Welcome to the newsletter about all things water in Montana!

MONTANA WATER NEWS will come your way via email every month with fresh news about meetings and water topics that we hope is of interest to you. If you do not want to receive this newsletter, please scroll down and follow the directions to unsubscribe. If you are seeing only text in this email, or if it's not easy to read, please make sure your email program is set to view "HTML" messages, or view the newsletter online in the newsletter archives.

Remember Those Water Resources Surveys?

Water Research RFPP Now Available

Annually at about this time of year, the Montana Water Center and its Water Research Advisory Board announce the availability of water research funds through the USGS's 104b research program. If you are a Montana University System-based researcher, you are eligible to submit a pre-proposal application, guidelines for which can be found the PDF, 2005-2006 Request For Pre-Proposals. The deadline for pre-proposal submittal to the Water Center is October 25, 2004.

Later this month, the Montana Water Center's Student Research Fellowship applications for the 2005-2006 research year will be distributed. Four awards will be made in December: $5,000 and $3,000 awards for two graduate students, and two $1,000 awards for undergraduate researchers.

AWRA Annual Meeting in Helena!

Don't miss this annual meeting of the Montana Section of the American Water Resources Association. Join us for what promises to be another outstanding agenda of presentations; a chance to network with colleagues, friends and associates; a festive happy hour; and a scrumptious banquet. It's all taking place at the Red Lion Inn on October 4th and 5th.

To start things off, a field trip to the Canyon Ferry Reservoir area south of Helena will offer a chance to view the areas impacted by the 2001 fires and interact with specialists involved with fire-induced watershed effects. Bus seating is limited, so assure yourself a place by sending your conference registration in early.

The conference plenary session will introduce this year's theme, "Montana's Water Outlook - Current and Future Challenges." We're excited to welcome Jane Jelinski to the podium. She is Director of the Montana Local Government Center and will address challenges faced by policymakers in decisions involving urban growth and water resources planning. John Wheaton from the Bureau of Mines and Geology will present an update on the specific water issues surrounding coal bed methane development. The breakout sessions will address a variety of water resource topics - drought, post-fire effects, river basin management, surface-water and ground-water quality, TMDL's, floodplain management and more.

You can find a registration form and meeting agenda at the AWRA Montana Section website.

Whirling Disease Vector Studies: How Does the Parasite Move Geographically?

Montana State University researchers Chris Guy and Al Zale, and Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks biologist Travis Horton are researching this question in their recently-funded study: Movements of Resident and Non-Resident Anglers in Montana: Implications for Transferring Whirling Disease among Drainages. These researchers were awarded $49,993 by the National Partnership for the Management of Wild and Native Coldwater Fisheries to study how anglers move the whirling disease parasite from watershed to watershed. This question has been little studied, but it is likely that anglers can transfer the parasite, based on the data showing that parasite spores are found in the sediment and are highly resilient to environmental stress, fishing equipment often captures benthic sediment, and anglers are highly mobile organisms.

The research will:

• identify the likelihood of detecting the parasite relative to sediment amount,
• quantify the amount of angler movement among basins,
• quantify amount of sediment on angling equipment,
• determine if the sediment on angling equipment contains myxospores, and
• determine sediment load and presence of myxospores on various wader and boot types.

Another Partnership-funded study is led by Dr. Paul Reno of Oregon State University. His study, "The Potential of Vehicles and Fomites to Transfer the Agent of Whirling Disease" examines to role that fishing boats and gear play in capturing and moving the parasite from watershed to watershed. Study results will be useful in developing management strategies to reduce the spread of whirling disease and other invasive species.

A New Toolbox for Assessing Microbial Risk in Water Systems

A New Toolbox for Assessing Microbial Risk in Water Systems Researchers Phillip Butterfield (University of Washington) and Anne Camper (Center for Biofilm Engineering, Montana State University) have developed a multimedia training tool that will help operators and managers assess the vulnerability of their small systems to microbial contamination. A tutorial spreadsheet application leads personnel through a series of questions based on their water sources and treatment and distribution systems. When questioning is complete, the program ranks system components and their relative vulnerabilities, with interpretation and suggestions for abating the vulnerability. Ultimately, this tool will help operators of small systems (<3,300 users) project the potential impacts from land uses and pathogens on system water quality. More than anything "this tool will help set priorities for spending of limited resources," says research engineer Phil Butterfield. The EPA-funded tool, developed in conjunction with the Montana Water Center media team, will be available in late 2004 on the Water Center's training website.

So many meetings, so little time. Even so, there are a few that water folks just shouldn't miss! Find more information on these and other upcoming events on the Events Calendar at MONTANA WATER.

2004 Watershed Coordinators Training Retreat, Utica, MT, September 19 - 21, 2004 [INFO]

Wild Trout 8: "Working Together to Ensure the Future of Wild Trout", Old Faithful Inn, Yellowstone National Park, September 20 - 22, 2004 [INFO]

Assessing and Re-naturalizing Streams Impacted By Dam and Dam Removal, Missoula, MT, September 23 - 24, 2004 [INFO]

71st Annual Water School for Water and Wastewater Operators and Managers, Bozeman, MT, September 27 - 30, 2004 [INFO]

Regional Meeting of the Outreach and Education Workgroup, Bozeman, MT, September 30, 2004 [INFO]

21st Annual Meeting of the Montana Section of the American Water Resources Association, Helena, MT, October 4 - 5, 2004 [INFO]

2004 EPA Graduate Fellowship Conference, Washington, DC, October 11 - 13, 2004 [INFO]

Law of the Missouri River: Water Rights, Management and Policy, Omaha, NE, October 14 - 15, 2004 [INFO]

American Institute of Hydrology Annual Meeting, Las Vegas, NV, October 17 - 21, 2004 [INFO]

Montana Watershed Coordination Council, Butte, MT, October 19 - 20, 2004 [INFO]

American Society of Civil Engineers 2004 Conference & Exposition, Baltimore, MD, October 20 - 23, 2004 [INFO]

American Society of Landscape Architects Annual Meeting, Salt Lake City, UT, October 29 - November 2, 2004 [INFO]

ASA-CSSA-SSSA Annual Meeting, Seattle, WA, October 31 - November 4, 2004 [INFO]

American Water Resources Association Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL, November 1 - 4, 2004 [INFO]