RESEARCH UNITS

Environmental Research Laboratory

The Environmental Research Laboratory was established in the early 1960s and was merged into SWES in 1995. The Environmental Research Laboratory (ERL) is a specialized off-campus component of the Department of Soil, Water and Environmental Science. It fulfills a unique function within the University of Arizona by conducting innovative, applied environmental research and education programs relevant to desert ecosystems. Areas of ERL research include:

o Water Quality and Human Health Protection
o Risk Assessment
o Sustainable Arid Land Food Production
o Community Lifestyles and Resource Efficiency
o Desert Ecosystem Maintenance and Restoration

Ian Pepper is the current director of ERL, which is located on an 8.6 acre facility located 10 miles south of Tucson.

For more information view the ERL website at: http://cals.arizona.edu/swes/erl/

ERL is also the home of the National Science Foundation, Water Quality Center (WQC) which was initiated in 1998 largely due to the efforts of Ian Pepper. The WQC is an Industry/University Cooperative Research Center sponsored by NSF to promote interaction between academia and industry.