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2010 Maine Water Conference
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Augusta Civic Center, Augusta, Maine
Following is the theme session list for the 2010 Maine Water Conference.
Session Titles
Session A.
Providing Safe Drinking Water in Uncertain Times
Chair: Andy Tolman, Maine CDC Drinking Water Program
Description: We have learned a lot in the past twenty years, and much of it has made the task of providing safe and reliable drinking water more challenging. In this session, talks are invited that discuss:
- Progress in and obstacles to protecting drinking water sources
- Storm water management and drinking water: risks and opportunities.
- Safety and emergency preparedness for water systems
- The influence of climatic variability on water systems: a case for water efficiency and no regrets planning
- Conflicts between drinking water and recreational and ecosystem uses of aquifers and surface waters.
- Quantifying the threats of emerging contaminants, like PPCP’s and prions, to drinking water, and strategies for coping with these new issues.
All these challenges require that water systems and their partners have strong technical capacity and the ability to cope with the unexpected, to be ‘resilient’ in the face of both slow and quickly developing emergencies.
AM Session
- Share and Share Alike: Water Use Managment in Maine
Andrews L. Tolman, Maine CDC Drinking Water Program
- Safety and Emergency Preparedness for Water Systems
Sara Lippert, Maine CDC Drinking Water Program
- Creating critical mass for drinking water protection
Alex Wong, EPA Sourcewater Program; Susan Breau-Kelley, USDA Sourcewater Program, Maine Rural Water Association
PM Session
- Multiple agency investigation of a water borne Hepatitis A Outbreak
James A. Jacobsen, Div. of Environmental Health, Drinking Water Program
- Historical summer baseflow trends for New England Rivers
Robert W. Dudley; Glenn Hodgkins, US Geological Survey, Maine Water Science Center
- The chemical characteristics of landfill leachate and why you should care
Richard S. Behr; Richard H. Heath; Sean Dougherty, Maine Department of Environmental Protection
- Using borehole geophysics to model water flow and salt transport in a fractured heterogenious aquifer near Jonesboro, Maine
A.S. Reeve; J. Sawdey, Department of Earth Sciences, University of Maine
Session B.
From urban streams to pristine sites: prioritizing research, funding, conservation
Chair: Melissa Evers, DEP
Description: Some states have recently allocated funding traditionally used for restoring impaired sites to conserve “high quality” waters. How does funding drive actions for watershed management? And, how do we find resources to protect pristine areas? This session will describe projects ranging from preservation and conservation to restoration and management of freshwater resources. Topics of interest include stormwater runoff, low-impact development, urban stream impairment, determining pollutant reductions, invasive aquatic plants, shoreland zoning and vernal pool conservation efforts, threats (such as non-point source pollution) to seemingly pristine sites, and strategies for conservation of unimpaired sites. Talks will focus on the science supporting restoration and conservation across the spectrum from impaired to ’pristine’ sites and/or management and policy implications of prioritization of limited resources for such projects.
AM Session
Session C.
Regional partnerships for Watershed Planning
Chair: Brenda Zollitsch and David Ladd
Description: Water resource management at the regional and watershed scale extends across municipal, state and agency boundaries. For successful resource management on this scale, partnerships and collaboration among stakeholders, including agencies, volunteer groups, government, conservation groups, and the private sector are a necessity. This session shares the successes and challenges of such collaborative partnerships as they undertake planning projects. Talks in this session describe both specific projects and more general frameworks and strategic goals for successful planning and implementation. The session includes information about new tools and approaches to planning and supporting collaborative groups working on planning efforts in the State of Maine.
AM Session
- Herding Cats: Insights and Challenges of a Collaborative Community-Based Approach for Restoring Long Creek
Tamara Lee Pinard, Stormwater Program, Cumberland County SWCD
- Getting it Done Before the Hammer Falls – Moving Beyond the Five Stages of Grieving
Wendy Warren, City of Bangor
- Moving from Partnership to Integration: Lessons Learned from Developing and Implementing the First Shared Regional Storm Water Management Plan in the Greater Bangor Urbanized Area
Brenda Zollitsch, Bangor Area Stormwater Group
PM Session
- AWWA Watersheds: Collaborative Cross-Boundary Watershed Protection Utilizing Unique Tools for Protecting High Quality Waters
Forrest Bell, FB Environmental Associates;
Linda Schier, Acton-Wakefield Watersheds Alliance; Sally Soule, NHDES; Jennifer Jesperson, FBE; Tricia Rouleau, FBE
- Public and Private Utility Partnership to Preserve Drinking Water Resources in Southern Maine
Robert J. Williamson, P.E.; Jeffrey P. Musich, P.E., Wright-Pierce; Gary S. Lorfano, Southern Maine Regional Water Council
- Maine Camp Roads: Statewide Stakeholder Process and Partnerships to Address this Intractable NPS Issue
Wendy Garland, Maine DEP
- Evaluating Groundwater Partnerships through a Mixed Method Social Science Approach
Jessica Leahy; Teresa Thornton, School of Forest Resources, University of Maine; Crista Straub; John Peckenham; Laura Wilson; John Jemison; Jean MacRae, University of Maine
Session D.
