Sul Ross State University
A Member of the Texas State University System

"A comprehensive management program for this important transboundary water system would consider how elements, such as the use of groundwater and surface water resources for agriculture and other purposes,            land use and vegetative cover throughout the drainage basin, and the biological, chemical and hydrological      aspects of the river itself, are linked and interacting... "                                                                    

                                                                                                                                  Dr. Walter Rast

Credit: Stacy Duckett, Sul Ross Geographic Information Systems Lab Credit: Billie Braugh, National Park Service

The Rio Grande Research Center located at Sul Ross State University  in Alpine, Texas, serves as headquarters for the Sustainable Agricultural Freshwater Conservation in the Rio Grande Basin project. The center coordinates  research efforts and conducts project-wide data compilation  in conjunction with sister universities in the Texas State University System. We also work with non-governmental organizations and the research communitity to better understand biological, chemical, and hydrological linkages throughout the basin so that decision makers will have ready access to substantive information.    Working with water conservation research professionals and initiatives such as the Texas Water Resources Institute and the Rio Grande Basin Initiative at Texas A&M and New Mexico State University, a major objective of the SAWC Research Project is the creation of a basin-wide perspective for integrated management and sustainable use of the water resources of the Rio Grande throughout its drainage basin.     The primary water use throughout the basin is irrigated agriculture. Accordingly, research projects consider the identification and analysis of alternative technologies and methodologies for increasing water use efficiency in agricultural irrigation practices, as well as the utility of alternative incentives for water reuse or conservation, and the possibilities for increasing water use efficiency in urban areas.     The Sustainable Agricultural Freshwater in the Rio Grande Basin project includes the identification, compilation, screening, and analysis of relevant data and information from throughout the Rio Grande basin. These data include quantitative and qualitative information on the sources, quality and uses of water throughout the basin including those required for human needs and for maintaining the basin's aquatic ecosystems, the multiple uses to which this water is being put, the hydrologic linkages between surface waters and groundwater, and the implications of over-allocation on the sustainable use of the Rio Grande.