SWRR in Florida

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SWRR in Florida

The Sustainable Water Resources Roundtable (SWRR) is a Federal advisory committee that is a subgroup of the Advisory Committee for Water Information (ACWI) created by the Federal Advisory Committee Act of 1972.  SWRR meets in Washington DC at least once a year and goes to other locations in the US at least once a year.  For more information about SWRR visit the linked site or click here for a SWRR brochure.  For this meeting, Florida Earth Foundation hosted SWRR in Southwest Florida at Florida Gulf Coast University and used Babcock Ranch, America's newest "City of Tomorrow" as a case study of innovation and inspiration for water-related solutions to environmental and development problems

AGENDA

Florida Gulf Coast University and Babcock Ranch, Florida
Water Resource Challenges and Solutions in Florida
 December 14 & 15, 2016

Wednesday, December 14
8:30 AM  Registration and Coffee
9:00 AM  Welcome Remarks: Florida Gulf Coast University, Florida Earth
9:10 AM  Welcome Remarks: David Berry, Executive Director, SWRR
9:20 AM  Sustainable Water Resources Roundtable Activities & History: John Wells and Robert Wilkinson.  
9:30 AM  Brief Round of Self Introductions
9: 50 AM  Keynote (via video): Agriculture and the City – Solutions to Competition for Water Resources, Adam Putnam, Florida Commissioner of Agriculture
10:15 AM Break
10:30 AM    Babcock Ranch Orientation
Babcock Ranch Presentation - Syd Kitson, CEO, Kitson & Partners LLP
Solar Energy and Babcock Ranch - Buck Martinez, Florida Power & Light
Babcock Ranch Environmental Engineering - Amy Wicks, Kimley-Horn Engineering
Engineering Considerations at Babcock Ranch - Laura Herrero, Johnson Engineering
12:00 - 12:30 Lunch at FGCU
12:45 PM  Leave FGCU on buses
1:30 PM  Tour of the Ranch
6:00 PM Reception at Holiday Inn Airport

Thursday, December 15
Day Two took the Babcock Ranch Case Study and explored ways to share, accelerate and implement sustainability and resilience in water resources solutions nationally and beyond
8:30 AM Registration, Coffee and Networking
9:00 AM Welcome and Plan of the Day - Ernie Cox, President, Family Lands Remembered LLC
9:15 AM Keynote setting the tone for the day:  Public-Private Partnerships in Solving Water Challenges, Ernie Cox, Family Lands Remembered LLC
10:00 a.m.  Panel on State of the Art Water Technologies and Methods - Moderator, Bob Wilkinson, University of California, Santa Barbara

  1. Is Florida Ready for Direct Potable Reuse? - Chuck Drake, Board Member, Water Evironment Research Foundation
  2. Those Amazing Satellites - Cathy Johnson, Catapult Satellite Applications
  3. Innovations in H2O Technologies - Marianna Grossman, Minerva Silicon Valley

11:00 AM  Break
11:15 AM  Water resources opportunities from Federal perspective - Moderator, Sandy Wiggins, Principle, Consilience LLP

  1. USGS - Dorothy Sifuentes, Senior Hydrologist, Florida-Caribbean Water Science Center
  2. EPA -Jeff Lape, Deputy Director, EPA Office of Science & Technology
  3. Reclamation...Managing Water in the West - Yuliana Porros-Mendoza, Advanced Water Treatment Coordinator, US Bureau of Reclamation

12:15 PM Lunch and Speaker - TBA
1:30 PM Breakouts on Water Innovation with leaders.  Presentations followed by two breakout sessions of attendees choice

  1. The Water-Energy Nexus - Mike Sole, VP of Environmental Affairs, NextEra
  2. Getting Value from University-Industry Partnerships - Dan Vermeer, Director, Duke University's Center for Energy, Development & the Global Environment (EDGE)
  3. Public-Private Solutions - Denver Stutler, President, Polston Technologies and fomer Chief of Staff for Governor Jeb Bush
  4. UF's Water Institute - Tom Frazer, Interim Director, The Water Institute at University of Florida
  5. Florida's Water Challenges - Frank Bernardino, President, Anfield Consulting
  6. Urban Water Management in Cities of the Future -  Kebreab Ghebremichael, USF's Patel College for Global Sustainability

4:00 PM Breakout session reports and follow-up assignments
4:30 PM  Adjourn 

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