Safe Drinking Water: Where Science Meets Policy

Symposium Description | Agenda

The Symposium

NOTE: Proceedings of the symposium are now available on CD and will be sent at no charge by mail to those requesting a copy until supplies are exhausted.

The provision of safe and plentiful water has been a challenge for millennia. It remains the most pressing environmental problem in much of the developing world, and is increasingly difficult even in the developed world, where rural areas and underserved populations struggle with daily challenges. Emerging pathogens, changing climates, population growth, and watershed development all lead to pressures that will require innovative scientific and policy responses.

The 2006 UNC Environmental Symposium, Safe Drinking Water: Where Science Meets Policy, provided the most up-to-date information for leaders in the area of water resources worldwide, showing how advances in scientific understanding, technology, and innovative policies can help solve the pressing challenges of providing safe drinking water to the world's population. It also provided informal opportunities for participants to share information and develop new ideas and solutions to water supply problems. Leaders in the water resources field left the conference with new information, new contacts, and new solutions for their water resources challenges. Proceedings of the Symposium were published, and a web site was created to allow access to the proceedings from around the world.

Safe Drinking Water: Where Science Meets Policy began with a plenary session of presentations by several internationally renowned figures in the area of water resources. It then split into focus area tracks, which included:

• water and human health in developing countries and disadvantaged communities;
• emerging contaminants in drinking water;
• water supply management and watershed protection.

Each track was led by one of the plenary speakers. The symposium also included informal opportunities for sharing of ideas, such as a plenary reception and dinner; and a separate poster session for students and for others who wanted to share the results of their work.

Safe Drinking Water: Where Science Meets Policy was focused on professional development for water resources executives from the public and private sectors, water resources faculty and graduate students from research universities, and water resources policy staff from trade associations, governmental agencies, non-profits, and related organizations.

Symposium Steering Committee: Doug Crawford-Brown, professor of Environmental Sciences and Engineering and Public Policy, and director, Institute for the Environment; Jeff Hughes, director, Environmental Finance Center, UNC School of Government; Philip Singer, Daniel A. Okun Distinguished Professor of Environmental Engineering and director, Drinking Water Research Center, UNC School of Public Health.