Organization Name:

Carlsbad Environmental Monitoring & Research Center (CEMRC)

I. Contact Information
Contact Name Marsha Conley, Ph.D.
Title Director
Department Name  
Department Phone Number (505) 887-2759
Contact Phone (505) 234-5501
Fax (505) 887-3051
E-mail kyoung@cemrc.org
Mailing Address 1400 University Dr.
Carlsbad, NM 88220
USA
Web Site Address www.cemrc.org

II. Description of Organization

Organization, Mission, and Goals:

The Carlsbad Environmental Monitoring & Research Center is part of the College of Engineering, New Mexico State University, and is located in Carlsbad, New Mexico. The Center serves as a source of expertise for federal, state and private sponsors, providing environmental research, analytical services, technology development, information dissemination and citizen education. The Center occupies a 26,000 square feet laboratory facility completed in 1996, which supports work in five major program areas: radiochemistry, inorganic trace element chemistry, in vivo radiobioassay, field sampling, and computer modeling. The Center employs 30 staff in technical, scientific and administrative positions. A major core project at the Center is a long-term program of environmental monitoring in the vicinity of the U.S. Department of Energy Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), the first U.S. waste repository for radioactive waste from nuclear weapons development. The WIPP is located near Carlsbad, New Mexico, and approximately 140 miles from the U.S./Mexico border. The Center currently is conducting other research projects with funding from the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the U.S. Department of Interior Bureau of Reclamation. The Center also provides various specialized analytical services through contracts with state agencies and private businesses.

Environmental Media:
air
water
natural resources
environmental health
environmental education
watershed management

III. Organization's Involvement in U.S.-Mexican Border Environment

Current Border Environment Projects and Activities:

1. Independent Environmental Monitoring at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP)
The WIPP Environmental Monitoring (EM) project is a long-term study conducted in the region of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) WIPP, which is located approximately 140 miles from the U.S.-Mexico border. The WIPP is the first U.S. repository for radioactive waste from nuclear weapons development. The Center's WIPP EM project includes sampling and analyses of air, soil, drinking water, lake water, sediment, vegetation, and the local resident human population, and the results of the studies are made available directly to the public without prior review or approval of the DOE. All data and reports generated for the WIPP EM are posted on the Center's web site (www.cemrc.org); information from the project is also contained in annual reports and semi-annual newsletters distributed to regional libraries and other recipients. Date collection for the project began in 1996 and will continue throughout the operational lifetime of the WIPP (approximately 35 years). The project is funded by a grant from the DOE.

2. Paso el Norte Air Research Project
The Center is a cooperative investigator with scientists at several other universities in this study, which is funded by the Environmental Protection Agency through the Southwest Center for Environmental Research and Policy. The study focuses on characterization of the chemical composition of air particulates and surface soil source materials in the El Paso/Juarez airshed. Because sampling for the study only began early in 2000, no results have yet been reported.

3. Brantley Reservoir Water Quality Monitoring Program
This study is funded by the U.S. Department of Interior Bureau of Reclamation, and is in the third year, with at least 3 additional years planned. The study involves weekly sampling of selected water quality parameters (such as salinity, pH, dissolved oxygen, temperature) at Brantley Lake, a manmade reservoir on the Pecos River, approximately 12 miles north of Carlsbad, New Mexico. The study is relevant to the border region because the Pecos River flows into the Rio Grande in Texas, and thus directly influences Rio Grande water quality. All data are provided directly to the Bureau of Reclamation and are not released to the public without prior approval from the Bureau.

Past Border Environment Projects and Activities:

Future Border Environment Projects and Activities:

IV. Data Sets not on the Internet:

V. Additional Information:

This page is located at http://www.borderecoweb.sdsu.edu/Drct_pgs/cemrc.html