UTSA hosts Water Institute of Texas symposium on water Issues Oct. 4

By KC Gonzalez
Public Affairs Specialist

(Sept. 6, 2013) -- The Water Institute of Texas (WIT) will bring local, state and national experts to UTSA in October to share key insight into two important themes within Texas’ emerging water issues: long-term water availability and the water regulatory environment. Each theme will include a keynote presentation, podium presentations and a panel discussion with industry experts. This daylong Symposium on Emerging Water Issues is the first public event hosted by WIT since it was launched in 2012.

Symposium guests will be welcomed by Tom Papagiannakis, WIT interim director and Robert F. McDermontt Professor and Chair of the UTSA Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering; Mauli Agrawal, interim UTSA vice president for research; and Kevin Wolff, Bexar County commissioner.

Soroosh Sorooshian, director of the Center for Hydrometeorology and Remote Sensing and Distinguished Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Earth System Science departments at the University of California-Irvine, will provide the keynote presentation on long-term water availability.

Additional experts who will address topics within the theme of long-term water availability include David Maidment, Hussein M. Alharthy Centennial Chair in Civil Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin; Dan Hardin of the Texas Water Development Board; and Alan Dutton, WIT assistant director and chair of the UTSA Department of Geological Sciences.

Robert Gulley, executive director of the Habitat Conservation Program at the Edwards Aquifer Authority, will offer the keynote presentation on the water regulatory environment. Additional experts who will join the discussion on this theme include Robert Puente, CEO of the San Antonio Water System; Suzanne Scott, general manager of the San Antonio River Authority; and Francine Romero, associate dean of the UTSA College of Public Policy.

The symposium will be 8 a.m.-5 p.m., Friday, Oct. 4 at the UTSA Downtown Campus. The fee to attend is $125 for professionals and $30 for students.

Registration is open now. Visit the UTSA Office of Extended Education website for program and registration details as well as participant biographies.