Dr. Shirley Micallef receives funding to conduct research on irrigation water through a USDA Center of Excellence for Sustainable Water Reuse, Food, and Health
Finding alternative sources of water for agriculture has become a national priority as changes in climate have put a strain on water availability in important food production areas in the U.S. With a four year $10 million grant from the USDA, National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), through the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) Water for Agriculture Challenge Area, the “CONSERVE” Center of Excellence will bring experts from the Mid-Atlantic and Southwest to research best water sources and on-farm water treatment technologies that will enable safe food production while conserving groundwater resources. The CONSERVE (COordinating Nontraditional Sustainable watER Use in Variable climatEs) team, led by Dr. Amy Sapkota at the School of Public Health, includes Dr. Shirley Micallef inthe Department of Plant Science and Landscape Architecture who conducts produce safety research with a focus on the pre-harvest agro-environment. As part of the CONSERVE team, Dr. Micallef will characterize the microbial water quality of non-traditional irrigation water sources, including reclaimed wastewater as an alternative for agricultural use. Working on research and commercial farms, the team will also investigate new technologies that farmers may use to improve irrigation water quality, opening up new water sources for Southwest states that are already experiencing critical water shortages, while providing proactive solutions for the Mid-Atlantic to ensure future water security, which is so intimately linked to food safety, food security and environmental sustainability. The project also supports NIFA’s educational priorities through the development of open-access transdisciplinary curricula and a CONSERVE Scholar program to help prepare the next generation of scientists to perpetuate sustainable water reuse efforts.
CONSERVE will be centered at the University of Maryland, College Park in the School of Public Health’s Maryland Institute for Applied Environmental Health and include the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, the College of Computer, Mathematical and Natural Sciences, the A. James Clark School of Engineering, SESYNC (National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center) and a Maryland-based bioinformatics company, Cosmos ID. The team also includes key experts from the University of Maryland, Baltimore, School of Medicine and the Francis King Carey School of Law; the University of Maryland Eastern Shore; the University of Delaware; the University of Arizona; New Mexico State University; the US Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service (USDA ARS); and the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies in Israel.
