ATTN OFFICIAL JUDGES FOR THE STUDENT PRESENTATION COMPETITION: If you were contacted by the Conference Planning Committee Student Activities Chair, Allison Lewis, remember to use the appropriate evaluation form when scoring student participants. The link and QR code to this form was emailed to you along with your student assignments. To make identifying student participants easier, the green graduation cap
![](/images/Events/2021%20Events/Student%20Cap-Green.png)
next to a session title includes a student who is participating in the
PRESENTATION Competition.
Water Wars: What Are they Good For? Western US Topics
Moderator:
Lisa Beutler
Presenters:
- Mike Antos, Senior Associate | Watershed Social Scientist at Stantec Consulting, & Visiting Scholar [Anthropology], University of California, Irvine
- Timothy Quinn, Affiliate, Stanford University Water in the West Program, and Executive Officer, San Joaquin Valley Water Collaborative Action Program
- Felicia Marcus, William C. Landreth Visiting Fellow, Stanford University, & Former Chair, California State Water Resources Control Board
- Dale Kasler, McClatchy News
A week doesn’t go by without someone saying there are water wars underway or about to kick off. In the West the phrase brings to mind images early skirmishes of miners wielding shovels or gun slingers riding the range. In the East the image has evolved to lawyers climbing the steps to the Supreme Court. How we manage and govern water is critically important to people, the environment, and the economy. During this session we consider the utility of framing our disagreements at war. Must there always be victors and the vanquished? What is the impact of mobilizing for war when the reality of a wicked water problem requires the messiness of working together?
During these sessions we will explore these questions and consider options for new ways of approaching the hard work of water management. Session One will explore the historic and current context of Western disputes and the evolving approaches to address them.