Ecological Engineering Recent Projects

Recent Research Projects

Sediment Transport in the Rio Salado, Rio Grande, and Las Vegas Wash

Sediment is the largest contaminant of surface water by weight and volume and has been identified by the United States Environmental Protection Agency as the number one problem threatening America's waterways. Today, the most pressing sediment-related problems are associated with environmental questions such as the transport and fate of attached pollutants, effects of sediment on aquatic biota and their habitat, and changes in sediment transport related to land use change. Understanding the fate of sediment-bound pollutants requires an understanding of the transport and deposition of sediments. Our studies have focused on source and transport of sediments in Las Vegas Wash (Las Vegas, NV), Rio Salado (Phoenix, AZ) and Rio Grande (Albuquerque, NM) by 2D numerical models and field investigations.