Room monitors needed for 2009 RMSAWWA/RMWEA Joint Annual Conference

Guest Post from Bruce Thomson:

The Rocky Mountain Sections of the American Water Works Association and the Water Environment Association are having their annual conference in Albuquerque from 9/14 to 9/16. It's a pretty darn good conference with about 100 presentations and perhaps 700 attendees.

We're looking for students to serve as room monitors. Students who moderate a half day session will be given free attendance for one day.

Contact Bruce at bthomson@unm.edu if you're interested.

More conference info is available at: http://www.rmsawwa.net/

Program for the 2009 New Mexico Water Research Symposium just posted

The New Mexico Water Research Symposium is an annual technical research symposium that attracts about 200 water experts from around the state to discuss their latest research and technological developments relevant to water resources. This year's symposium will be held on August 11, at New Mexico Tech's Macey Center.

You can find the symposium program at: http://wrri.nmsu.edu/conf/tc09/program.html

Register to attend at: http://wrri.nmsu.edu/conf/tc09/symposium.html

Climate change will cost New Mexico, especially if we don't reduce emissions

Our own Janie Chermak and Kristine Grimsrud, Professor and Assistant Professor, respectively, at the UNM Department of Economics, and Bob Doppelt, Director of Resource Innovations and the Climate Leadership Initiative at the Institute for a Sustainable Environment, University of Oregon, published an Op-Ed in Sunday's Albuquerque Journal titled Climate Change Will Cost, No Matter What.

The article summarizes conclusions from a new study that estimated the costs of climate change to New Mexico.

If no action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is taken, the minimum annual cost to each New Mexico household is estimated to be $3,430 by 2020, $5,410 by 2040, and as high as $12,000 by 2080. The costs of climate change include the wide-ranging economic impacts that would result from decreased surface water flows.

The take-home message is that the longer we wait to confront the problem of climate change, the more costly climate change becomes to New Mexicans.

The full article is highly recommended.

OU International WaTER Conference on Oct. 26-27

The University of Oklahoma International WaTER Conference will be held in Norman, Oklahoma, on October 26-27, 2009. The conference will focus on technical, sociological, cultural, and legal aspects of water and sanitation in developing countries.

A plenary lecture will be offered by the first OU International WaTER Prize recipient, Dr. Steve Luby. In addition, keynote lectures will be given by:

• Dr. Jamie Bartram, WHO-Geneva / UNC
• Dr. George Greene, Water Missions International
• Dr. Rob Quick, The CDC
• Dr. Steve Silliman, Notre Dame

After the conference, a workshop on October 28 will provide hands-on instruction of water well drilling and sustainable pump technologies appropriate for emerging regions.

Conference registration is $190. See water.ou.edu for more details.

Otero County to grow cattails in wastewater effluent for use as biofuel

The Otero County Commission voted on July 16, 2009, to provide $20,000 to a feasibility study on using cattails for biofuel. As part of the study, Sustainable Technology Systems, Inc., will grow test beds of cattails near the Alamagordo and Tularosa wastewater treatment facilities. According to the company's proposal, the feasibility study objectives are to:

• Confirm remediation of effluent in the growing beds through water testing samples
• Evaluate water and soil levels for optimum stalk growth
• Evaluate water and soil levels for optimum rhizome growth
• Confirm remediation of effluent in the growing tanks through water testing samples
• Standardize a data collection protocol for evaluating remediation

For more details on this project to use wastewater for energy crop development, see the article Cattails to fuel? in the Alamogordo Daily News, or the Otero County Commission's July 16th Agenda.

2009 New Mexico Water Research Symposium will take place on August 11th

The Water Resources Research Institute will be presenting the 2009 New Mexico Water Research Symposium on August 11th. This is a one-day technical research symposium that includes both oral and poster presentations. It will be held at the Macey Center on the New Mexico Tech campus.

This year the symposium will offer a special session on water resources modeling for New Mexico. Patricia Bobeck, the translator of Henry Darcy's major work, The Public Fountains of the City of Dijon, will present a keynote lecture that focuses on Darcy's life and scientific legacy. Several UNM Water Resources students will be presenting posters.

As in past years, the Research Symposium promises to be a great event, showcasing the water research that is being conducted in New Mexico. Don't miss it! You can register at http://wrri.nmsu.edu/conf/tc09/symposium.html. The registration fee is $20, and includes a reception, lunch, and a notebook with abstracts.