New Mexico Water eNews

NMSU Student Receives NM WRRI Student Water
Research Grant
by Marcus Gay, NM WRRI Student Program Coordinator

Muchu Zhou is a PhD student at New Mexico State University in the Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering. In June, she received an NM WRRI Student Water Research Grant entitled, Design of Optimized Produced Water Treatment Units for Agricultural Irrigation. The purpose of the study is to design and optimize a water treatment unit capable of treating produced water so that it meets the requirements for agricultural irrigation.

In 2018, New Mexico ranked third in crude oil production in the United States, and advanced hydraulic fracturing technology is causing the oil output in New Mexico to grow. This hydraulic fracturing also generates a large amount of water known as “produced water.” Around 900 million barrels of produced water was generated in New Mexico in 2017. Conventionally, produced water is considered wastewater, but advanced wastewater treatment and state regulatory framework has made the reuse of produced water possible.

Currently, treated produced water does not meet the quality required for reuse in agricultural irrigation. Therefore, the goal of Muchu Zhou’s research is to design and optimize a produced water treatment unit for agricultural irrigation that considers high efficiency, low energy consumption, and low cost as three key factors.

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NM WRRI Publishes Report on Predictive Soil Mapping to Improve Ecohydrological Models 
by Carolina Mijares, NM WRRI Program Manager

New Mexico State Plant and Environmental Sciences Assistant Professor Colby W. Brungard, and his former Master of Science student Mikayla J. Allan, have completed an institute funded research project entitled, Predictive Soil Mapping to Improve the Physical Basis of Distributed Ecohydrological Models in Arid Environments. Project results will contribute to improving the parameterization of future ecohydrological modeling applications due to the interpolated variables and associated prediction uncertainty revealed in this investigation. NM WRRI Technical Completion Report #382 is available online via the NM WRRI website.

Meet the Researcher

Meet Reza Foudazi, Research Professor,
New Mexico State University
by Jeanette Torres, NM WRRI Program Coordinator

This month for meet the researcher, we are profiling Reza Foudazi, who first joined New Mexico State University in August 2013 as an Assistant Professor for the Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering and became an Associate Professor in August of 2019. He originally began his career as a Postdoctoral Fellow for the Material Science and Technology group for Cape Peninsula University of Technology in Cape Town, South Africa. From there he became a Research Associate for the Department of Macromolecular Science and Engineering for Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. Foudazi was also visiting faculty for both the University of Minnesota Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (2016) and at the Foundation for Research and Technology at the University of Crete (2017).

Reza earned a Doctorate of Technology in Chemical Engineering from Cape Peninsula University of Technology in Cape Town, South Africa (2010), and Bachelor (2002) and Master (2004) degrees in Polymer Engineering from Amirkabir University of Technology in Tehran, Iran. Foudazi has been the recipient of many awards and honors including the Polymer Processing Society Early Career Award (2019), and was the winner of the Arrowhead LAUNCH Competition for his Prosthetic Sleeve Liner project (2018).

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NM WRRI Hosts State Rep. Melanie Stansbury for a Listening Session on Approaches to Water Management
in New Mexico
by Robert Sabie, Jr., NM WRRI Research Scientist

On Thursday, December 5^th, New Mexico State Representative Melanie Stansbury held a listening session at New Mexico State University. Representative Stansbury represents the 28^th District and is a member of the House Energy, Environment, & Natural Resources committee. The purpose of the listening session was to hear from the public and those involved in water management about current water challenges and to explore opportunities to modernize our approaches to water science, policy, management, and infrastructure at the state level. This was one of several listening sessions on the topic that Representative Stansbury has held around the state over the past several months. One of the main goals of the listening session was to develop a larger collaborative effort to improve New Mexico’s water resources at the community level.

One question raised was if New Mexicans were willing to take on the challenge of rethinking how water management is done in the state. The unanimous passage of the Water Data Act earlier this year suggests the political and community support is there, and the answer is yes. The participants of the session discussed many challenges such as gaps in the water workforce, timely processing during permitting processes, a lack of opportunities for communities to work together to apply for funding, and protecting or replacing aging infrastructure. All of the ideas shared at the listening session will be compiled into a report and will be used to guide future decisions on water policy and management.

NM WRRI Welcomes Visiting Scholar
by Carolina Mijares, NM WRRI Program Manager

NM WRRI is hosting visiting PhD student Youzhi Wang, who is conducting research under the academic advisement of Dr. Ping Guo of China Agricultural University (CAU). Youzhi was awarded a scholarship by the China Scholarship Council through a rigid academia evaluation process to study in the United States. Youzhi’s program supports the goals of the New Mexico State University-CAU Water Science and Engineering Joint Research Center. Dr. Sam Fernald is helping her with her research as part of the joint program. Wang’s research will focus on the combination of simulation and optimization modeling for agricultural water resources management.

Youzhi received an undergraduate degree in hydrology and water resource engineering from Shandong Agricultural University in Shandong, China, and is now working on a postgraduate program in hydraulic engineering. Her focus is on water resources management using a combined simulation-optimization model with uncertainties. Youzhi will also be conducting research on water resources management based on the combined use of social hydrological and optimization modeling taking uncertainties into account.

“This is my first time traveling abroad and I am faced with the challenge of communicating, adapting to my new environment, and increasing my general knowledge. To help me in this transition, I attend group meetings and practice communicating English with others through a course offered at Doña Ana Community College. My goal is to be able to fluently communicate with the NM WRRI staff about my research involving social hydrological modeling and combining it into an exact water resources management tool.”