Interdisciplinary Workshops and Expert Panels

 

The Water Institute hosts periodic interdisciplinary workshops and expert panels to develop partnerships between and among UF Water Institute Faculty, external academics and external stakeholders to identify and prioritize critical water issues requiring interdisciplinary expertise; as well as to provide expertise and support for addressing these issues.

June 2009-March 2010: Coordinated peer review of the groundwater modeling effort in support of the 2010 Northeast Florida Water Supply Planning Effort. Sponsored by St. Johns and Suwannee River Water Management Districts.

May 2009: Coordinated state-wide peer review of the St. Johns River Water Management District’s Water Conservation Program. Sponsored by St. Johns River Water Management District.

November 19-20, 2008:  Coordinated national peer review of the Watershed Assessment Model. Sponsored by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services and the Florida Department of Environmental Regulation.

September 25-26,  2008: Coordinated state-wide peer review of American Water Works Associate Florida 2030 Water Supply Infrastructure Vision Documents. Sponsored by the Century Commission in preparation for the Governor’s Water Summit.  See http://waterinstitute.ufl.edu/research/downloads/fl_2030_review_synthesis_final.pdf for a copy of the review.

September 17-18, 2008:  Hosted a 2-day workshop of national experts for the St. Johns River Water Management District on the Environmental Effects of Withdrawals from the St. Johns River. See http://www.sjrwmd.com/surfacewaterwithdrawals/symposium.html for details and presentations.

September 4, 2008:  Coordinated and sponsored a panel discussion on Water and Social Equity at the Harn Museum in conjunction with  Harn "Water as Metaphor for Identity" exhibition and the UF Common Reading Program “When Rivers Run Dry”. 

November 30, 2007:   The Water Institute hosted a one-day Water Conservation Research Planning Workshop to review the status of Florida water conservation research programs and develop a prioritized Water Conservation Research Agenda to support public water supply utilities and water managers in developing effective and efficient water conservation programs. The workshop was developed in collaboration with the Conserve Florida Group (a consortium of representatives from FDEP, all 5 Water Management Districts, Florida Water Utilities, and UF) and other interested UF Faculty. Sponsored by Conserve Florida Water.

November 29, 2007:   The Water Institute hosted a one-day Open Modeling Interface (OpenMI) working group meeting between UF Faculty and OPEN-MI Developer and Principal Investigator Dr. Roger Moore from the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Wallingford, UK. The purpose of these meetings was to inform UF Faculty of the OpenMI standard for linking hydrologic and ecologic models, and encourage participation in this international effort. The Open-MI standard is a software component interface definition for the computational core (the engine) of the computational models in the water domain. Sponsored by the UF Water Institute.

November 15-16 2007:    The Water Institute hosted a free half-day instructional seminar on the use of ArcHydro for water resource management applications. This seminar was open to UF faculty, students, consulting firms, and Water Management District employees. A one-day symposium to present the state of practice for the use of ArcHydro in Florida followed (agenda). The purpose of these meetings was to share information about hydrologic data management and tool development for water research, education, decision-making, visualization and modeling efforts in Florida. Sponsored by the UF Water Institute.

September 12, 2007:   The Water Institute hosted a one day Hydrologic Information Systems Workshop to assist the government of Australia in exploring how hydrologic databases and integrated modeling tools can be used to manage water movement and accounting on a large regional scale. Representatives from the three largest Florida Water Management Districts, USGS, the Australian Meterologic Bureau, the Australia Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) Land and Water Division, University of Florida, and University of Texas Austin participated in the meeting. Sponsored by the UF Water Institute.

August 21, 2007:   The Water Institute hosted a one-day Springs Nutrient Workshop with about 70 faculty members, state and local scientists, organizers, managers, regulators and policy experts. The workshop included synthesis presentations on the state of knowledge regarding sources, transformations, sinks and ecological impacts of nutrients in springs, as well as facilitated break out sessions to discuss information gaps and research needed to address these gaps. Sponsored by FDEP.

July 16-20 2007:  The Water Institute hosted a week-long Agricultural Knowledge Initiative Research Planning Workshop to kick off the USDA/ICAR Sustainable Water Resource Management: U.S. Collaborative Research and Education Project. The workshop included facilitated discussions and field trips and provided an opportunity for the detailed planning of the funded research projects which will be conducted in India. Six participants from three Indian Partner institutions, one participant from North Carolina A&T, and eleven participants from UF attended the workshop. Sponsored by USDA.

November 4th, 2005:  The Water Institute hosted a one day ArcHydro in Florida: Core Principles and Collaboration meeting open to UF faculty, students, consulting firms, Water Management District and other agency employees, as well a external academics. The goal of this meeting was to identify "core principles" behind application of GIS tools and techniques to water resources in the State of Florida. Core principles include data processing tools, data formats, and data sharing.