Elon students, faculty and staff joined speakers and environmental experts Friday, Oct. 17 for "A River Runs Through Us," a seminar focused on sustainable water resource management. Details...
Government experts, scholars and representatives from various organizations explored ways to protect the Cape Fear River Basin, which is the main source of water for almost a third of North Carolina residents.
Sandra Postel, director of the Global Water Policy Institute and WorldWatch Institute Fellow, delivered the opening address and later spoke to a class of approximately 40 communications students.
“It’s very important for people to be informed about the status of water,” Postel told the class. “At all levels, globally, nationally, regionally and locally, we have important decisions to make.”
An estimated 1 billion people worldwide do not have access to clean drinking water, and 2 billion do not have adequate sanitation.
“It is important to examine our own impact on water,” Postel said. “At the individual level, we can make a difference.” Postel said Americans can make choices that will help preserve our water supply. “The average American diet takes twice the water to produce than most other diets,” Postel said, noting that water conservation choices are not always obvious.
Greg Jennings, associate director of the Water Resources Research Institute in Raleigh, N.C., made a presentation about innovative approaches to watershed management.
Jennings showed photographs of projects across the state that incorporate the natural environment into watershed and stream preservation. For example, islands in parking lots can be landscaped so that they are below the level of the parking lot, allowing storm water runoff to be collected.
Jennings said a new philosophy in the restoration of streams is being adopted. “Rather than lining streams and channels with things such as concrete, engineers are trying to use more natural solutions.” These restoration projects include adjusting stream channel sizes and shapes; connecting channels to an existing floodplain; and adding in-stream structures to aid the flow of water.
Elon University’s Center for Environmental Studies hosted the event. Co-sponsors for “A River Runs Through Us” included the North Carolina section of the American Water Works Association, the North Carolina Water Environment Association, Duke Energy, Syngenta, the Piedmont Land Conservancy, the Haw River Lands and Trails Association and Alamance Community College.