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American Water Works Association's 2003 Annual Conference—Catch the Wave!
The American Water Works Association (AWWA), a major source of information on drinking water, hosted its annual conference and exposition in Anaheim, CA, from June 15 to 19. Approximately 11,000 of AWWA's 57,000 members attended the meeting, which featured sessions focused on all facets of water quality, water utilities, and water sustainability. A strong theme of this year's meeting was protecting water supplies and maintaining drinking-water security. U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) microbiologist Christina Kellogg (St. Petersburg, FL) was an invited speaker for an international workshop, jointly sponsored by AWWA and the International Water Association (IWA), titled "International Perspectives and Case Studies: Source Water Protection." While source-water protection traditionally involves worries about toxic contaminants spilling or leaking into freshwater bodies used for drinking water, Chris's talk revealed the additional problem of atmospheric contaminants. She discussed various ways that microorganisms, chemicals, and nutrients can become aerosolized and then ride the wind to source waters kilometers distant. She also described how large amounts of airborne desert soils blow around the globe, carrying microbes, chemical contaminants, toxic metals, and naturally occurring radionuclides from one continent to another. The session, which included speakers from Australia, Britain, Canada, and the United States, was well received. It ended with a discussion panel in which all the speakers examined ways that the various challenges to source-water protection could best be addressed.
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in this issue:
Southwest Central Florida Flood
School Children Learn About Sediment WETMAAP Workshops for Teachers
Tampa Bay Wetland Restoration Research German-American Frontiers of Science Coastal and Marine Geology Program Knowledge Bank
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U. S. Department of the Interior | U.S. Geological Survey
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