First annual Water Law, Policy and Science Conference
Finding Solutions to Multi-jurisdictional Water Conflicts
March 4-5, 2004
News Release
"The conference is an inaugural event for University of Nebraska-Lincoln's (UNL) interdisciplinary Water Resources Research Initiative (WRRI),” said visiting associate professor of law Sandi Zellmer. “From endangered species to ground and surface water use and management, Nebraska is at the crossroads of many of the most vexing and contentious legal battles over scarce water resources. We hope to foster continuing dialogue and research among legal experts, scientists, engineers, economists and other water-related disciplines in an effort to understand ecological and human needs and reach sustainable management solutions.”
Conference topics include strategies for reaching consensus in multi-jurisdictional contexts, water marketing and its implications for human priorities and fish and wildlife; water as property; constitutional “takings” claims; and using best available science to resolve conflicts between water uses and the needs of endangered species. These issues will be explored through interdisciplinary discussions, and placed in context by looking at water management issues on the Platte and Missouri Rivers .
Keynote speakers include Sandra Postel, director of Worldwatch Institute’s Global Water Policy Project, speaking on security, agriculture and the value of water: Joseph Sax, University of California-Berkley Boalt Hall College of Law; and Robert Glennon, University of Arizona College of Law, speaking on the impacts of groundwater pumping on stream flow.
Other invited speakers include Roger Patterson, director of the Nebraska Department of Natural Resources, on avoiding a litigation “shipwreck” and reaching consensus over scarce water resources; University of Colorado at Boulder economics professor Charles W. Howe on protecting public values in a water marketing setting; Lincoln attorney LeRoy Sievers on the nature of water as private property or as a public trust resource; and Tim Searchinger of the Environmental Defense Fund on management and restoration of the Missouri River ecosystem.
Conference outcomes will be published in a symposium issue of the Nebraska Law Review and used in other NU publications, Zellmer said.
The WRRI leverages external funding to help provide for a broad spectrum of surface and groundwater research. It involves faculty and staff from UNL’s School of Natural Resources, Water Center, Departments of Geosciences, Biological Systems Engineering, Civil Engineering, Agronomy & Horticulture, Chemistry, and the College of Law, cooperating on research and programming relevant to Nebraska and the great plains.
The WRRI, along with UNL’s College of Law, Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources, and Water Center are sponsoring the conference.
Registration details will be available after the new year by contacting the UNL Water Center at (402) 472-3305.
