Whisnant presentation to N.C. Water Congress

From Water Wiki

August 12, 2009

1.   Study background and approach 
   • Varied consultation (stakeholders, experts, states, wiki)
   • Varied methods (interviews, lit review, data analysis, legal analysis, economic analysis, scenarios, models, wiki)
   • Findings focus on key existing regulatory processes
2. Recommendations
3. Critical issues
   • Goals/overarching policies: public vs. private rights in water, instream flows
   • Model-based water budgets
   • Ecological flows
   • Adaptive, proactive, basinwide planning process in overallocated basins
   • Withdrawal permitting
   • State attention to financial capacity and O&M needs of water providers
   • Integration of state and local water reports and data
4. 2008 Final report and responses: what we know 
   • Final report is here and media and Wiki-based comments here.
   • Legislation introduced to enact the report's recommendations
5. Beyond the report: what we hope
   • Better assurance of supply (less risk, more resilience)
   • Planning as pluralistic community of expertise
   • Better knowledge-base for all water-related policies and investments
   • Eventually improve coordination of water quality, water resources and public water supply decisions
   • Possible path to regional (southern Atlantic coastal states) consistency in water resource regulation