more articles like this UCSB Water Study updated: Aug 07, 2012,
11:28 AM What contaminants lurk in the urban subsurface, and
what happens to them once they're there? Do they make their way
into storm drains and creeks to reach groundwater, or even
oceans? Or do they naturally attenuate as they migrate through
soils, somehow allowing them to self-cleanse as they travel? A
UC Santa Barbara researcher hopes to find out, thanks to a
generous new gift to fund her work. Longtime water industry
executive Henry H. Wheeler, Jr. has awarded $1.25 million to the
Bren School of Environment Science & Management for Professor
Patricia Holden's new initiative, "Urban Water Environment," a
research and training program on urban water quality. The dual-
thrust endeavor looks to identify and quantify threats to
surface waters and groundwater in urban environments -- and
determine how to mitigate them. "Henry Wheeler's strategic and
visionary philanthropy will make a meaningful difference in
addressing local and global water qua