The two-day event will examine water-related issues in five areas – engineering and technology, health, community development, policy, and climate change – and highlight international research, education and public outreach in each one.
The conference, one of the largest environmental events in the University’s history, is presented by the UNC Institute for the Environment and the new Water Institute at UNC, based in the Gillings School of Global Public Health.
Participants come from nearly 50 countries, including Australia, Canada, Georgia, Honduras, Kenya, Mexico, Philippines, South Africa, Spain, Sudan, Thailand, United Kingdom and United States. Attendees represent diverse organizations, such as the Public Authority for Electricity and Water of Oman, Procter & Gamble, the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, Water for People, AmeriCorps, the University of Surrey (United Kingdom), the Sudan Academy of Sciences, the Ethiopian Civil Service and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The symposium is open to the public until filled; registration is $135 for students and $295 for the public. It is also preceded by a networking weekend (registration fee $90).
Keynote speakers include:
- John Borrazzo, chief of the maternal and child health division, bureau for global health, U.S. Agency for International Development.
- Clarissa Brocklehurst, chief of water and environmental sanitation, UNICEF.
- Catarina de Albuquerque, independent expert on human rights obligations related to access to safe drinking water and sanitation, and senior legal advisor, Office of Documentation and Comparative Law, Portugal.
- Peter Kolsky, senior water and sanitation specialist, World Bank.
The event is the third in a series at Carolina. It represents an ongoing effort to bring UNC’s water resources expertise to bear on the growing challenges involved with providing safe water and adequate sanitation to the people of North Carolina, the nation and the world.
The symposium also marks the establishment of the new Water Institute at UNC, led by Jamie Bartram, Ph.D., professor of environmental sciences and engineering. Before coming to UNC, Bartram coordinated the World Health Organization’s water, sanitation, hygiene and health unit. The institute’s mission is to bring together individuals and institutions from diverse disciplines and sectors and, through academic leadership, empower them to work together to solve the most critical global issues in water and health.
Chancellor Holden Thorp will preside at the symposium dinner on Oct. 25, where the Water Institute will be formally launched.
“We are excited to host an event with such broad international participation,” Thorp said. “Water-borne diseases claim an estimated 12 million lives every year, and over a billion people lack access to safe water. Our new Water Institute is just one of a number of ways that Carolina is helping address this critical international challenge.”
The conference is co-chaired by Bartram and by Lawrence E. Band, Ph.D., a watershed hydrologist and ecologist. Band is the Voit Gilmore Distinguished Professor of Geography in the College of Arts and Sciences and heads the UNC Institute for the Environment.
Symposium sponsors from UNC include the Institute for the Environment, the Water Institute and the environmental sciences and engineering department. Other sponsors include the American Water Works Association, Gannett Fleming, the International Association of Plumbing and Mechanical Officials, NSF International and P&G Children’s Safe Drinking Water.
Symposium website: http://www.ie.unc.edu/water2010
Symposium program: http://www.ie.unc.edu/content/news_events/symposia/2010/program.cfm
Networking weekend schedule: http://www.ie.unc.edu/content/news_events/symposia/2010/networking.cfm.
Media note: Conference co-chairs Bartram and Band are available for media interviews. To arrange an interview, contact Josh Meyer
