Scientists are digging for answers about the amount and quality of water available underground in central Delaware, where ongoing development will put increasing demands on water supplies in the coming decade.

The Delaware Geological Survey (DGS) is installing 7,700 feet of wells at eight sites in southern New Castle and northern Kent counties to improve groundwater-monitoring efforts, supported by a $600,000 grant from the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC). Groundwater is the primary source of drinking water south of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal, and populations there are projected to continue expanding.

“In response to that, water use is going to at least double in the next 20 years,” DGS Senior Scientist Scott Andres said. “Having a good monitoring infrastructure for groundwater is necessary for determining trends and making projections for the future of the water supply.”

At first glance, Tim Schofield’s internship duties don’t appear much different from what any landscape worker does. Every week, June through August, this rising junior at the University of Delaware will weed landscape beds, cut back straggly branches and rake up plant debris on a one-acre yard in Applecross, a neighborhood off Route 100 in Greenville.

But Schofield also will catalog the diversity of beneficial insects, birds and other wildlife on the property, document evidence of soil erosion, and keep precise records of the time it takes to complete his tasks. It’s all part of a UD research project to see if replacing the typical suburban yard of mostly grass with one containing diverse vegetation can help protect the environment and make landscapes more sustainable.

When thinking about the many players that influence the Chesapeake Bay’s health – homeowners, farmers, developers, watermen, policy makers – it’s easy to consider them as being in competition.

A sophisticated computer game dispelled that notion for students recently as they took on those roles and tried to balance economic interests with environmental sustainability.

“If we all don’t win, we don’t win,” said David Smith of the University of Virginia as he and colleague Jeffrey Plank facilitated the UVA Bay Game with a class of UD environmental studies and environmental science majors.

With cameras set up in Sumatra looking for medium- and small-sized wild cats, such as leopards, a research group involving the University of Delaware's Kyle McCarthy, found images of something else entirely -- a rabbit. Not just any ordinary rabbit, but a Sumatran striped rabbit, one of the world's rarest species and one that had been captured on film only three times before.

There has never been a viable study of the Sumatran striped rabbit and McCarthy, assistant professor in the Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources (CANR), said that while his group plans on continuing their study of small cats, they are now also focusing on the rare rabbit species.

A lot of homeowners are clueless about the best ways to take care of turf. That’s why UD Cooperative Extension has joined forces with the Delaware Nursery and Landscape Association, the state Department of Resources and Environmental and Control (DNREC) and other partners to establish the Delaware Livable Lawns program.

"Most homeowners think they need to apply fertilizer in the spring. However, the best time to fertilize lawns is late summer and fall when grass plants put energy into root growth,” says Valann Budischak,a horticultural associate with University of Delaware Cooperative Extension, who also serves as executive director of the DNLA. “Early spring applications of nitrogen cause a surge of top growth in the plants. This makes the lawn look nice initially but it actually depletes the plants’ energy reserves, which causes the grass to weaken and be less apt to survive periods of stress in the summer,” she says. ”Lush green lawns from late spring or early summer fertilization are more susceptible to disease problems as we enter the hot summer months.”

Wearing sneakers and rain boots, University of Delaware freshmen got their feet wet as marine biologists recently while counting horseshoe crabs along the Delaware Bay. The students participated in a monitoring effort to gain firsthand experience in field research with their fellow marine science majors.  After receiving training in April through the Delaware Bay Horseshoe Crab Spawning Survey, two dozen students gathered in the evening at the St. Jones Reserve in Dover and dispersed to nearby beaches with an experienced volunteer leading each group. Thousands of horseshoe crabs lined the shores at high tide, congregating into clumps and slowly creeping along the sand in search of mates. The females lay small, round green eggs in the sand as males attach themselves to their backs for fertilization.

Nominations are being accepted for University of Delaware Sustainability Task Force (UDSTF) working group chairs and members for the 2012-13 academic year.

The UDSTF promotes campus sustainability initiatives in keeping with the Climate Action Plan through a variety of programs, including Earth Week and Campus Sustainability Day, an annual regional institute, and regular outreach and education through the Green Liaisons Program.

Those who are interested in serving on a working group for the 2012-13 academic year, or in chairing a working group, can email the task force at UD-sustainability@udel.edu by Friday,May 18.

The world’s streams, rivers and lakes are under increasing stress because of human water management – and mismanagement – that threaten aquatic biodiversity and the water supply, Charles J. Vörösmarty said recently during the second annual John R. Mather Visiting Scholars Lecture.

Vörösmarty, professor of civil engineering with the City College of New York, presented “Global Water Crisis: The Slippery Slope” on May 3 at the University of Delaware's Roselle Center for the Arts.

“The contemporary water system is really defined increasingly by the actions of humans,” he said.