Mayor Chavez
Albuquerque, NM |
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What's New
Mayor Jennifer Hosterman, Pleasanton, CA |
Mayors Water Council Summit
December 2-3, 2009
The Capital Hilton Hotel
Washington, DC
Draft Agenda
Registration Form
Online Registration
Mayors '08 Action Forum on
Infrastructure
New York City
August 13-14
The W New York Hotel
New York City
Press Release: Mayors
Water Infrastructure Report Shows Investment Yields High Returns
Report: Local
Government Investment in Municipal water and Sewer Infrastructure
Mayors Water Council Spring 2009 Newsletter
Mayor Dan Coody, Fayetteville
(AR) participated in the U.S.
Chamber of Commerce Hill Briefing on the "Importance of Water Infrastructure
Investment in America"
Monday - July 28
Read the Remarks
View the
Presentation
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From the Spring 2009 Mayors Water Council Newsletter
The Mayors Water Summit is a signature event each year where we combine the best thinking of our local water managers, federal agencies, private water companies, engineering consultants and academia to bring the best and latest thinking to the aid of cities. The 2008 Summit held in Palm Beach, FL upheld this tradition. The agenda focused on climate change adaptation and energy conservation at treatment plants; water conservation, water supply planning, green infrastructure and public-private partnerships. This edition of the Mayors Water Council Newsletter reports on the proceedings of the Summit.
Our keynote speaker, Harvard University's Dr. Peter Roberts, (credentials), brought a unique and global perspective to the discussion that we often miss because we are so focused on local water issues. Dr. Rogers was encouraging about avoiding future water resources disaster, but his optimism was tempered by outlining the need for better resource management. He said that there are now over 6 billion people inhabiting the Earth and by 2050 the population will grow to 9 billion. Pressures from population growth alone pose a major challenge to water managers as competing demands for use increase, but additional pressures caused by climate change exacerbates the situation. Consider reduced water supply from droughts, increased costs and energy needs for water treatment from flooding events, and displacement of entire human settlements from rising sea levels all occurring over the next 50 to 100 years. Rogers said we have the capacity to avoid catastrophe but it will require a new paradigm of integrated water resource planning and cooperation among and between governments.
Water conservation continues to be a major theme with local government. McKinney, TX Mayor Bill Whitfield provided another installment in his city's impressive efforts to reduce outside water consumption. McKinney's partnership with Urban Solutions, a Texas A&M research affiliate, has the potential to avoid the cost for a major new reservoir by adapting new vegetation that requires only a fraction of the water needs of traditional indigenous grass.
We also heard from the US EPA about how communities can "benchmark" their water and wastewater energy consumption as a beginning to energy conservation. Participants from local government and the private sector went a step further and demonstrated how applying solar renewable energy at water facilities can reduce electricity consumption from the grid and reduce greenhouse gas emissions while at the same time saving money on operations and maintenance.
Additionally, we heard from NOAA about the rising phenomenon of ocean dead zones, their causes and their impacts. American Rivers, a national organization that promotes healthy rivers, added information about how inland waterways contributes to ocean dead zones and what local strategies can be adopted to reduce or eliminate them.
I have directed staff to make available a number of the panels on DVDs for distribution to all mayors. You should receive them in the mail over the next several weeks, and I urge you to review them, share them with your local water managers, and broadcast them on your local government access channels to help communicate with the public.
