2010 International Groundwater Conference

2010 International Groundwater Conference

"Toward Sustainable Groundwater in Agriculture: An International Conference Linking Science and Policy" was held June 15-17, 2010 in San Francisco.

The conference, organized by the Water Education Foundation and the University of California, Davis, brought together leading scientists, policy analysts, policy and decision makers, and agricultural and environmental stakeholder groups to define and highlight the science, challenges, and potential policy solutions in agricultural groundwater resources management and groundwater quality protection that will provide a sustainable future at regional, national, and global scales.

The conference featured four plenary sessions that highlighted the importance of information sharing, management, policy and legal control of groundwater in agricultural regions, and assessment of agricultural practices and associated effects on groundwater quantity and quality. Experts from California, the U.S. and around the world spoke about the important connection between groundwater supply and quality, rural livelihood, and agriculture/food production for local, regional, and global communities.

Four concurrent tracks offered a wide range of policy and technical presentations on such topics as irrigation and water use, salinity and nitrates, climate change, agricultural contamination and groundwater scarcity. More than 100 speakers - policymakers, researchers, water district managers, scientists, and others - addressed these and other important issues.

This conference was sponsored by the Robert M. Hagan Endowed Chair at UC Davis. Additional funding was provided by UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Services, EKI, GEI Consultants, Inc., and Kings River Conservation District. Conference cosponsors were: Groundwater Resources Association of California, International Hydrological Association, John Muir Institute of the Environment, UC Davis, USGS, and IWMI

The complete conference program and speaker abstracts are available at www.ag-groundwater.com. PowerPoint presentations and video from the conference will be posted there later this summer.