Four First State colleges are partnering on a project devoted to protecting Delaware’s water quality.
Staff and students from the University of Delaware, Delaware State University, Wesley College and Delaware Tech will assess threats like pollution and sea level rise. They will then work to develop cost-effective ways to mitigate the damage caused by those hazards.
State Senator Ernie Lopez’s district includes a portion of Delaware’s coastal communities.
“Now more than ever we need to be making sure that clean water is a priority and I think a big concern right now is sea level rise. So to make sure that the research that we have is good research, that it’s appropriate dated correctly for what’s going to happen in the future is a real priority for us,” said Lopez.
The “Water in the Changing Coastal Environment of Delaware,” (WICCED) project is supported by more than $19 million from the National Science Foundation and just under four million from the state.
The project is part of a larger plan collaborating the four colleges for Delaware’s EPSCoR Research Infrastructure Improvement Program.