MWC 2005 SPONSORS
U.S. Geological Survey  • Senator George J. Mitchell Center • Maine DHS / Drinking Water Program • Portland Water District • Aqua Maine • Maine Coastal Program / State Planning Office • Maine Dept. of Environmental Protection • Maine Geological Survey • Maine Rural Water Association • Maine Wastewater Control Association • Maine Water Utilities Association • Maine Congress of Lake Associations • Maine Volunteer Lake Monitoring Program • Maine Rivers • University of Maine Cooperative Extension • Maine Sea Grant

Afternoon sessions run concurrently and each session features 6 speakers. The Call for Abstracts for oral presentations has closed. Click here for the Call for Abstracts for poster presentations. The deadline for poster presentation abstracts is February 25, 2005, 5pm.

Session III, V and VI have been approved for two Training Contact Hours through the State of Maine Board of Licensure of Water System Operators.

Session I: Estuaries - Where Rivers Meet the Sea
Session II: Mercury, Endocrine Disruptors and Other Emerging Contaminants
Session III: Drinking Water Planning and Conflicts
Session IV: Connecting the Data
Session V: State of Maine's Environment
Session VI: Community Roundtable
 

SESSION I

ESTUARIES: WHERE RIVERS MEET THE SEA

Session Co-Chairs: Hilary Neckles (USGS), Paul Anderson (Maine Sea Grant)

Session Description: Estuaries represent the link between freshwater and marine ecosystems. Maine has a diversity of estuarine habitats, including bays, tidal rivers, salt marshes, islands, and beaches. Estuaries are some of the state's most complex and productive environments, yet they are also some of the least-studied. This session will examine new knowledge and issues emerging from the estuarine zone.

Session Speakers and Topics: Flow Dynamics in a Complex Freshwater Estuary, Merrymeeting Bay, Mid-Coast Maine Lea, Peter D.1, Kingsbury, Holly E.1, McKenna, Owen E.1, Proctor, Christopher W.1, Supcharoen, Ratsirin1, Caron, Heather2, Lichter, John2, Reblin, Jaret2, and Souther, Christina2. 1Geology Department, Bowdoin College, Brunswick, ME 2Biology Department, Bowdoin College, Brunswick, ME   Does An Estuarine Turbidity Maximum Exist in Penobscot Bay?  Joceline Boucher and Lauren Sahl Corning School of Ocean Studies, Maine Maritime Academy, Castine, ME   Integrating estuarine environmental modeling, telemetry data, and visualization to understand migration ecology of Atlantic salmon in eastern Maine. Kocik, John F., Hawkes, James P.1, and Derek Williamson2 1NOAA-Fisheries, Northeast Fisheries Science Center, Orono, ME 2W.F. Baird & Associates, Coastal Engineers Ltd., Ottawa, Ontario   Unraveling the mystery of rapid recent eelgrass decline in Taunton Bay Laurie Osher1, Christopher Flannagan1, Jennifer Jespersen1, and Teresa Thornton2 1Plant, Soil and Environmental Sciences, University of Maine, Orono, ME 2Senator George J. Mitchell Center for Environmental and Watershed Research, University of Maine, Orono, Maine   Casco Bay Estuary Project Inventory of Habitat Restoration Sites along the Lower Presumpscot River, its Tributaries and Estuary Karen Young1, Matt Craig1, Diane Gould2, Stacie Grove3 1Casco Bay Estuary Project, University of Southern Maine, Portland, ME 2United States Environmental Protection Agency, Boston, MA 3Northern Ecological Associates, Inc., Portland, ME   Concentration of Toxic Pollutants in Casco Bay Sediments and Blue Mussels as Indicators of Ecosystem Contamination Lee Doggett1, Diane Gould2 1Maine Department of Environmental Protection, Bureau of Land and Water Quality, Augusta, ME 2United States Environmental Protection Agency, Boston, MA

SESSION II

MERCURY, ENDOCRINE DISRUPTORS, AND OTHER EMERGING CONTAMINANTS

Session Co-Chairs: Aria Amirbahman (UMaine), Deborah Rice (Maine Bureau of Health)

Session Description: What is the state of Maine's environment with regard to mercury and endocrine-disrupting chemicals? What are the emerging contaminants of concern? What are the human health implications of the sources and transport of potentially toxic substances?

