The University of Utah
The University of Utah is a university that is part of the pulse of the water sector. Here we bring together everything it publishes on Smart Water Magazine: its news, its blogs and the events it takes part in.
Study reveals groundwater dominates snowmelt runoff, controls streamflow efficiency in western US
The results demonstrate that snowmelt runoff is the result of multiple prior years of climate mediated by groundwater storage. These interactions are crucial for predicting water resources as climate and landscape changes accelerate.
Producing water out of thin air
Device developed by U engineers with Army funding harvests water from atmosphere, even in arid places.
How dust pollution from shrinking Great Salt Lake affects communities disproportionately
New research from the University of Utah demonstrates how wind-carried dust from the exposed bed of Great Salt Lake is disproportionately affecting disadvantaged communities in the Salt Lake metro area. The findings suggest restoring the lake to a healthy water level would reduce disparities in harmful dust exposure experienced by different racial/ethnic and socioeconomic groups, […]
What will it take to stabilize the Colorado River?
Lakes Powell and Mead, the two major reservoirs fed by the Colorado River, reached record lows this year nearing 25% capacity. An ongoing megadrought, impacts from climate change and systematic overuse have created a deep management crisis. Although there is growing public acknowledgement that cuts in consumptive use are inevitable and that policy changes are […]
How to assess a community’s resilience
Interdisciplinary resilience framework explores connections between social systems and water supplies.
Desert shrubs cranked up water use efficiency to survive a megadrought. It may not be enough.
Shrubs in the desert Southwest have increased their water use efficiency at some of the highest rates ever observed to cope with a decades-long megadrought. That’s the finding of a new study from University of Utah researchers, who found that although the shrubs’ efficiency increases are unprecedented and heroic, they may not be enough to […]
Forests face climate change tug of war
In a world of rising levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide, plants should be happy, right? Experiments have shown that, yes, increased carbon dioxide does allow plants to photosynthesize more and use less water. But the other side of the coin is that warmer temperatures drive plants to use more water and photosynthesize less. So, which […]
Trees’ water-use strategies can intensify droughts
Nature, said Ralph Waldo Emerson, is no spendthrift. Unfortunately, he was wrong. New research led by University of Utah biologists William Anderegg, Anna Trugman and David Bowling find that some plants and trees are prolific spendthrifts in drought conditions—“spending” precious soil water to cool themselves and, in the process, making droughts more intense. The findings […]
Turning algae into fuel
Biofuel experts have long sought a more economically viable way to turn algae into biocrude oil to power vehicles, ships and even jets. University of Utah researchers believe they have found an answer. They have developed an unusually rapid method to deliver cost-effective algal biocrude in large quantities using a specially-designed jet mixer. Packed inside […]