Providing real information on a critical resource.
Water is essential to life on Earth. We all use water in our everyday lives — we drink it, we use it to produce food, we use it to clean, and we use it for recreation. In Wisconsin, nearly 3 percent of the state’s area is made up of more than 15,000 lakes. UW-Whitewater’s Institute for Water Business (IWB) is focused on delivering information about water-based issues to people and businesses in Wisconsin and around the globe.
The Institute for Water Business seeks to engage, educate, and empower key stakeholders through learning, research, and outreach. The institute brings people together, fostering alliances among students, faculty and staff, businesses, governments, and civil society, to exchange information and dialogue and to collaborate on freshwater challenges.
How does the IWB address water-related issues?
Disseminates knowledge through events and programs
Fosters alliances among people
Offers real and virtual spaces for collaboration
Our projects
Environmental Restoration in Marinette, Wisconsin
This study examined and evaluated the benefits and challenges of environmental restoration, including its effect on environmental justice and sustainable development.
Fund for Lake Michigan
Based on findings from a Fiscal and Economics Research Center study, the Fund for Lake Michigan had a substantial and concrete impact on the economy by adding 1,758 jobs, $63 million in labor income, and $216 million in economic output from Spring 2011 to Fall 2020.
The Blue Green Corridor
Establishing the Intersection between Economic Growth and Environmental Design — This study evaluated the economic impact of a blue/green corridor along the Chicago River.
Tainter Lake and Lake Menomin
The Impact of Diminishing Water Quality on Value — Tainter and Menomin both suffer from severe — and often toxic — blue green algae blooms driven by high watershed loading of nutrients. In consideration of this issue, the goal of this analysis was to determine whether the value of the lake property has kept pace with properties on competing lakes within the same market.
Integrated science and business
Water scarcity, pollution, climate change, and other problematic water trends pose major challenges to businesses. Organizations are increasingly recognizing water as natural capital and scrutinizing water-related risks. Understanding how businesses use water, what the costs are and how to reduce them, and where the value in water is and how to preserve it are increasingly desired skills.
UW-Whitewater is fulfilling the critical need of providing water-literate graduates to the Wisconsin workforce. Students can add a water emphasis to the integrated science and business major, a unique program that blends a chosen area of science with courses from the general management major.
The water emphasis helps prepare graduates for careers in water research, technology, and sustainability, as well as manufacturing and business operations.
Contact us
Want to learn more about UW-Whitewater's Institute for Water Business?
262-472-5584 | water@uww.edu
