Water Resources Research Act Program

Details for Project ID 2008WV118B

WRI 105 West Virginia Water Conference 2008

Institute: West Virginia
Year Established: 2008 Start Date: 2008-03-01 End Date: 2008-12-31
Total Federal Funds: $22,699 Total Non-Federal Funds: $7,150

Principal Investigators: Tamara Vandivort

Project Summary: West Virginia has an abundant and valuable resource: water. The West Virginia Water Research Institute has sponsored/co-sponsored an annual water conference for the last six years. Each year the conference has been held in the fall. All conferences have been very beneficial in bringing the water rights and usages issues to the forefront and making people aware of this valuable resource. Each year the conference has improved in scope and range of topics and presenters as well as an increase in the number of attendees. It would be beneficial to have a water conference yearly. For 2008, the WVWRI proposes to take the lead once again in holding another water conference. This year, we propose to hold a joint conference with the Virginia and Maryland Water Resources Research Institutes focusing on the Chesapeake Bay region. The agenda will be developed by a planning committee comprised of these States= water stakeholders. Stakeholders will be invited to co-sponsor the conference in terms of time and resources. The objectives will include: 1) expanding the awareness of water issues in the Bay region; 2) providing attendees with an awareness of on-going water research; 3) providing attendees with an awareness of on-going legislation underway to protect the States= water resources; 4) networking of the States= water stakeholders; 5) identifying and prioritizing water resource issues in order of importance from the viewpoints of the participants; 5) presenting the prioritized listing of issues to the States= Water Advisory Committees for possible inclusion in future WRRI RFP=s.