Freshwater Collaborative Awards UW-System Funds to Support Water Education and Research Programs

Tuesday, September 23rd, 2025 -- 9:01 AM

(Steph Conquest-Ware, Wisconsin Public Radio) The Freshwater Collaborative has awarded Universities of Wisconsin schools $4.2 million to support water education and research programs across the state. 

According to Steph Conquest-Ware with the Wisconsin Public Radio, the funding will target already successful programs at universities including undergraduate student freshwater research.

It addresses some of Wisconsin’s most pressing water issues, freshwater contamination, data centers and lead pipe replacement. According to the collaborative, the grants will fund 19 projects that will involve students and staff from all 13 schools in the UW System

The Freshwater Collaborative aims to address freshwater challenges globally. In Wisconsin, they do this through funding UW institutions. The grants help give university students research experience and prepare them for careers in water science.

Marissa Jablonski is the Freshwater Collaborative’s executive director. She said students are able to help with real world problems including a dam removal project that will include work by students from UW-River Falls, UW-Stout and UW-Eau Claire.

“They stand in the Kinnickinnic River with their waders on, and they analyze with industry partners like Inter-Fluve on how to remove a dam and whether it’s the time to remove a dam,” Jablonski said. “And then they’re able to apply everything they learned during their undergrad.”

UW-Milwaukee received nearly $1 million in grants. Rebecca Klaper, a dean and professor at UWM’s School of Freshwater Sciences, said their research is important because freshwater is integral to all Wisconsinites. 

“Water really is important for everything about Wisconsin’s way of life, from our public health and our drinking water to fishing and boating and being on the many, many lakes that we have here in Wisconsin to our industry partners who use water directly in their products to cool off power plants to use for agriculture,” Klaper said.

UWM also has several “transformative experience” classes allowing students to study Lake Michigan and other local waterways, she said. The grants help to fund those opportunities.

“They’re learning about how to monitor fish, how to take measurements on water quality, how to look at the health of our freshwater systems,” Klaper said. Outreach, particularly with K-12 students, is also an important part of the Freshwater Collaborative’s mission.

They want to push the younger generation to potentially look at freshwater careers in Wisconsin. “​​(Parents are) not necessarily telling their kids to go into water,” Jablonski said.

“And water is a very fulfilling career, and it’s multifaceted, anything from recreation, which everybody loves, to wastewater engineering to infrastructure engineering to biology, chemistry, environmental sciences and so many more in between.”

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