Florida Water & Climate Alliance Workshop
Workshop 17
The Florida Water and Climate Alliance (FloridaWCA) brings together interested stakeholders (public water supply utilities, local governments, water management districts and academic institutions) to increase the relevance and usability of climate change and variability data and tools to the specific needs of public water supply utilities and resource managers and planners. Initiated in 2010 by the UF Water Institute, in partnership with the Southeast Climate Consortium (SECC), Florida Climate Institute and the UF IFAS Center for Public Issues Education, six major public water supply utilities and three water management districts, the group continues to expand. Detailed information on the FloridaWCA is available the FloridaWCA website.
The 17th workshop since the FloridaWCA was initiated was hosted by UF Water Institute, Gainesville, Florida and attended by 19 participants.
Workshop Goal: Provide an environment for stakeholder-scientist exchange of current research and tools to address climate variability and change issues with a focus on increasing local relevancy to utilities and water resource managers. Explore topics that that may help inform scientists’ research that would result in an actionable science of use to practitioners.
Workshop Objectives
- Learn about different organizations focused on stakeholder-scientist exchange of climate science, research, and models.
- Present recent methods, models and data that are available and how they might be useful to local planning and operations.
- Explore utility research interests and potential synergies for addressing research needs.
Read Workshop Agenda Read Workshop Report
The workshop featured the following presentations and speakers:
- Background on Florida Water & Climate Alliance: Wendy Graham, Water Institute, University of Florida.
- Introduction to FloridaWCA: Kevin Morris, Science and Technology Officer, Peace River Manasota Regional Water Supply Authority.
- Introduction to the SE Climate Science Cener, NC State University: Aranzazu Lascurain, Asst. University Director, North Carolina State University.
- Background on the PRMRWSA – Peace River Manasota Regional Water Supply Authority: Kevin Morris, Science and Technology Officer, Peace River Manasota Regional Water Supply Authority.
- Water Utility Climate Alliance – WUCA: Tirusew Asefa, Manager, Planning & System Decision Support, Tampa Bay Water.
- Issues Facing Water/Wastewater Utilities in Florida – GRU Perspective: Rae Hafer, Utility Engineer, Gainesville Regional Utilities.
- Hydrology of the Peace River: Kevin Morris, Science and Technology Officer, Peace River Manasota Regional Water Supply Authority.
- Overview of evapotranspiration studies in the USGS Caribbean-Florida Water Science Center: John Stamm, U.S. Geological Survey, Caribbean Florida Water Science Center.
- SE CSC Science in the US Caribbean- Climate models, frog calls, and the path towards long-term adaptive species management: Adam Terando, Research Ecologist, Southeast Climate Science Center (SE CSC).
- Models Instrumental in Coastal Louisiana Planning Efforts – 1: Integrated Compartment Model & Basin-wide Delft: Eric White, PE, Research Engineer, The Water Institute of the Gulf.
- Models Instrumental in Coastal Louisiana Planning Efforts – 2: Integrated Compartment Model & Basin-wide Delft: Eric White, PE, Research Engineer, The Water Institute of the Gulf.
- Restoration & Planning for an Uncertain Future in Coastal Louisiana: Eric White, PE, Research Engineer, The Water Institute of the Gulf.
To access the database for all workshop files, click here.
