FORT COLLINS — A civil engineering professor at Colorado State University will work with a key oil and natural-gas producer in Weld County using a $1.4 million federal grant to optimize water management, CSU said Wednesday.

The two-year project, awarded through a U.S. Department of program, aims to assess and improve water acquisition, transportation and disposal.

CSU's Ken Carlson will work with Noble Energy Inc. to develop computer modeling and online training materials. He expects that the project also will benefit communities by reducing truck traffic, pollution and use of water.

The study will help industry designing water-treatment plants to recycle oil- and gas-related wastewater.

"If the industry's more efficient with water use, there's less risk of environmental impact," Carlson said in a statement from CSU.

"Another benefit of recycling is a reduction of stress on agriculture water and a reduced risk of regional water depletion."

Improving management of water during drilling and hydraulic fracturing could lessen other environmental impacts including ecological degradation due to excessive truck traffic and the associated dust and land disturbance, Carlson said.