William and Ida Friday Center for Continuing Education
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, North Carolina, U.S.A.
The provision of a safe, sustainable supply of 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. Emerging pathogens and new chemical contaminants, changing climates, population growth, and watershed encroachment all lead to pressures that will require innovative scientific and policy responses.
The 2008 UNC Environmental Symposium, Sustainable and Safe Drinking Water in Developing and Developed Countries: Where Science Meets Policy, will provide 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 a sustained supply of safe drinking water to the world's population. It will also provide informal opportunities for participants to share information and develop new ideas and solutions to water supply problems. Leaders in the water resources field will leave the conference with new information, new contacts, and new solutions for their water resources challenges. Proceedings of the Symposium will be published, and a web site created to allow access to the proceedings from around the world.
Sustainable and Safe Drinking Water in Developing and Developed Countries: Where Science Meets Policy will begin on November 5 with a plenary session of presentations by several internationally renowned figures in the area of water resources. It will then split into two tracks for which papers will be solicited:
- Institutional programs and appropriate technologies for developing countries, and
- Measurement, regulation, and control of emerging microbial and chemical contaminants
The deadline for submitting abstracts was July 31, 2008.
The symposium will also include informal opportunities for sharing of ideas, such as a plenary reception and dinner; and a separate poster session for students and for others who want to share the results of their work.
Following the Symposium on November 7 is a memorial symposium for Dr. Daniel A. Okun that will celebrate his life and achievements (which closely match the Symposium theme). Dr. Okun was hailed worldwide for his groundbreaking work in water resources management, including water supply, pollution control, water reclamation and reuse, watershed protection, and institutional approaches for water and sanitation in developing countries. The memorial symposium will be held on the UNC campus in Rosenau Building, Room 133 from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Register here: http://www.sph.unc.edu/envr/dan_okun_memorial_symposium_8607_9172.html
Sustainable and Safe Drinking Water in Developing and Developed Countries: Where Science Meets Policy will be 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.
