Water Resources Conference On November 8 and 9, 2007, the Sustainable Sandhills (SS) Water Team hosted its first Water Resources Conference. More than 100 local elected officials, community representatives, government staff, business leaders, conservation advocates, engineers, architects and designers attended at least one day of the two-day conference.

Day 1 of the conference was held at the Southern Pines Civic Center. The program was specifically designed to give attendees a layman's overview of basic hydrology, storm water management, water distribution and treatment, wastewater collection and treatment, water supply, and water resources laws and regulations.

One of the highlights of the conference was the Day 1 opening presentation on Basic Hydrology, given by Thomas Blue, PE PLS, the SS Water Team Leader. Mr. Blue's extensive knowledge of the field and his simple to understand renderings of the hydrologic cycle, coupled with his straight forward and uncomplicated teaching style, easily captured the attention and understanding of the attendees.

The Day 1 wrap-up presentation on Water Resources Laws and Regulations, given by Professor Richard Whisnant, was timely and easily grasped by attendees as well. He discussed all of the regulatory laws on permitting for discharge, construction within our waters, ditching and draining of our wetlands, and other pertinent issues. To everyone's amazement, however, they found that there are no laws which address withdrawal of water from our water supplies a very hot issue on everyone's mind because of the continuing drought situation in North Carolina. Mr. Whisnant is an Associate Professor of Public Law and Government at the UNCChapel Hill School of Government. The other prestigious speakers on Day 1 included:

• Siraj Chohan, PE
  Public Water Section, Division of Environmental Health
  NC Department of Environment and Natural Resources (NCDENR)

• Paul E. Rawls
  Chief, Surface Water Protection Section
  Division of Water Quality (DWQ), NCDENR

• Jon Risgaard
  Environmental Engineer, Land Application Unit
  DWQ NCDENR

• Matthew Phelps, PE
  CEO and President
  Associate Professional Engineering and Construction (APEC)
  Hutto, Texas

• Linwood Peele
  Water Supply Planning Section Chief
  Division of Water Resources, NCDENR

• Amy Axon
  Hydrogeologist, Source Water Assessment Program
  Public Water Supply Section, NCDENR

On Day 2 of the conference, a more in-depth and technical program was presented for engineers, architects and designers. Matthew Phelps discussed Decentralized Wastewater Management (Design Consideration), Wastewater Management (RME Business Attributes), and Wastewater Management (EPA Voluntary Guidelines). Thomas Blue also presented a program on Sustainable Storm Water Design.

The Water Resources Conference was a true success, and could not have been accomplished without support from our speakers, guests, the SS Water Team, and the SS Staff.

To view the presentations from the Water Conference, along with biographical information about each of the guest speakers, please visit the Water Resources Conference section of our website under Past Events .