Every five years, the University of Wisconsin Water Resources Institute (WRI) is evaluated to determine eligibility for continued support under the federal Water Resources Research Act of 1984, which is administered by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). WRI recently received the results of that review of 2016-20 research, student support and information transfer. The headline is the USGS found that WRI is “performing at an outstanding level.” The USGS review panel assessed WRI’s effectiveness in using its federal grant, as well as required matching funds, which come from the state of Wisconsin. The panel also called out notable features in how WRI operates: The support for high-quality research, with a special call-out to collaborative work on mercury cycling with UW-Madison and the USGS’s Mercury Research Lab. Another factor that was…