackhamer has teamed up with Senior Scientist Joe
<br />DePinto of Michigan-based LimnoTech to develop amulti-media
<br />screening model to help water resources managers prioritize
<br />research and monitoring for an ultimate reduction of PBTs in the
<br />Great Lakes.
<br />Their model works by establishing a quantitative relationship
<br />between PBT sources, cycling, and exposure through various path-
<br />ways, particularly PBT concentrations in fish. h will allow water
<br />resources managers to anticipate basin-wide relative exposure and
<br />risks from emerging chemicals of concern based on emissions,
<br />potential pathways in the basin, and known or estimated properties
<br />of those chemicals.
<br />Swackhamer, also a professor in the University of Minnesota's
<br />School of Public Health and whose research is focused on the
<br />bioaccumulation and exposure of toxic chemicals in Food webs, is
<br />providing the chemical data needed to calibrate and validate the
<br />model. She also is working on the hazard assessment aspect of the
<br />model.
<br />DePinto, who previously served as a professor at Clarkson Univer-
<br />sity and the State llniversity of IVew York at Buffalo and as director
<br />of the Great Lakes Program at SUNY-Buffalo, has received interna-
<br />tional attention for his work on surface water modeling. Limno-
<br />Tech researchers, who have worked with national policy makers
<br />on computer modeling for projects involving the Gulf of Mexico,
<br />Chesapeake Bay, and Florida Everglades, are designing the Great
<br />Lakes-wide model.
<br />"This model can be used by Great Lakes managers and policy-
<br />makers to forecast the impacts of newly-marketed chemicals and
<br />assess existing chemicals of emerging concern. There are too many
<br />chemicals to physically measure and assess in the field, and this al-
<br />lo~vs us to see what impact a given regulatory or management strat-
<br />egy might have on protecting the Great Lakes," says Swackhamer.
<br />Waterframework continued from page 1
<br />considered include infrastructure; drinking water; ground and
<br />surface water interactions; storm water; agricultural and industrial
<br />needs; the interfaces of climate change, development, and land use;
<br />and demographics.
<br />"The process will be highly collaborative with robust citizen par-
<br />ticipation," said Swackhamer. "It's an honor to help lead the effort
<br />to develop along-term framework to ensure Minnesota's water
<br />sustainability."
<br />via ram -~.___
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