Baylor researchers look to improve water quality

News 8 Austin this weekend ran a nice profile (including video) on the Baylor Experimental Aquatic Research (BEAR) facility and the work Baylor researchers are doing there. The facility allows professors and students to conduct experiments that could help the Environmenal Protection Agency (EPA) set better water quality standards, which in turns means better water for you and me.

The BEAR facility — the first of its kind at an American university — opened three years ago at the Lake Waco Wetlands and features 12 miniature “real life” streams, which can be manipulated to look and act like streams found across central Texas and in other regions. Researchers use the simulated streams to conduct controlled yet realistic water research studies that aren’t feasible in the wild, where there are just too many variables to account for.

BEAR studies are just one of a number of ways Baylor professors and students are addressing regional environmental issues with global implications through new programs and research.

Sic ’em, Baylor researchers!