I am in Ottawa, Ontario, attending the Canadian Water Network's conference, Connecting Water Resources 2013: Changing the Water Paradigm. It's great seeing CWN Executive Director, Bernadette Conant, a friend for a number of years. We once served on the board of NGWA's Scientists and Engineers division and both now serve on the board of the Canadian non-profit, Hydrogeologists Without Borders.
Yesterday (19 March) was the first day, although on 18 March there was an evening reception that I missed because of a late plane. There is snow on the ground here, and yesterday i awoke to a snowstorm, which provided a refreshing five-block walk to the Westin Hotel. Day 1 began with a morning plenary; the afternoon had three concurrent sessions, each of which lasted the entire afternoon.
As usual, my reports will provide limited (my) insight since I couldn't attend all sessions.
Note: There were a lot of Tweeps at the meeting. Be sure to visit #CWR2013 to see them all and get a more balanced perspective than what I can provide. Many of the presentations will be on the CWN WWW site; all plenary session presentations were video-recorded and will be available.
Here is the program: Download DRAFT-Agenda-at-a-Glance-CWR2013-v26
Opening Session
We were welcomed by Ottawa Deputy Mayor El-Chantiry, who recounted growing up with water scarcity in Lebanon; First Nation Elder Gordon Williams, who provided an opening prayer; and Peter Steblin, Chair of the Board of CWN.
Bernadette then took over and admonished us to come up with at least one new collaboration and one
new approach. That was later increased to three each, then five. Now? Who knows?
She noted that there are changing drivers and needs, and that we need to changes the ways we approach water management. And then admonished us again: make research actionable! Yes, m'am!
Then the main speakers took over.
Plenary Session
Excellent session!
Minister Miltenberger's address was the one that struck me the most. He was very deliberate, almost monotonous, but there was a resolve in his voice and message. The NWT is in the process of negotiating with the Canadian federal government to gain control of its land and natural resources, which, of course, includes water. This is called 'devolution' and is a big deal, believe me. It has it own WWW site. Yukon already has this control; NWT will likely gain this control by this year's end.
Since the Mackenzie River is a big part of the NWT I have included a basin map from Wikipedia. The minister referred to a similar map frequently.
He said their water strategy focuses on 1) community-based monitoring; and 2) negotiating a transboundary water agreement with Alberta, and then British Columbia and Yukon (and maybe Saskatchewan - I wasn't sure about that province). And they also recognized a human right to water and involved taking care of land, water and animals and making sure that the ecosystem received enough water for maintenance.
The minister made it clear that he was no big fan of the federal government. In that sense, I thought I could be listening to an official representing a Western USA state - likely Wyoming, Montana, Utah, Nevada, Texas, Arizona, or Idaho.
Just when that thought struck me, the minister threw me a curveball: Canada needed a 'national water strategy'. Wow! Imagine a Western USA state official saying that! Then he added that there was a 'careful' role for the federal government. When I asked him what that role was, he said, 'Data,' meaning both for the NWT and the country as a whole.
Very good presentation.
Geoff Riggs then discussed IBM's approach to complex systems modeling vis-a-vis water and of course, 'BIG DATA'! How do you see the 'real truth' form volumes of data? I believe he gave the following number regarding their Burlington, VT, facility: its water operation collects something like 4M 'points of information' daily. He then focused on risk. Stimulating talk!
J. Carl Ganter wrapped up the session with a stunning trip around the world. But first,
he confessed that he wanted to be a 'superhero' and wear the cape. He soon realized that he was not a superhero and instead, devolved to Jimmy Olsen, Superman's pal. That's pretty damn good, IMHO.
His virtual trip took us to the Murray-Darling Basin, the site of coal mines in Inner Mongolia (disrupting the local farmers and pumping precious groundwater), Mexico, and Manila, where communities manage their water supply.
The Murray-Darling Basin provided poignant insight on the role of reporters. He related the story of an Australian TV reporter who agonized over her reporting of the human toll of the 'Big Dry' and the resultant reduction of water supplies to farmers. She worried her continued reporting might cause more farmer suicides. So easy to forget the power of the media.
He talked about projects in the works, and emphasized that in relating the importance of water to people it's critical to use local examples and connections. In doing so -visionary that he is - he also coined a new term, 'drip codes', to indicate that people should know whence their water comes. What's your drip code?
Here is an article he wrote that covers a lot of the above.
Afternoon - Concurrent Sessions
There were three of these: 1) New Municipal and Community Approaches; 2) Water in the Resource Development Sector; 3) Agriculture and Food Production. I attended (1).
Ben Grumbles is President of the U.S. Water Alliance, which is promoting its One Water concept, which is essentially IWRM (Integrated Water Resources Management). Ben discussed this and other USWA activities.
He noted that fragmentation and lack of innovation are rampant in water management. Water is invisible and taken for granted; its price and value do not reflect full value.
He spoke of the inevitability of hydrofracking because it promises energy security and economic growth. He sees the biggest problem as surface storage of produced/flowback water. Solution: recycling and reuse.
'Drill, maybe, drill'
Kevin Shafer is Executive Director of the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District (MMSD), which provides wastewater treatment and flood management services for 28 municipalities in the Greater Milwaukee, WI, area. The MMSD is well-known for its Milorganite, a natural, slow-release fertilizer it has produced for almost 90 years.
He spoke of the emergence of tomorrow's clean water utility. Kevin described the District's green approach, which he said has had an unexpected consequence: the MMSD has less trouble attracting bright young employees because they are enthusiastic about the MMSD's green philosophy. The district focuses on rain gardens, rain barrels, green roofs, and Greenseams (see video). Kevin said he views wastewater not as a revenue sink, but as a revenue stream. Fascinating philosophy!
Rob de Loe hails from the University of Waterloo and discussed the challenges and opportunities presented by collaborative governance. Rob spoke of the changing water landscape: 1) more complexity; 2) higher stakes; 3) increased uncertainty; 4) multiple scales; 5) new players; 6) increased engagement; and 7) polycentric decision-making. Whew!
He promoted collaboration as a 'new' way of governing. Its characteristics: 1) multi-stakeholder; 2) collective, consensus-based decision-making; 3) deliberation; 4) sharing power and responsibility; 5) pooling resources; and 6) long-term relationships.
Quite a day! I have more than the required number of new approaches and collaborations!
"Bringing water research to life." - Canadian Water Network's mantra, created by Bernadette Conant
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