RSS
Skip to:
Slides
Media Coverage
Sen. Kohl's press release
Water Summit IV took place on Monday, July 19, 2010 at the Harbor Lights Room in downtown Milwaukee. Over 250 attended to see a variety of presenters who spoke on everything from water scarcity to economic development opportunities around water technology in the Milwaukee region.
The "Blue Footprint" was the key topic for the Summit. The Blue Footprint refers to maintaining sustainability on our fresh water supply, and how the Milwaukee can - and does - play a lead role in the Blue Footprint as an issue from both a policy and economic standpoint.
Bob Wilkinson, Associate Adjunct Professor from UC-Santa Barbara and Senior Fellow with the Rocky Mountain Institute;
Lee Addams & Patrick Mullen of the McKinsey Company and International Finance Corporation, respectively;
Laurent Auguste, President & CEO of Veolia Water North America;
Ed Begley Jr., actor and environmental advocate; and
Dennis Dimick, Environmental Editor of National Geographic magazine
Furthermore, all three Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate came to the Summit to express their views on Wisconsin's role - and opportunities - with water technology.
 Water Council co-chair Rich Meeusen updates attendees on the Council's activities, shortly after unveiling the new logo.
|  Water Summit IV was held in the Harbor Lights Room, with over 250 in attendance. Members and attendees heard from a variety of speakers and had numerous opportunities to network. They also heard from Wisconsin's three gubernatorial candidates, who attended and discussed how they view Wisconsin's role in the growing water industry. |
The Water Council also provided attendees with updates on the Council's activities. They included helping water companies expand or establish here (the announced arrival of AMDS from California and the recent expansion into the region by Northern Lake Service are two examples), new research grants designed to help companies and academic institutions with water technology projects, and new developments within the organization, including staffing and the new Water Council logo.
COVERAGE
Water Summit IV enjoyed significant coverage from local media, with CNBC also providing national attention.
Lake Effect coverage on WUWM-FM (click to view and listen)
WTMJ-TV 4
Water Council co-chair Paul Jones speaks with WTMJ-TV reporter Lauren Leamanczyk about Milwaukee's water cluster. See the whole report here or by clicking on the image.
WISN-TV 12 "All three candidates for governor discuss Milwaukee's water"
Download slides from our speakers here:
Robert Wilkinson, PhD, UC-Santa Barbara & the Rocky Mountain Institute
Lee Addams, McKinsey Company
Laurent Auguste, Veolia Water North America
Senator Herb Kohl
Senator Kohl addressed Summit attendees in the morning and announced his support, as evidenced by the press release below:
KOHL INCLUDES $4.5 MILLION FOR
UWM’S
IN FY11 COMMERCE DEPARTMENT BUDGET
______________________________________________________
Funding will be used for equipment for state-of-the-art labs
“There is exceptional work being done in
The federal funds will be used for equipment for state-of-the-art laboratories at UWM’s
According to the Center, the funding will target three areas:
· Biological and chemical sensor fabrication, characterization, and testing laboratory. This laboratory will promote innovative research and developmentof on-line sensors (often nano-scale) for chemicals such as phosphates and nitrates and biological organisms such as algae and e-coli. Novel sensors will also be able to be produced to monitor specific contaminants such as pharmaceuticals in water. The sensors that will be developed will have broad applications including real-time water quality monitoring of watersheds, lakes, rivers, and municipal water treatment facilities. It is intended that the developed sensors will be robust and operate without maintenance over a period of years rather than months.
· Small scale materials development and nanofiltration laboratory. This lab will promote the development of new nano-materials for water filtration and advanced water delivery and processing. It will allow basic research into the use of various nano-scale materials (carbon nano-tubes, customized nano-particles) in filters and as catalysts in other chemical process applications such as water treatment; other materials will be able to be designed and fabricated with a microstructure that can be impregnated with agents to kill bacteria and toxic materials. In addition, the laboratory will support the development of materials used in components of our water systems that are environmentally friendly (lead free), corrosion-resistant, fouling free and self-healing; these materials will provide higher water quality and more efficient use of our current water infrastructure.
·Environmental Water Systems Laboratory. This lab will be created to pursue research that creates a better and more comprehensive understanding of both natural and man-made water systems. Natural and man-made systems comprise of many physical, chemical and biological processes that need to be dynamically integrated to better predict their behavior over scales from local to global and periods of minutes to millennia. This lab will include computational, testing, and characterization facilities that will allow research on topics that include, but are not limited to, understanding atmospheric mechanisms that influence the Great Lakes and their impact on municipal water systems, improving water quality and supply predictions through expanded climate and water system monitoring, assuring the health and proactive restoration of complex water systems for storm water management and grey water systems.
The bill was passed by the Subcommittee for C-J-S Appropriations today and is expected to be approved by the full Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday before moving to the full Senate for consideration. The 2011 fiscal year begins on
# # #
