Seven free public lectures on the importance of water and health comprise the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's spring semester water seminar beginning Jan. 13.

The lectures take place roughly every other Wednesday from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. through April 13. All lectures will be in the first-floor auditorium of Hardin Hall, 3310 Holdrege St. on UNL's East Campus.

"Water and its links to human and animal health are increasingly evident and increasingly a focus of research and study throughout the University of Nebraska system, so this spring's lectures are a wonderful opportunity to involve students and the public in some of the latest research on the topic," said Nebraska Water Center director Chittaranjan Ray. The center, part of the Robert B. Daugherty Water for Food Institute at the University of Nebraska, has helped organize and offer the annual spring lectures for more than 40 years.

"Water and health are at the forefront of much multidisciplinary NU research, so the lectures should hold broad appeal to both students and the public," Ray said.

Cosponsoring the seminar with the Nebraska Water Center is UNL's School of Natural Resources, which also offers the lecture series for student credit, and UNL's Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources.

Lecture videos and speaker presentations will be posted at http://watercenter.unl.edu within a few days after each lecture.

The complete lecture series is as follows:

• Jan. 13: Martha Rhoades, research manager, UNL, "Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma, Birth Defects and Water Quality in Nebraska: The Chicken or the Egg?"
• Jan. 27: Alan Kolok, professor, University of Nebraska at Omaha and University of Nebraska Medical Center, "Water and Health: Issues and Opportunities."   
• Feb. 10: Williams Memorial Lecture: Elizabeth VanWormer, assistant professor of practice, UNL, "Health at the Human-Animal-Environment Interface: Tracing Pathogens from Land to Sea."
• Feb. 24: Norman Uphoff, professor, Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., "Improving Food Production for Health in a Water-Constrained World: Opportunities Deriving from Agroecological Knowledge and Experience."
• March 9:  Kremer Memorial Lecture: Sandra Banack, senior scientist, Institute for Ethnomedicine, Jackson, Wyo., "Toxic Water: Should We Be Concerned?"
• March 30: Mary Ward, senior investigator, Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Md., "Drinking Water Nitrate and Cancer: What Do We Know and What Research is Needed?"
• April 13: Karrie Weber, assistant professor, UNL, "Mobilization of Uranium in Groundwater."