Researching chemicals

One of the fun things the Water Library gets to do is participate in outreach and today was a great treat. The UW Madison offers the PEOPLE program - the Pre-College Enrichment Opportunity Program for Learning Excellence and young women enrolled in the program and interested in STEM fields visited Steenbock Library to learn how to use library resources to research a chemical. A recent contamination event of the chemical tetrachloroethylene near Madison presented the young researchers with the opportunity of learn about hazardous chemicals, accidental spills and how researchers find information that credible, accurate, relevant to help make decision on how to proceed. Here are some of the tools the students used:

• Research Guide for the students
• Wikipedia article on tetrachloroethylene
• Fact Sheet from Wisconsin Dept. of Health Services
• Tox Town, National Library of Medicine

Summer time and it's time to read!

The graphic a right is the start of a very fun planning flowchart on how to choose your summer reading list. Click on the image to see its (impressive) full size but be warned! It might take you half the month of July to go through all the steps!

The Water Library also has some other ideas for you to try, including some great water-related titles:

• Try reading some water-related (and Great Lakes) fiction. Our recommended reading list shows just some of the great finds.
  
  
• Follow #UWSummerReads on Twitter.Librarians from across UW Madison campus will be tweeting some great suggestions.
  
  
• Madison Public Library has a great list of lists for hot summer reading.
  
  
• Do you have children in the house, bored and looking for something to do? The Water Library has recommended reading list for Beach combing, Water exploration, and much more.
  

Whatever it takes, pick up a book and head to the water!
Happy reading!!

New Drinking Water Teaching Tools

A collaboration between the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture has produced new instructional materials to assist teachers who seek to enhance the consciousness of their high school students about where their drinking water comes from, and how sources of drinking water can be protected.

Their press release continues, "The curriculum's “hands-on” learning activities, which are related to topics such as water characteristics and contaminants, water regulations, drainage, and reducing the flow of nutrients into groundwater and surface water, will enliven the educational experience for students and teachers."

This FFA curriculum development project, funded by EPA and USDA, included a large team of drinking water experts from EPA and USDA as well an instructional design team that included FFA staff, Elaine Andrews and Kate Reilly, UW Environmental Resource Center, and Dolly Ledin and Sarah Wright, UW Institute for Biology Education.

To learn more about these teaching tools, visit their website.

Climate Change and Water Availability

The U.S. Geological Survey recently released the results of modeling studies that project changes in water availability due to climate change at the local level. Scientists used several models to look at 14 basins across the country, including two in Wisconsin - Black Earth Creek and Trout Lake Basins.

According to the USGS, "Climate change projections indicate a steady increase in temperature progressing through the 21st century, generally resulting in snowpack reductions, changes to the timing of snowmelt, altered streamflows, and reductions in soil moisture, all of which could affect water management, agriculture, recreation, hazard mitigation, and ecosystems across the nation. Despite some widespread similarities in climate change trends, climate change will affect specific water basins in the U.S. differently, based on the particular hydrologic and geologic conditions in that area."

Read more about the studies and see individual fact sheets about each basin here. 

More About Hydraulic Fracturing

As we mentioned a couple of weeks ago on AquaLog, the Department of the Interior proposed new safety measures that aim to make the practice of hydraulic fracturing (or "fracking") safer. [Read post] National Public Radio (NPR) recently turned a spotlight on the science of the fracking boom and highlighted some of the science issues not frequently discussed:

• What are the health concerns related to fracking?
• What is the air pollutions impacts from natural gas production?
• Will fracking cause similar water pollution that plagued Pennsylvania during the coal mining boom?

NPR does a good job of presenting a wide range of issues. Check out the full series here.

image from Penn State Public Broadcasting, from their interactive site Explore Shale

Congratulations Graduates!

As our friends at Steenbock Memorial Library recently posted on their blog, graduates can still access a number of services through the UW Libraries.

Here's how you can access great materials (even if you're not studying for finals!):

• The Wisconsin Alumni Association Library Access page provides information about a number of available resources.
• Many non-students are able to maintain borrowing privileges through the UW Libraries. Check out the Visitor Information page for more information.
• In addition, Wisconsin residents can access Badgerlink for journal articles, resources, and more.

In addition, all resources at Wisconsin's Water Library are available to Wisconsin residents! Drop us a note at Ask Water, or pop over to our Wisconsin Residents page to see how we can help you. We wish all graduates the best of luck in the future!

Sarah's last day

Today we say goodbye to our blogger (and so much more) over the last 9 months, Sarah Leeman. Sarah has graduated from the UW Madison, School of Library and Information Studies and is moving on to a job at Argonne National Labs near Chicago. In her honor, here are some of Sarah's great posts:

• Careers in Water
• Take Your Water To Go
• Hug a Plumber Day!
• The Gift of Water
• Holecene vs. Anthropocene
• Historic Photographs of the Wisconsin Dells

We wish Sarah the best in her bright future. She will be missed!

photo credit:  Aquatic Sciences Center, John Karl