Jun
9
Message From the President
June 9, 2010 | Posted by smcclung
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Ari M. Michelsen, President AWRA
Water in its various forms, quantities, and qualities crosses virtually all human and environmental boundaries. An unfortunate example of water crossing boundaries is the British Petroleum deep sea oil well leak into the Gulf of Mexico. In this case water laden with oil is impacting the environment from seabed to surface, on beaches and in estuaries, and private and public economies in local communities, provinces, states, nationally and even other nations. These impacts strikingly demonstrate the fundamental transboundary nature of water and the need to address these impacts and water resources issues across numerous types of boundaries. I am proud to say the American Water Resources Association and membership are doing just that by developing solutions to water resources issues working together across scientific disciplinary boundaries, private enterprise – public agency/NGO boundaries, and hydrologic – geographic – political jurisdiction boundaries. Multidisciplinary and transboundary approaches are essential to effectively manage and sustain the earth’s water resources. AWRA continues to actively work to accomplish this and it is reflected by having members in every state and in over 50 nations.
Korea Water Resources Association and AWRA MOA
Among recent efforts to achieve these objectives, at the Annual Conference of the Korea Water Resources Association (KWRA) held in May in Daejeon, Korea, a Memorandum of Agreement with KWRA and AWRA was signed. The MOA establishes a relationship between the two organizations for the purpose of initiating an international multi-disciplinary collaboration that furthers the advancement of water resources education, management, and research in Korea and the United States. Professor Hong-Kee Jee, President of KWRA, was the signatory for KWRA and I was the signatory for the American Water Resources Association. The agreement identifies a number of areas in which the organizations can work together toward their common goals, including: jointly sponsored conferences, joint publications, and exchanging delegates at annual conferences. As well, the organizations will strive to publicize each other’s websites, meetings, and water resources news to their memberships. Ken Reid gave an excellent presentation on AWRA’s ongoing National Water Resources Policy Dialogue Series and my keynote presentation was on the topic of International Transboundary Water Resources Management and Institutions. During our stay we visited with many impressive Korean and international water resources experts including Do-Youp Kwon, Korea Vice Minister of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs; Eun-Kyung Park, President of the Korea Water Forum; Joo Heon Lee, KWRA International Committee Chair and session organizer; and Gil Jae Lee, Vice President, Korea Water Resources Corporation. Of particular note, beyond the expertise of these individuals and the KWRA membership, was the warmth, hospitality and generosity of everyone we met. We look forward to many years of fruitful collaboration with the KWRA.
Community, Conversation, Connections
Speaking of transboundary water resources issues, the Summer Specialty Conference will bring together water resource professionals across almost every discipline and many areas of interest to address Tropical Hydrology and Sustainable Water Resources in a Changing Environment. This will be a conference not to miss with the opening keynote speaker Dr. Matthew C. Larsen, Associate Director for Water, U.S. Geological Survey. Sessions are scheduled on topics ranging from 40 years of environmental regulation, past, present and the future, water and energy nexus and solutions for innovative water resources management, coastal impacts from development and water resources in a changing climate. The conference is at a great location, San Juan, Puerto Rico, August 30-September 1. As a reminder, the 2010 AWRA Annual Conference will be in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, November 1-4. The Organizing Committee is putting together a great program with outstanding keynote speakers, technical sessions from a large number of top-notch submissions and special events such as special topic roundtables, mentor/networking programs featuring AWRA members, career opportunities, state section activities and field trips. Information on the conferences, Korea MOA and other AWRA activities, member benefits and other water resources information is available at: http://awra.org. I look forward to seeing you in San Juan and Philadelphia!
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