Session Speakers and Topics: Vapor Intrusion from the Subsurface into Building Space: A Latent But Significant Pathway for Human Exposure Daniel B. Carr, P.E., Principal; Stephen J. Roy, P.G., Project Manager; and Erica M. Bradstreet, Project Geologist, Sanborn, Head & Associates, Inc., Maine   Hexazinone Movement from Upland Soils to Surface Waters via Groundwater Teresa Thornton (student)1, Laurie Osher2 1Senator George J. Mitchell Center for Environmental and Watershed Research, University of Maine, Orono, Maine 2University of Maine, Orono, Maine   Sources and Sinks: Sequestration and Transformation of Mercury (Hg) in the Penobscot Estuary Merritt, K.A. (student), and Amirbahman, A. Dept. of Civil & Environmental Engineering, University of Maine, Orono, ME   Water striders (Hemiptera: Gerridae) indicate mercury levels in freshwater systems Timothy D. Jardine1, Tom A. Al2, Kerry T.B. MacQuarrie3, Charles D. Ritchie4, Paul A. Arp4, Antu Maprani2, and Richard A. Cunjak1 1Canadian Rivers Institute and Department of Biology, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, NB 2Canadian Rivers Institute and Department of Geology, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, NB 3Canadian Rivers Institute and Department of Civil Engineering, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, NB 4Faculty of Forestry and Environmental Management, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, NB   Does Vegetation Matter? Mercury Deposition at Acadia National Park, Maine S.J. Nelson (Student)1, K.C. Weathers2, K.B. Johnson1, J.S. Kahl3 1Senator George J. Mitchell Center for Environmental and Watershed Research, University of Maine, Orono, ME 2Institute of Ecosystem Studies, Millbrook, NY 3Center for the Environment, Plymouth State University, Plymouth, NH   Mercury, Stream Salamanders and Watershed Heterogeneity: Coping with a Risky Environment Michael Bank1, Cynthia Loftin2, Jeff Crocker3, Robert MacDonald1, Aria Amirbahman4 1Harvard University, Harvard Forest, Pertersham, MA 2USGS, Maine Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, University of Maine, Orono, ME 3Program in Ecology and Environmental Sciences, University of Maine, Orono, ME 4Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Maine, Orono, ME

SESSION III

DRINKING WATER PLANNING AND CONFLICTS (approved for 2 TCHs)

Session Co-Chairs: Jeff McNelly (Maine Water Utilities Association), Andy Tolman (Maine Drinking Water Program)

Session Description: Drinking water represents the ultimate connection between humans and the environment. This session will review current conflicts in public and private drinking water, and examples of planning strategies to address those conflicts.

Session Speakers and Topics: The Future of Drinking Water in Maine. John M. Peckenham and Teresa Thornton Senator George J. Mitchell Center for Environmental and Watershed Research, University of Maine, Orono, ME   Drinking Water Source Protection: Maine Rural Water’s Strategy to protect public drinking water supplies Alex Wong and Susan Breau Maine Rural Water Association, Brunswick, ME   Did you invite the neighbors? One utilities experience gaining approval to construct a new public water supply well Rick Knowlton, Aqua Maine   Sebago Lake: Yours, Mine and Ours Paul Thomas Hunt Portland Water District, Portland, Maine   Public Access and Source Protection at Branch Lake, Ellsworth, Maine Nancy A. Beardsley and Andrews L. Tolman Maine Drinking Water Program, Augusta, Maine   Source Protection Solution Roundtable Facilitators: Andy Tolman and Jeff McNelly Panel: John Peckenham, Alex Wong, Susan Breau, Rick Knowlton, Paul Hunt, Nancy Beardsley

SESSION IV

CONNECTING THE DATA

Session Co-Chairs: Peter Vaux (Mitchell Center), Greg Stewart (USGS)

Session Description How do we share data among users, and connect the numerous and disparate sources of water resources information? This session will address data integration, availability, and accessibility, including GIS and web interfacing, new communication and information transfer tools, and data-sharing in water education.

