Archive for February 2026

Floating solar panel projects offer a promising clean energy solution (see TWR #259 for more information on this innovative technology). A new study evaluates potential environmental impacts of these projects and finds that results vary significantly depending on where the systems are deployed.    The floating solar technology offers several key advantages including: Can boost…

  A groundbreaking simulation from Princeton and the University of Arizona reveals that groundwater flow paths travel much farther and deeper than previously understood. By tracking water across 3 million square miles, researchers discovered that raindrops and snowmelt can travel underground for several hundred kilometers and spend up to 100,000 years in the subsurface before…

Researchers from Princeton and the University of Arizona have released the highest-resolution map of US groundwater to date. They have estimated that a total of 306,500 cubic kilometers of groundwater is available – 13 times the capacity of all the Great Lakes combined. Using a machine learning algorithm and more than one million data points,…

The Nature Conservancy in Nevada, DRI, and the University of Wisconsin–Madison have launched the Nevada GDE Water Needs Explorer Tool. This online resource helps managers quantify the water requirements of Groundwater-Dependent Ecosystems (GDEs) such as meadows, wetlands, and riparian forests. In Nevada’s arid environment, understanding how groundwater levels sustain these habitats is vital for maintaining…

The University of Arizona’s Water Resources Research Center (WRRC) is now accepting proposals for the federal WRRA grant program. These water research grant opportunities support university-based projects addressing Arizona’s water challenges.   Eligible faculty from Arizona’s three state universities can submit proposals by March 16, 2026 for the WRRA 104(b) program. Selected projects typically receive…