WSC Colorado Water Workshop, “Risk, Opportunity & Leadership in Changing Climates;” July 20-22
July 13, 2011 -- The 36th Annual Colorado Water Workshop will be held July 20 to 22 at Western State College of Colorado (WSC). This year’s theme is “Risk, Opportunity & Leadership in Changing Climates,” which explores issues related to political, economic and physical conditions that affect water use in Colorado.
The Colorado Water Workshop brings together experts, policymakers, organizations and citizens to engage in discourse about Colorado’s water issues and discuss solutions. Among the workshop’s speakers are Colorado Supreme Court Justice Gregory Hobbs, Denver Water CEO Jim Lochhead and Patty Limerick, director, Center of the American West, who will present Thursday’s keynote panel, “The Role of Denver Water in the Colorado Water System: Past, Present and Future.”
Pre-conference activities on Wednesday morning include a free workshop on Colorado water law and an “educational float” on the Gunnison River. Wednesday’s first session is a roundtable discussion, “The Growth-Water Conundrum: Opportunities for a New Discourse,” presented by the Colorado Water Institute and The Keystone Center. A second session will address water, energy and rural economic development with policymakers/agencies and agriculture and water associations.
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Thursday’s session opens with a roundtable discussion, “Rural Perspectives on Agricultural to Urban Water Transfers,” with John Stulp, special policy advisor to the Governor for water, along with ranchers from the Gunnison and Arkansas Valleys. Peter Sawyer of the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting will address climate change and global water issues during lunch. Other panels include, “Securing Adequate Water for Environmental and Economic Health” and a discussion for journalists on educating the public about water issues. The day concludes with the inaugural “Poetry Splash,” a poetry slam of sorts dedicated to water.
On Friday, the panel discussions explore the Colorado River Cooperative Agreement and the solutions for meeting Front Range water needs.
Registration cost for the entire workshop is $295 and includes meals. There is no cost for the Water Law Workshop on Wednesday. Continuing Legal Education Credit also is available. For more information or to register, visit www.western.edu/water or contact Jeff Sellen, Colorado Water Workshop director, at jsellen@western.edu or (970) 943-3162.
The Colorado Water Workshop was founded jointly by WSC history professor Duane Vandenbusche and Gunnison water lawyer and WSC graduate Richard "Dick" Bratton in 1976, at a time of a broadening environmental awareness, when water quality issues began to become as important as water quantity issues, and when a Western consensus about the positive nature of resource development and growth had begun to fragment.
