2019 Annual Water Resources Conference Planning Committee

Conference General Chair

Candice Hasenyager
Utah Division of Water Resources
Salt Lake City, UT

Technical Program Co-Chairs

Jeremy Williams
Brown and Caldwell
Midvale, UT 

Gus Williams
Brigham Young University
Provo, UT

David Rosenberg
Utah State University
Logan, UT

Finance Chair

Matt Jensen
Parr Brown Gee & Loveless
Salt Lake City, UT

Exhibits Chair

David Hartvigsen
Smith Hartvigsen PLLC
Salt Lake City, UT 

Field Trip Co-Chairs

Karen Nichols
HDR
Salt Lake City, Utah

Marisa Egbert
Utah Division of Water Resources
Salt Lake City, UT 

Delmas Johnson 
J-U-B Engineers
Orem, UT  

 

Student Activity Co-Chairs

Steve Burian
University of Utah
Salt Lake City, UT
  
David Tarboton
Utah State University
Logan, UT 

2019 Annual Water Resources Conference Topics

Agriculture

BMP performance, design, implementation
Confined animal feeding operations (CAFO’s)
Control of non-point contaminant sources
Drought sensitive crops
Fertilizers
Financing BMP’s
Impacts on water supply and quality
Irrigation demand – present and future
Irrigation efficiency
Irrigation water reuse
Pesticides
Waste management and disposal
Water requirements for ethanol production
Water reuse

Anthropogenic and Education

Adult education and outreach
Education on water resources at K-12 levels
Hydrology and anthropology
Hydrology and archeology
Hydrology and religion
Hydrophilanthrophy
Impacts of man-made impoundments on watersheds
Indigenous peoples water beliefs and issues
Language barriers (cultural, international, interdisciplinary)
Licensing or registration of water resources professionals
Native American water issues
Sociological issues of watershed management and stewardship
Water in literature, culture, art, and music
Water resources in the future

Climate Change

Ecosystem migrations
Flooding and droughts:  Severity and frequency
Impacts on current water scarce areas
Impacts on freshwater availability and supplies
Impacts on glaciers and glaciation
Impacts on water quality
Rain and snowfall issues and distribution
Sea level rise

Coastal and Oceans

Beach erosion
Desalination
Development impacts
Dwindling fish and marine mammal populations
Hypoxia
Impacts of natural disasters
Impacts of anthropogenic disasters
Ocean disposal of wastewater
Salt water-freshwater interfaces
Salt water intrusion into aquifers
Sea level changes
Subsidence

Ecosystems

Balancing human needs with faunal and floral needs
Competing uses/needs for limited water supplies
Design and performance of buffers
Developing partnerships with competing water users
Ecosystem restoration
Environmental impacts of diversions
Environmental impacts of impoundments
Financing environmental/ecosystem restoration – environmental economics
Instream flows - ecosystem requirements
Restoration of mine lands and impacted watersheds
Restoration successes and failures
Riparian restoration
Sediment control in ecosystems
Socioeconomic aspects of riparian areas and management
Stream ecology

Groundwater

Aquifer storage and recovery (ASR)
Confined and unconfined aquifers
Deep injection of waste water
Disposal of brines produced with oil and gas extraction
Groundwater movement (flow systems)
Groundwater protection
Groundwater/surface water relationships
Hydrofracking
Impacts of mining
Natural infiltration, recharge and source areas
Storm water infiltration
Surface water/groundwater/ecosystem interactions
Surface contamination of shallow and deep aquifers
Water level declines or rises
Water quality in aquifers

International Issues

Appropriate technologies for developing areas/Nations
Cross-border compacts, transfers, and allocations
Globalization of water issues
International regulatory conflicts
Management principles
Privatization of utilities; infrastructure
Responsibilities of developed nations to developing nations
Technology sharing
Water resources security
World Water Forums

Infrastructure

Aging infrastructure 
Creative financing of infrastructures
Distribution systems infrastructure (Source to tap)
Drain to disposal infrastructure
Harbors and port facilities
Impoundments – construction, restoration, removal
Levees
Locks and dams
Navigation in inland waterways
River channelization, dredging

Management and Tools

Adaptive management
Communicating science to policy makers
Decision support systems
Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
Innovative techniques
Interdisciplinary Water Resources Management (IWRM)
Internet 
Modeling
Real time data
Remote sensing
Technology information and dissemination

Policy, Planning and Legal Issues

Adapting government programs to watershed management and regulation
Balancing development and environmental policies
Communicating with policy makers
Compacts
Drought management/conservation
Forest planning and management
History of water laws/policy
Innovative marketing/banking
Integrated water resources planning
Integration of water quality and water quantity management
Land use planning
Legislative initiatives, state and federal
Market-based solutions to scarcity or overabundance
Meeting and managing demand
National water vision/strategy
Planning and management of water resources in rural areas
Political hydrology
Range planning and management
Reuse
Safeguarding water supplies
Stateline faults and water policy – a watershed approach?
Urban planning
Water laws
Water transfers- benefits/costs

Surface Water

Best Management Practices (BMP) – performance
Downstream impacts of mine tailings
Energy production
Effects of diversions and channel alterations
Flood forecasting, warning, preparedness
Flooding and floodplain management
Fluvial geomorphology
Innovative technologies of storm water management
Managing competing uses and needs
Managing nonpoint source pollution
Managing point source pollution
Mitigating storm water damage/retrofitting
River operations – flow management
Storm water – preparation for and management – innovative technologies
Stream channel processes
System operation and maintenance
Watershed planning and management
Water and energy

Urbanization

Community based restoration and management
Financing restoration and volunteer efforts
Hydrologic changes – effects on urban streams and floodplains
Infiltration and runoff
Land use changes
Residential land stewardship
Reuse of gray water
Urban storm water impacts
Volunteer restoration and management initiatives
Water saving techniques and initiatives

Water Quality

Acid mine drainage
Agriculture and/or mining impacts on water quality
Effects of dredging and other stream management techniques on water quality
Emerging contaminants
Establishing Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs)
Impacts of storm water on water quality
Implementing TMDL’s
Laboratory methodologies
Low flow/high flow/combined TMDL’s
Monitoring
Nanotechnology
Nutrients and nutrient management
Pathogens in watersheds
Salinity removal techniques; successes and failures
Source water quality protection
Turbidity and sediment impacts on water qu

Wetlands and Lakes

Conflicting issues
Created wetland successes
Design and construction of created wetlands
Effects of acid rain
Eutrophication/nutrient impacts
Lake management and restoration
Mitigation
Regulations
Reservoir management and restoration
Sedimentation
Shoreline maintenance and restoration
Tourism and recreation
Watershed/wetland/lake interactions
Wetland functions and values
Wetland restoration and protection