Legislative roundtable
Chair: Laura Wilson, University of Maine Cooperative Extension
AM Session
Description: Protecting water resources from threats seems logical and reasonable. However, finding common ground can be difficult when resource protection and public access and use appear to conflict. In this session, we will explore current legislation that will set up such a conflict, and review a situation where a compromise between public access and protection has been reached. The session will take the form of a moderated panel discussion.
Session E.
Public outreach and education: communicating water resources and environmental information
Chair: Catherine Schmitt, Maine Sea Grant
Description: Information transfer is a two-way street. How do you know if the information you are providing is reaching the right audience? What does "engagement" mean, and what is the right level of engagement for your research or management issue? This session includes presentations on the practice and implementation of engagement methods and communication tools (e.g., cafe scientifiques, market research, socioeconomic studies, community visioning, needs assessments). The session will provide results of communication and education research as well as examples of successful programs and projects in a dynamic format.
AM Session
Session F.
Historical and Future Extreme Hydrologic Events in Maine
Chairs: Robert M. Lent, Glenn Hodgkins, USGS, Augusta, ME
Description: Maine has a long history of extreme hydrologic events, including major floods in 1936, 1987, and 2008, and droughts in the 1960’s and early 2000’s. There is a considerable amount known about these historical events and there is some information available on future projected events. What do historical records tell us about the frequency and severity of floods and droughts in Maine? Have they changed over time? What can we say about the potential for future floods and droughts and what methods and models can we use to predict them? How much uncertainty is associated with the predictions? What have been the impacts of historical extreme events and what will be the impacts of future extreme events? This Maine Water Conference session will attempt to answer many of these questions.
PM Session
- Establishing Maine Coastal Flood Zones in a Time of Rising Sea Level
Robert G. Gerber, P.E., C.G., VP Environmental Engineering Sebago Technics Inc.
- Recent Floods in maine: A Comparison of Causes, Regions of Influence and Exceedance Probabilities
Pam Lombard, USGS Maine Water Science Center
- Historical changes in annual peak flows in Maine and implications for flood frequency analyses
Glenn A. Hodgkins, USGS Maine Water Science Center
- Trends in New England Flood Magnitudes and Frequencies Revealed by Partial Duration Flood Series Analyses of Long Gauge Records
William H. Armstrong, Boston College, Dept. of Geology & Geophysics; Mathias J. Collins, NOAA; Noah P Snyder, Boston College
Session G.
Maine Water Quality Data: Overview, Availability, Challenges
Chair: Linda Bacon, Maine DEP
Description: Access to Maine water quality data is much easier now than it was a decade ago. Knowing what information is available is the first step to mining such datasets. This session includes (1) an application of data, (2) availability of statewide data using Google Earth, (3) data and tools available in one National dataset, followed by (4) a panel discussion focusing on the challenges and limitations of using these resources. Panel members not presenting will provide a brief overview of their experience working with these datasets.
PM Session
- Interactive mapping of water resources in the Lower Penobscot: working to enhance watershed stewardship
Gayle Zydlewski, School of Marine Sciences, University of Maine; Peter Vaux, Mitchell Center; Lori Smith, Center for Research and Evaluation, University of Maine
- An Overview of Data Accessible from the Maine DEP's Environmental Geographic Analysis Database (EGAD) Using Google Earth
Christian Halsted, Maine DEP
- Finding the Maine Story in Huge, Cumbersome National Monitoring Datasets
John Kiddon, Atlantic Ecology Div., USEPA
- Panel: A facilitated discussion with the afternoon's speakers
Panelists: Christian Halsted, John Kiddon, Gayle Zydlewski
Session H.
Biotic and abiotic influences on Water Quality
Chair: Sarah J. Nelson, University of Maine Senator George J. Mitchell Center for Environmental and Watershed Research; and Ken Johnson, Husson College
Description: Nitrogen and Phosphorous are key nutrients that control tropic status and influence water quality. In case studies and across the state, this session will explore top-down and bottom-up influences on nutrient sources and cycles, historical trends, and spatial surveys of lake and stream water quality. Specific topics include food-web dynamics, indicators of trophic status, chemical-nutrient equilibria, and long-term temperature studies.
PM Session
- Stream algal model for predicting attainment of Maine water quality classes
Thomas J. Danielson, Maine Dept. of Environmental Protection; Cynthia Loftin, UMaine Cooperative Fish & Wildlife Research Unit
- Monitoring Maine lake temperatures, short term variation and longer term trends
Daniel E. Buckley, Professor of Biology;
Julie Daly, Associate Professor of Geology,
University of Maine Farmington
- Seasonal changes in phosphorus and iron pore-water profiles in the sediment of two shallow lakes: a diffusive equilibrum study
Bjorn A. Lake, Ph D., Civil & Environmental Engineering; Aria Amirbahman, Professor Civil & Env. Engineering, University of Maine
- Impacts of White Perch Introductions on Food Web Dynamics: Paleolimnological and Experimental Analysis of Zooplankton Grazing and Nutrient Cycling
Kirstin Ditzler (student), Jasmine Saros, Kevin Simon, Michael Kinneson; University of Maine
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