Session Speakers and Topics: Salmon River Water Quality Planning Initiative: Lessons Learned From Multi-Agency Data Sharing and Problem Solving Barbara S. Arter BSA Environmental Research and Planning, Steuben, ME   Stewardship Education in the Internet Age: Connecting Students with Data Mary Ann McGarry Center For The Environment, Plymouth State University, Plymouth, NH   Creating an Internet Mapping Project for Biomonitoring Data Connors, Beth Biomonitoring Unit, Maine Department of Environmental Protection, Portland ME   Sheepscot River KRIS: A User-Friendly Database for Atlantic Salmon Habitat Protection and Restoration Michael Herz1 and Eli Asarian2 1Sheepscot Valley Conservation Association, Alna, ME 2Institute for Fisheries Resources, Arcata, CA   Vital Signs – G5-12 students gathering and sharing quantitative and qualitative observations of the Gulf of Maine Watershed Sarah Kirn Gulf of Maine Research Institute, Portland, ME   Streamstats: A U.S. Geological Survey Web Site for Streamflow Statistics and Watershed Analysis Pete Steeves and Kernell Ries U.S. Geological Survey, Augusta, Maine

SESSION V

STATE OF MAINE'S ENVIRONMENT (approved for 2 TCHs)

Session Co-Chairs: Steve Kahl (Plymouth State University), Charlie Culbertson (USGS)

Session Description: This session highlights on-going water-related research in Maine.

Session Speakers and Topics: Are the Clean Air Act Amendments working? A 20 year re-evaluation of biologically relevant chemistry in Northeastern lakes Catherine Rosfjord (student)1, Katherine Webster2, Steve Kahl3, Steve Norton4, Ivan Fernandez5 1Sen. George J. Mitchell Center, University of Maine, Orono, ME 2Department of Biological Sciences, University of Maine, Orono, ME 3Center for the Environment, Plymouth State University, Plymouth, NH 4Dept. of Earth Sciences, University of Maine, Orono, ME 5Dept. of Plant Soil and Env. Science, University of Maine, Orono, ME   The effects of shoreline development on habitat complexity of lake littoral zones in Maine Ness, K.L. (Student)1, K.E. Webster2, and R.J. Bouchard3 1Senator George J. Mitchell Center, University of Maine, Orono, ME 2Department of Biological Sciences, University of Maine, Orono, ME 3Maine Department of Environmental Protection, Augusta, ME   The Connection Between Ice-Out and Hypolimnion Oxygen Data for Green Lake, Maine Robert D. Dunlap1 and Richard C. Cook1 1University of Maine (Professor Emeritus) 2Green Lake Association   Application of Surface and Ground Water Interconnection Concepts to Blueberry Irrigation in Maine Brad Caswell Cherryfield Foods, Inc., Cherryfield, ME   Easy to Use Equipment for Sampling Sediment Pore Water Richard Behr and Troy Smith Maine Department of Environmental Protection, Augusta, ME   White perch distribution, ecology, and management in estuarine and fresh waters Dave Halliwell Maine Department of Environmental Protection, Augusta, ME

SESSION VI

MAINE COMMUNITY ROUNDTABLE (approved for 2 TCHs)

Confirmed panelists: Chris Barstow (State Representative, Gorham, ME) LaMarr Cannon (Maine NEMO) Charles Hebson (Maine Dept. of Transportation) Chris Martin (Maine Forest Service) Ferg Lea (AVCOG) Rob Sanford, Moderator (University of Southern Maine)

Session Description: A facilitated discussion of current water resource planning and management in Maine communities. Is comprehensive planning working? What strategies do municipalities have for controlling non-point source pollutants? Has shoreland zoning been effective? What are the trends in regionalization, and the consequences for environmental planning?