About Us

The Pennsylvania Center for Water Resources Research (WRRC), founded in 1964, is one of 54 federally funded state and territorial water research centers designated to conduct a research and technology transfer program. The water resources institutes are required by law to be located at each state’s land grant university (or some other site designated by the governor). Pennsylvania's WRRC is located currently at the Pennsylvania State University.The Center operates under the authority of the Water Resources Research Act of 1984 and in cooperation with the U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Department of the Interior.

The WRRC is part of the Penn State Institutes of the Environment (PSIE), which is an interdisciplinary research program at The Pennsylvania State University. PSIE's mission is the discovery and transfer of knowledge in the use and management of environmental resources. The Institute is dedicated to research, information dissemination and public education, and the training of graduate students.

Core funding for the Pennsylvania Water Resources Research Center (WRRC) core program consists of a base grant from the USGS, approximately $85,000 last year. The bulk of these funds are distributed to water resource researchers in Pennsylvania through a competitive grant program, where these federal monies must be matched with non-federal funds on a 2:1 basis.

Our Mission

The mission of the Pennsylvania WRRC is stipulated by the Federal Water Resources Research Act and has three objectives:

1. To plan, facilitate, and conduct research to help resolve local, state and national water resources problems.
2. To train water scientists and engineers through participation in water resources research and outreach.
3. To promote technology transfer and the dissemination and application of research results.

With a focus on water problems pertinent to Pennsylvania and the mid-Atlantic region, research areas include water quality and quantity management, hydrologic model development and assessment and fate and impact of pollutants. The center maintains a fully equipped and staffed inorganic water quality laboratory. A water resources extension specialist, employed jointly by the center and the College of Agricultural Sciences, is a liaison between scientific and technological community and the public.

Meet the Director

Dr. David R. DeWalle, professor of forest hydrology, is the director of the Pennsylvania Water Resources Research Center. DeWalle has had a long-standing joint appointment with the School of Forest Resources and the Penn State Institutes of the Environment.

He has served as Assistant Director for Research and Graduate Studies and Forest Science Program Chair in the School of Forest Resources. As a Heinz fellow and Executive Board member of the Center for Watershed Stewardship, he helped create the graduate Option in Watershed Stewardship. He has served as chairman of various committees in the School of Forest Resources, president and officer of the Penn State Chapter of Gamma Sigma Delta, and member of coordinating council for the Environmental Pollution Control graduate program. He has also served on the faculty advisory committee to the dean and strategic planning committee in the College of Agricultural Sciences.

DeWalle has been major advisor to over 45 M. S. and Ph.D. students since coming to Penn State in 1969. He is currently the faculty advisor to Penn State Student Chapter of AWRA and has served as president of the Pennsylvania Section.

DeWalle received his bachelor’s degree in forest management and master’s degree in forest hydrology from the University of Missouri, and doctorate in watershed management from Colorado State University.

Our Location

The Pennsylvania Center for Water Resources Research is located in the Land and Water Research Building on the University Park campus of the Pennsylvania State University as part of the newly formed Penn State Instiutes of the Environment. PSIE is an amalgam of several institutes, including the former Environmental Resources Research Institute (ERRI0 and Environmental Consortium (EC), and centers at Penn State with a focus on environmental problems.

Our History

The Pennsylvania WRRC was established through the Water Resources Act of 1964 (Public Law 88-379), which sought “… to stimulate, sponsor, provide for, and supplement present programs for the conduct of research, investigations, experiments, and the training of scientists in the fields of water and of resources which affect water.” The Act charged a college or university in each state appointed by the state’s governor to “…plan and conduct and/or arrange for a component or components of the college or university with which it is affiliated to conduct competent research, investigations, and other experiments of either a basic or practical nature, or both, in relation to water resources and to provide for the training of scientists….”
   
In 1964 Governor William W. Scranton designated Penn State as the official educational institution to carry out the provisions of the Water Resources Act in Pennsylvania. The Institute on Land and Water Resources, the precursor to ERRI, was selected by the University to administer the program and the Water Resources Center was formed.