Speaker: Susan S. Hutson, US Geological Survey

Title: “Straws in the Delaware: Water Use Today and Tomorrow”

Bio: Susan Hutson, a Hydrologist with the U.S. Geological Survey for 33 years, works for the USGS National Water Use Information Program, and the Maryland-Delaware-D.C. Water Science Center in Baltimore. Susan was the lead author for the report “Estimated use of Water in the United States in 2000”, and a co-author of the same updated report for 2005. Susan has published several water-use and water availability reports, some of which have included water-demand forecasting. Currently Susan is lead for a USGS project examining methods to improve estimates of water use at thermoelectric power plants.

Speaker: Dr. Raymond Najjar, Departments of Meteorology and Geosciences at The Pennsylvania State University

Title: “Climate Change Implications for the Delaware River Basin”

Bio: Dr. Raymond Najjar is an Associate Professor of Oceanography with the Departments of Meteorology and Geosciences at The Pennsylvania State University. Dr. Najjar was a member of the multi-disciplinary research team that recently undertook a Pennsylvania climate impacts assessment under the auspices of the state, and earlier served in a similar capacity with the Mid-Atlantic Regional Assessment (MARA) and the Consortium for Atlantic Regional Assessment (CARA)—EPA-funded projects that provided climate information to stakeholders in the Mid- and Upper-Atlantic Regions of the United States. Dr. Najjar’s current climate assessment activity is with the Partnership for the Delaware Estuary. He served on the National Academy of Sciences Climate Research Committee and currently serves as one of two Pennsylvania-appointed members of the Science and Technical Advisory Committee of the Chesapeake Bay Program.

Dr. Najjar’s research ranges from the role of the ocean in global biogeochemical cycles and climate to the physical and biogeochemical dynamics of Mid-Atlantic estuaries and their watersheds; the effect of anthropogenic activity on these systems is a theme that runs through this work. He has authored or coauthored over 40 journal articles. For further details, see http://www.met.psu.edu/people/rgn1

A native of New York City, Dr. Najjar resides in State College, Pennsylvania with his wife Jean and their three daughters.

Speaker: G. Tracy Mehan, Esq. , The Cadmus Group, Inc.

Title: “Strategies for Drinking Water Protection–from Planning to Partnering”

Abstract: Safeguarding our water supply for the future will rely on prudent land and water management today, at every level, from basin-wide planning to backyard landscapes. Mr. Mehan will discuss opportunities for water resource protection through strategic and integrated planning, policy-making and program execution, and collaborative partnerships.

Bio: G. Tracy Mehan, III, is Principal with The Cadmus Group, Inc., an environmental consulting firm, since 2004. Mehan served as Assistant Administrator for Water at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from 2001-2003. He served as Environmental Stewardship Counselor to the 2004 G-8 Summit Planning Organization (2004). Mehan also served as director of the Michigan Office of the Great Lakes (1993-2001) and as Associate Deputy Administrator of EPA in 1992. He was director of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources from 1989 to 1992. Mehan is a graduate of Saint Louis University and its School of Law. Presently, Mehan served on the Water Science and Technology Board and the Committee on the Mississippi River and the Clean Water Act for the National Research Council of the National Academies. He was also an independent expert judge for the Municipal Water Conservation Achievement Award Program (2006) sponsored by The U.S. Conference of Mayors and its Urban Water Council.

Mehan is an adjunct professor at George Mason University School of Law and a member of the Environmental Law Institute (ELI). He is a regular book reviewer for ELI’s flagship publication, The Environmental Forum.

Mehan serves on the board of the Potomac Conservancy, Clean Water America Alliance and the Great Lakes Observing System. He is also a member of the Advisory Board of the Center for Environmental Policy, School of Public Affairs, American University.

Speaker: Carol R. Collier, P.P., AICP

Title: “Delaware River Basin: Challenges On the Ground and In the Water”

Abstract: Water does not respect political boundaries. We can best manage our water resources by respecting and working within the natural laws of a water system by: 1) managing by watershed boundaries, 2) jointly managing surface and groundwater, and 3) understanding the relationship of water withdrawal, in-stream flow needs, wastewater return and stormwater runoff. This holistic approach to water management is especially needed as the Delaware River Basin faces a number of new challenges that bring increased uncertainty. Climate change will have a great impact on how we manage the system to ensure adequate water supply due to changes in precipitation patterns, increased temperatures and encroachment of salt laden water in the tidal river. Development pressure and natural gas development in the headwaters of the basin threaten the integrity of our source waters and the DRBC’s Special Protection Waters. New parameters of concern need to be assessed. The Water Resources Plan for the Delaware River Basin identified four watershed regions of the Basin: Upper, Central, Lower and Bay regions. Each has distinctive characteristics, hydrologic functions, and demographic profiles, which give rise to specific source water issues to be discussed at satellite locations. We must come together as a community of water managers to develop the best practices for protecting source waters at the basin, regional and local levels to meet current and future human and ecological needs.

