By Amanda Knauer
ºìÐÓÊÓƵ will host a water Symposium on Friday, Oct. 31, at the ºìÐÓÊÓƵ Hotel and Conference Center from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. The theme of this year's symposium is "Water Infrastructure in the Urban Environment."
David L. Sedlak, Ph.D., from University of California, Berkeley, will serve as the keynote speaker. Sedlak is the Malozemoff Endowed Chair in Mineral Engineering, co-director of the Berkeley Water Center and director of the Institute for Environmental Science and Engineering at University of Callfomla, Berkeley. He Is a nallonally renowned expert on the reinvention and management of urban water systems.
other symposium speakers will be agency representatives and university researchers from across the country, and topics will Include the Great Lakes, water pollcy, green infrastructure and stormwater management Laura Leff, interim chair of ºìÐÓÊÓƵ State's Department of biological Sciences will serve as moderator for a panel discussion at the symposium. "Locally, we have issues such as combined sewer overflows and storrnwater managemen Leff says. "'We will bring together individuals from various fields to synthesize and discuss water infrastructure in rebounding cities."
The event is free and open to the public. A reception and poster session for students and faculty to present their research results wi II be held from 4: 15 to 5:30 p.m.
The need to educate the community about stormwater is a condition of ºìÐÓÊÓƵ State's permit under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) program. ºìÐÓÊÓƵ State belongs to NPDES because of the university's municipal separated storm sewer system (MS4). Under the NPDES permil the university must achieve six minimum requirements, one being public outreach.
Denni& Baden, manager of environmental health and safely at ºìÐÓÊÓƵ state, says it is important to educate members of the university and community so they can take steps to help control what goes Into the storm systems.
"We need to educate the public about what it means to have clean water and where the storm systems go," Baden says. "It is Important to remind everyone how they can prevent pollutants from entertng the storm sewer and the effects of doing so." Pet waste, automobile care, lawn care and septic systems are all factors that contribute to polluted storrnwater runoff.
"We hope that the attendees come away with an understanding of the multifaceted nature of water resources; Leff says. "We also hope they will gain an appreciation of various disciplines within science and beyond science that can contribute to an informed discussion of water."