A record 137 participants joined a webinar on 2020 Hurricane Season Impacts on Water Management in Florida hosted by the Florida Water & Climate Alliance (FloridaWCA) and the UF Water Institute on April 7, 2021. It was the FloridaWCA’s 25th webinar/workshop since it was founded in 2010. Participants came from varied backgrounds and agencies including water utilities, Water Management Districts, government agencies, non-governmental organizations, universities and consulting firms.

The webinar featured a panel session to discuss the 2020 hurricane season, impacts to utilities and water management districts, and the challenges associated with disaster and crisis communication in Florida related to climate change. Moderated by Dr. Vasu Misra (Florida State University) the session featured presentations by Dr. Tirusew Asefa (Tampa Bay Water), Dr. Michael Kozar (Risk Management Solutions), Dr. Angie Lindsey (University of Florida), and Dr. Carolina Maran (South Florida Water Management District). Additional webinar presentations featured two different projects that have the goal of co-producing climate science with stakeholders: Dr. Esther Mullens (University of Florida) presented on a national project to predict rainfall extremes at subseasonal to seasonal periods (PRES2iP); and Dr. Tracy Irani (University of Florida) presented on a Florida-specific project to improve seasonal forecasts for use in water utility decision making by integrating NASA earth systems data.

A recording of the webinar is available here.

To access the agenda, speaker presentations and more, click here.

 

Dr. Esther Mullens gives a presentation on stakeholder collaborations in climate change research.

Speakers interact during a webinar panel session on 2020 hurricane season impacts on FL water management.

 

April 12, 2021