Bio: Ms. Collier was appointed Executive Director of the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) on August 31, 1998. The DRBC is an interstate/federal commission that provides a unified approach to water resource management without regard to political boundaries. Before joining DRBC, Ms. Collier was Executive Director of Pennsylvania’s 21st Century Environmental Commission. Governor Tom Ridge formed the Environment Commission in 1997 to establish the Commonwealth’s environmental priorities and to recommend a course of action for the next century.

At the time Governor Ridge asked Ms. Collier to serve as executive director for the 21st Century Environment Commission, she was Regional Director of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP) Southeast Region. Prior to PADEP, Ms. Collier served 19 years with BCM Environmental Engineers, Inc., Plymouth Meeting, Pa., beginning as a student intern and ultimately becoming Vice President of Environmental Planning, Science and Risk.

Ms. Collier has a B.A. in Biology from Smith College and a Masters in Regional Planning from the University of Pennsylvania. She is a Professional Planner licensed in the State of New Jersey, a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP) and a Certified Senior Ecologist. In 1997 she was presented the Touchstone Award from the Society of Women Environmental Professionals and in 1998 the Woman of Distinction Award from the Philadelphia Business Journal. In 2007 the American Water Resources Association (AWRA) presented her with the Mary H. Marsh Medal for exemplary contributions to the protection and wise use of the nation’s water resources.

She is a member of her township’s environmental protection advisory board, on the Boards of the American Water Resources Association (AWRA) and the newly formed Clean Water America Alliance (CWAA), teaches environmental management courses at the University of Pennsylvania and has published on environmental and water-related topics. She has testified before the U.S. House of Representatives and the Pennsylvania Legislature. In 2004 she was a member of a nine person U.S./China/Japan team to assist the People’s Republic of China with river basin management.  Ms. Collier has also participated in water management and sustainable forest practice events along the Yangtze River in China and in the rain forests of Ecuador. She thinks proper management of water resources is the key to our economic and environmental future.

Speaker: Jeffrey K. Griffiths, MD, MPH, Tufts University School of Medicine

Title: “Drinking Water: Facts, Fears, and the Future”

Abstract: Drinking water is critical to public health and our modern society. Dr. Griffiths will briefly review why water is so important, as well as the current state of drinking water in the United States, noting real and potential challenges to the quality, and quantity, of US drinking water. These will be presented through the lenses of a changing population, environmental and economic drivers, and climate change.” 

Bio: Dr. Jeffrey Griffiths is currently Director of Global Health, in the public health program at Tufts University School of Medicine. He is Associate Professor of Public Health, Medicine, Nutrition, and Civil and Environmental Engineering at Tufts University, with a primary appointment in the Department of Public Health and Family Medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine. Clinically, he is an Associate Physician, Division of Geographic Medicine and Infectious Diseases, New England Medical Center; Physician, Department of Infectious Diseases, St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center, and Consulting Physician, Divisions of Infectious Diseases, Carney Hospital and Quincy Hospital. Dr. Griffiths holds an A.B. in Chemistry in 1977 from Harvard College, an M.D. from Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and a MPH & TM in Public Health and Tropical Medicine from Tulane University (both in 1982). His major research interests lie in the study of waterborne diseases (especially cryptosporidiosis) and their relationship to environmental factors; respiratory infections and their linkage to malnutrition and air pollution; and the development of an ultrastable measles vaccine for use where refrigeration is not present. He has served on numerous national committees or advisory groups including: the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Science Advisory Board (SAB) Drinking Water Committee, the National Drinking Water Advisory Council of the EPA; the National Academies’ Committee on Drinking Water Contaminants and the Public Interest Advisory Forum of the American Water Works Association, Public Health Subgroup. Other service has included being the Federal representative for the National Association of People with AIDS (NAPWA) to the EPA Drinking Water Microbial Disinfection and Byproducts Committee, and a member of multiple National Institutes of Health (NIH) AIDS Clinical Trials Groups dealing with enteric infections. He is a 2008 American Society of Microbiology International Professor, and is co-editor of the Communicable Diseases section of the International Encyclopedia of Public Health (8th edition, published by Elsevier). He completed residencies in both Internal Medicine and Pediatrics at Yale-New Haven Hospital during 1982-1986. This past year, Dr. Griffiths served as an ad hoc member of the EPA SAB Environmental Engineering Committee (EEC) Panel that provided advice to EPA on its draft Hydraulic Fracturing Research Scoping Study Plan.