Water Resources Research Act Program

Details for Project ID 2010WV146B

(WRI-135) West Virginia Water Conference 2010

Institute: West Virginia
Year Established: 2010 Start Date: 2010-03-01 End Date: 2011-02-28
Total Federal Funds: $29,714 Total Non-Federal Funds: $47,467

Principal Investigators: Tamara Vandivort, Dave Saville

Abstract: West Virginia has an abundant and valuable resource: water. The West Virginia Water Research Institute (WVWRI) has sponsored/co-sponsored an annual water conference for seven of the last eight years. Each year the conference has been held in either October or November. All conferences have been very beneficial in bringing the water rights, usages, and quality 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 is beneficial to have a water conference yearly, sometimes limited to the State of West Virginia, and sometimes in conjunction with other state(s) or region. Our largest joint event was with the other Mid-Atlantic region water research institutes in 2008. For 2010, the WVWRI proposes to take the lead once again in holding another in-state water conference. The theme and agenda will be developed by a planning committee comprised of the West Virginia Advisory Committee for Water Research. The Advisory Committee includes representatives from the U.S. Geological Survey, WV Department of Environmental Protection, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, WV Coal Association, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, WV Division of Natural Resources, WV Bureau for Public Health, U.S. Department of Energy, WV Chamber of Commerce, WVU Extension Service, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and WV Farm Bureau. The approach of this Advisory Committee serving as Conference Planning Committee proved to work very well in developing previous conferences. This Committee met on December 7, 2009 in Roanoke, WV to develop the proposal for the 2010 conference. The conference will encompass state-wide issues and be set up with three separate tracks; one track will cover issues faced in the eastern panhandle (development, urban sprawl, water quality, water quantity); a second track will address southern issues (mountaintop mining, selenium, aquaculture); and a third track will address issues faced in the north-central part of the state (total dissolved solids, gas well production, water quality). This two-day event will occur in October, 2010 at a central location in the State. Calls for presentation and poster abstracts, sponsorships, and exhibitors will be disseminated. The Planning Committee will meet monthly beginning in January, 2010. The objectives will include: 1) expanding the awareness of water issues in the state; 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) revisiting the issues listed above and prioritizing them in order of importance from the viewpoints of the participants; 5) presenting the prioritized listing of issues to the West Virginia Advisory Committee for possible inclusion in future WVWRI RFPs.