Water

Initiated in 2013, the Water Systems working group is composed of 18 faculty and staff, representing five Colleges or other administrative units within the University of Kentucky. The group contains a diversity of water-related expertise and research interests, and originally coalesced with the aim to better highlight water-related research and educational opportunities on campus and throughout the state. Initiatives include the development of Water Week- a week-long series of water related activities that occur on UK's campus in October and is primarily aimed at undergraduate students- and the creation of the rain garden (the CATchment) on campus to help demonstrate stormwater best management practices to students and community members. Currently the working group is collaborating with Environmental management to help UK meet its MS4 permit requirements and is actively seeking additional collaborative projects.

The KWRRI focuses on water resources and water-related environmental issues important to the state of Kentucky. In keeping with its statewide mission, the KWRRI works to foster research collaborations between faculty and research staff at UK as well as faculty and research staff affiliated with the various regional universities across the state. The KWRRI mission encompasses several facets including research, education, training, and technology transfer.

The University's stormwater system is comprised of detention basins, open drainage ditches and miles of underground piping. In addition, this system is also comprised of outfalls that discharge stormwater from the campus' property boundary and into streams or directly into the city of Lexington's stormwater system. The primary objective of the University is to ensure that this runoff does not adversely impact surface water quality.