USC's Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering will collaborate with a Pakistani university on water resources management in Pakistan and exchange faculty and graduate students.

The $600,000 project is funded by U.S. AID and was one of only 11 proposals approved among 112 submitted.

"Pakistan already has an effective system of irrigation canals, but there is a pressing need for better water management there," said Hanif Chaudhry, chair of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the lead principal investigator of the project. "Five rivers supply most of Pakistan's surface water, and all of them originate beyond the country's borders."

The southern and western portions of Pakistan are arid; the eastern part of the country gets moisture from monsoons and snowmelt. Extensive groundwater pumping has lowered the water table and, in some cases, ruined fertile land as saltwater has leached into the soil. In addition, the per capita water availability for the country's 160 million inhabitants has declined.

The project will partner USC with the University of Engineering and Technology in Lahore, Pakistan, and will focus on advanced training for Pakistani engineers involved in water resource management.

As many as four Pakistani faculty members will come to USC for two to three months for collaborative research. Two to four Pakistani graduate students will complete their Ph.D.s in civil engineering at USC. USC civil engineering faculty Mike Meadows, Jasim Imran, and Erik Anderson will travel to Pakistan for shorter periods.

Chaudhry sees the project leading to improved research capability and training activities that will foster better management of Pakistani water resources and design of hydraulic structures to benefit that country.

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