August 12, 2010

Back-to-back water events are coming to Lincoln's downtown Holiday Inn in early October.

The UNL Water Center and NU College of Law will co-host a daylong Water Law Conference Oct. 6. The Water Center will then join with the U.S. Geological Survey's Nebraska Water Science Center to present a daylong Greater Platte River Basins Symposium at the same location on Oct. 7.

Water Law Conference Wednesday, Oct. 6

"The Wednesday water law conference focuses on Nebraska water law and will feature a variety of speakers and topics tailored to the practicing bar, but which will also be of benefit to anyone interested in water law," said conference organizer Lorrie Benson, assistant director of the UNL Water Center.

Tentative topics include:

• an overview of property rights to water by UNL law professor Sandi Zellmer;
• conservation easements by Jesse Richardson of Virginia Tech University; and
• Clean Water Act enforcement by Patricia Miller of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region Seven.

Other conference sessions will include:

• issues and impacts of transactions that involve water,
• boundary disputes,
• updates on recent Nebraska water law cases,
• Endangered Species Act law and application,
• practicing before state agencies, and
• designing integrated management plans to simplify water transfers.

Continuing legal education (CLE) credits for attending the conference have been applied for.

Greater Platte River Basins Symposium Thursday, Oct. 7

The symposium will focus on water-related research and innovative programming in the Niobrara, Platte, and Republican River basins. Robert Hirsch, a national expert in water science and policy and USGS hydrogeologist, will open the symposium with "Perspectives on Hydrology and Water Management in a Changing World."

Other presentations that morning will examine management of water resources beyond the state's current integrated management planning requirements. A diverse panel of experts will discuss future water management, including sustainability and resilience, legal frameworks, human dimensions, whether we have the science needed, possible scenarios for the future, and reality checks.

Attendees can choose from 20 presentations by researchers on topics ranging from basic hydrology to economics to wetlands to fish and wildlife issues. A formal poster session offers several dozen posters on a wide range of water-related topics.

Registration

Though the two events are separate, Benson said many in the water profession will find both useful and informative and a discounted registration fee is being offered to those electing to attend both.

Online registration and more information on topics and speakers are at http://watercenter.unl.edu or contact Benson at lbenson2@unl.edu or (402) 472-7372.

Steven Ress
Communications Coordinator, UNL Water Center