The 2nd biennial UF Water Institute Symposium provided a unique forum to tackle major challenges to water resource sustainability at local, regional, state, national and global levels. The Symposium offered plenty of food for thought to satisfy all interested in science, technology, policy and educational issues that will significantly impact water sustainability and affect future research, education, policy, and management agendas. With over 450 participants representing a range of disciplines, professions, interests and experience in sustainable water resources, there were a range of topics and activities from which to choose. Over the two day period there was a buzz of science, policy, education, art, and music around water issues as participants engaged in presentations, posters, panel discussions and networking. Organized around the following five interdisciplinary areas, there were 18 concurrent sessions with a total of over 70 presentations, 110 posters and 8 panel discussions.
- Hydrologic, biogeochemical, and ecological processes
Effective management, wise use, meaningful policy, and conservation of water relies on a strong scientific foundation. This foundation is built on the findings from fundamental scientific inquiry in the fields of hydrology, hydrogeology, biogeochemistry, ecology, and related disciplines. Integrative, cross-disciplinary investigations, empirical studies, synthetic work, and modeling all play important roles establishing a sound information base on water and water resources. This session addresses important advances in the scientific understanding of hydrology, biogeochemistry, and ecology of water and aquatic systems:
- Coupled hydrologic and biogeochemical cycles
- Scientific foundation for establishing numeric criteria for nutrients in Florida waters
- Ecological responses to hydrologic and water quality changes
- Ecosystem restoration
- Urban ecology and hydrology
- Emerging contaminants in the environment
- Integrated modeling of hydrologic, biogechemical and ecological processes
- Human dimensions of water sustainability: Communication, Conflict and Control
Understanding decision-making processes and consequences in light of the number and diversity of water stakeholders and institutions remains a significant challenge. Water availability, water quality, and ecological impacts are influenced by, and also affect, decisions of diverse stakeholders across individual, community, informal and formal institutional scales. Understanding individual behaviors and decision-making processes and the influences of education and outreach is key to sustainable water use. This session will explore perceptions, attitudes, values and behaviors of individuals and the role and distribution of power among stakeholder groups and how such factors drive conflicts and influence opportunities concerning water. Topics will span valuing water, water conflicts and integrated decision making, public knowledge, attitudes and actions for watershed management, and science education and communication for water sustainability:
- Valuing water for urban, agricultural and ecosystem use and services
- Valuing water based livelihoods in florida
- Water pricing
- Competing use – water allocation mechanisms (market, administrative, policy, regulations)
- Water conflicts and integrated decision making
- Dealing with uncertainty and risk in decision-making
- Public participation in decision making
- Understanding and resolving conflict in water use and management
- Ownership and control of water
- Water education for policy-makers, law makers
- Public knowledge, attitudes and actions for watershed management
- Advocacy and outreach, citizen-based initiatives and collaborative networks
- Case studies/ models for changing public attitudes and practices
- Community based social marketing
- K-12 water science education
- Optimal use of integrated water supplies
Maintaining a balance between agricultural, residential, commercial, and industrial supply and demand is a challenge to sustainable water resources. Maintaining reliable water supplies given regulatory uncertainty, competing uses of groundwater and surface water, and water source uncertainty due to climate variability is a growing challenge. An integrated approach that considers ground, surface and alternative water sources including conservation, demand management, desalination and reuse is needed. This session addresses the benefits, as well as the technical, social and legal challenges, to holistic management of the integrated water supply systems that are needed for sustainability.
- Conservation and demand management
- Opportunities and barriers to demand management/conservation
- Quantifying effectiveness of low impact development (LID) in new developments and retrofits
- Quantifying effectiveness of water conservation technologies and demand side management programs in public supply, agriculture and industry
- Water-use efficiencies among all water supply sectors
- Conjunctive management of traditional and alternative water supplies (surface, ground, desalinated, reclaimed, conservation)
- Development of regulatory framework for conjunctive use of surface and groundwater
- Managing across wet and dry times: surface water and reclaimed storage with ASR, regional reservoirs, local impoundments
- Climate variability, the uncertainty of future supplies, and conjunctive use as an adaptive management strategy
- Reuse of wastewater effluent: Irrigation, recharge, indirect potable supply
- Managing water and energy in a transitioning environment
Climate variability, energy production and demand, population growth and migration, and land-use changes lead to significant changes in terrestrial freshwater availability. Over longer time scales, climate change is likely to further reduce freshwater availability due to changes in precipitation patterns causing reduced freshwater residence times in the terrestrial system, and sea level rise causing saltwater intrusion into coastal rivers and aquifers. Management and decision making within a sustainability context requires scientific information that is innovative, integrative, policy-relevant, and evidence-based. This session will consider ways to address the management of water in this challenging situation.
- Climate change, land use change and the uncertainty of future supplies
- Down-scaling IPCC climate scenarios for hydrologic applications
- Use of weekly, seasonal, and inter-annual climate forecasts for improved water planning and management
- Use of scenario analyses to design water management strategies/policies that are resilient to population, land-use, climate change and extreme events
- Economic and regulatory policy for a transitioning environment
- Adaptation/mitigation of impacts of sea level rise on coastal ecosystems,water supplies and energy production
- Integrated Analysis of water and energy systems
- Energy demands for alternative water supplies including desalination, reclaimed water, and traditional supplies
- Water demands and water quality issues for alternative energy supplies including bioenergy, algal biomass, nuclear and traditional supplies
- Integrated analyses of water and energy sustainability (carbon footprints, water footprints and life cycle analyses)
- Water and energy analysis of industrial and power production processes
- Water, Energy and Security
- Integrating science and policy for improved water management
Ecosystems require an adequate supply of freshwater to support myriad processes governing their structure and function. Significant changes in allocations of water can compromise ecological integrity. Science contributes to predicting, identifying and evaluating responses of ecosystems to natural or anthropogenic changes in water allocation. Policy and laws are designed to encourage or enforce behaviors to achieve social goals. Developing appropriate policies and regulations informed by science and reflecting the societal goals remains a challenge. This session explores scientific, economic and policy analyses related to water resources sustainability, including public interest, water reservations and restrictions, flow and quantity, nutrient levels, growth management, ecosystem protection, and conservation.
- Case studies/reviews of the relationship between science, economics and policy
- Establishing and verifying the efficacy of MFLs for ecosystem protection
- Integrating MFLs and TMDLs for improved water management
- Legal, policy and permitting challenges to setting MFL and TMDLs
- Economic impacts of BMP, MFL and TMDL regulation
- TMDL allocation methods and modeling
- Evaluation of the impacts of agricultural and urban BMPs on water quality
For details on the 2nd UF Water Institute Symposium program, presentations, and participants, check out the links below:
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