LINCOLN, Neb. — A free 14-lecture water and natural resources seminar series at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, beginning in January, will give the public opportunities to hear top speakers address water and environmental concerns ranging from regional to global.

The University of Nebraska-Lincoln Water Center's annual spring semester lecture series begins Jan. 13 and ends April 28. During that time, lectures are presented each Wednesday, except March 17 due to UNL spring break. All lectures are 3:30 to 4:30 p.m., Wednesdays, first floor auditorium of Hardin Hall, northeast corner of N. 33rd and Holdrege Streets, UNL East Campus, Lincoln.

The series begins Jan. 13 with a Williams Memorial Lecture by Jerald Schnoor of the University of Iowa, who will talk about the implications of living in a changing water environment.

Williams lectures honor the memory of the late Alan G. and Irene Williams, graduates of the University of Nebraska. A fund in their name, in cooperation with the NU Foundation, supports activities associated with the UNL Water Center.

Additional Williams lectures will be presented March 3 when Ariel Dinar of the University of California, Riverside, speaks on the impact of flow variability on the likelihood of cooperation among international bilateral river basin riparians and on April 28 when The Ohio State University's Elizabeth Marschall talks about the migration delays caused by dams, temperature and success of migrating salmon smolts.

Richard Hooper of the Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of Hydrologic Science Inc. gives the series' annual Maurice Kremer Memorial lecture on Feb. 24. He will address advancing hydrologic science through community involvement. Kremer lectures acknowledge the water and natural resources legacy of former State Sen. Maurice Kremer of Aurora, whose foresight, vision and leadership in the Nebraska Legislature on water issues initiated the water planning process in Nebraska.

Other lectures of note include Joe Parsons of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Agricultural Statistics Service talking about results of USDA's 2009 farm and ranch irrigation survey (Jan. 20), Mike George of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers speaking on rehabilitation efforts of the Missouri River Recovery Program (Jan. 27) and Bradley Doorn, National Aeronautics and Space Administration on NASA's water resources research and applications directed toward societal needs (Feb. 3).

On April 7, David Pope, Missouri River Association of States and Tribes, will discuss Missouri River issues with his talk on new opportunities in the basin. On April 21, Larkin Powell of UNL's School of Natural Resources will relate some of what he learned on a recent trip to Africa when he talks about wildlife, water and ecotourism in Namibia.

Most lectures will be videotaped and most speaker materials will be available for viewing online after they are presented at watercenter.unl.edu.

For more information, contact the UNL Water Center at (402) 472-3305. Seminar cosponsors are UNL's Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources and School of Natural Resources.