UVM to Host Legislative Summit on Water Quality Monday: From PFOA’s to blue green algae

Vermont Business Magazine The University of Vermont will host its fifth annual Legislative Summit onMonday, November 13in the Davis Center. The topic is water quality. UVM faculty in a range of disciplines will present the results of their cutting-edge research to inform legislators on subjects they will likely confront during the coming session.

WHAT: UVM Legislative Summit. The Summit will have three subtopics:

  • Groundwater contaminationwithGeorge Pinder,Eric
Roy,Raju Badireddy. Areas covered:
    • Monitoring phosphorus inputs to Lake Champlain
    • Ongoing management strategies for nutrient recovery
    • Research related to the detection, characterization, and mechanistic understanding of PFOAs with specific focus on the design of novel materials for improved water treatment and reuse.
  • Causes and consequences of algalbloomwithBreck Bowden,Chuck RossandChris Koliba. Areas covered:
    • Sea Grant's emerging role. (Bowden)
    • Solutions being implemented and envisioned to address the agricultural drivers of blooms, with a specific focus on Extension's role. (Ross)
    • Overview of the range or research and modeling being done in the Champlain basin and the policy implications drawn. (Koliba)
  • Lake Champlain as sentinelwithEllen Marsden,Mindy Morales- Williams, andAndrew Schroth. Areas covered:
    • How the lake basin can be monitored to assess changes in the environmental interactions between humans, the landscape and Lake Champlain and subsequent impacts on the health of the lake.
    • Aquatic invasive species, nutrient loading and sensor technologies

WHEN:Monday, November 13 from 9to12:30.

WHO:Over 60 legislators, community members and UVM faculty, students and staff will attend. Speaker of the HouseMitzi Johnson, Vice-President for ResearchRichard Galbraith, andBrendan Fisherof the Rubenstein School for the Environment and Natural Resources will make opening remarks.

WHERE: Top floor of the Davis Center on the UVM campus.

WHAT ELSE:The session will take the form of a “slam.” Each of the three sessions, held consecutively, will open with four-minute presentations by each speaker. Speakers will then sit at separate tables for a 40-minute follow-up. Attendees can choose which table/speaker to follow-up with.