Maritime Water Resources Symposium:
Watershed Health, Planning and Management

Presentations and discussion are encouraged in the following general thematic areas:

  1. Government Strategies and Regulations for Sustainable Watershed Development Areas. Watersheds are attractive aesthetically, environmentally and recreationally for human use, recreation, and habitation. Is current use sustainable? What planning and regulatory strategies appear to be successful? What new innovations can/should be considered? What responsibilities/actions should the end-user stakeholder have to consider as an active participant in the stewardship of this ‘common’ resource.
  2. Municipal and Rural Impacts on Water Resources. Until recently, streams, rivers, and watersheds were often utilized for dumping/disposal activities associated with urban, industrial and agricultural development. Concentrations of population, and intensive industrial and agricultural practices, can have far-reaching, and often destructive impacts. What research innovations can, or are, assisting the reduction/control of potentially rapid deterioration? What point source methodologies/operational modifications could be considered?
  3. Remediation, Restoration, and Recreation within our Watersheds. There are a multitude of stakeholders active in watershed environments including: developers, government agencies, homeowners, recreational users, farmers, fishers, and hunters. What educational/stewardship programs are operating well, what new ones are being considered, and how might they be enhanced so the next generation continues the re-building, restoring and conservation of our watershed resources? How can we improve/finance recovery/conservation efforts?
  4. Emerging and Advanced Technologies for Watershed Management. Remote sensing and in situ monitoring technologies that improve our ability to assess and manage watershed health and resource abundance/use are constantly being developed. This theme encourages presentation and discussion on such new and evolving technologies and workflows.
  5. Data Management and Planning at the Watershed and Water Resources Levels. With advances in data acquisition capabilities the quality and quantity of data describing our watersheds and water resources is becoming overwhelming for the agencies responsible for planning and management. In particular, geospatial data sets, structures and workflows are constantly being developed and made available to the appropriate authorities but their efficient adoption and use is challenged by factors of cost, training, rapid procedural changes. Presentation and discussion highlighting such challenges and how they have been addressed are encouraged.
  6. Nova Scotia Water and Drinking Water Strategies. Nova Scotia in 2002 completed a ‘Drinking Water Strategy’, and is currently in the public consultation phase of a ‘Water Resource Management Strategy’ with hopes for finalization/implementation by 2010. In this thematic area, discussion is promoted on the current Water Strategy initiative and on similar initiatives in other jurisdictions..