2018 Meeting Highlights

3/10/2018

42nd Annual Meeting: Working Together for Wisconsin's Water: Balancing Industry, the Environment and Public Health

Meeting Information
March 8 - 9, 2018 at the Radisson Paper Valley Hotel, 333 W College Ave, Appleton, WI 54911

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Meeting Highlights
The 42nd annual meeting of the American Water Resources Association-Wisconsin Section was held March 8 - 9, 2018 at the Radisson Paper Valley Hotel, Appleton, Wisconsin. There were 209 registrants who attended the meeting, which included 47 oral presentations and 22 posters. The meeting theme was "Working Together for Wisconsin's Water: Balancing Industry, the Environment, and Public Health".

In support of this theme, the Plenary Session included: Jim Jordahl from the Iowa Agriculture Water Alliance speaking on Farmers, Cities, Ag Retail and More: Diverse Partnerships Working to Improve Water Quality in Iowa; and Jim VandenBrook from the Wisconsin Land and Water Conservation Association speaking on The Collision of Agriculture, Environment, Public Health, and Science: NR 151 - An Unprecedented Collaboration to Protect Groundwater Quality in Eastern Wisconsin. Based on the success of our inaugural 2017 Lightening Talk Session, we continued the tradition this year, covering a diverse array of topics including storm-induced water level oscillations, water resources science, geologic mapping needs in Wisconsin, groundwater modeling using artificial intelligence, and water conservation practices. We had excellent technical sessions focused on the areas of Groundwater, Urban Water Quality, Geomorphology, Groundwater Quality, Central Sands, Surface Water Extremes, Streams, Groundwater-Surface Water, Coastal Modeling, Agriculture and Watershed Management, and Groundwater Modeling. The Dinner Speaker was Michael Tiboris from the Chicago Council on Global Affairs who gave a wonderful presentation on Nutrient Pollution and the Broadening Urban-Rural Divide. The evening Poster Session included a mixture of interesting topics presented by undergraduate and graduate students, regulatory and industry professionals, and academic colleagues.

Lunch business meeting (pictured above).

Plenary speaker Jim Jordahl from the Iowa Agriculture Water Alliance speaking on farmers, cities, agriculture retail and more (pictured above).

Plenary speaker Jim VandenBrook from the Wisconsin Land and Water Conservation Association speaking on the collision of agriculture, environment, public health, and science (pictured above).

AWRA President Mike Parsen kicking off dinner (pictured above).

Evening speaker Michael Tiboris from the Chicago Council on Global Affairs speaking on nutrient pollution and the broadening urban-rural divide (pictured above).

The student career session (pictured above).

Distinguished Service Award
This year we were proud to present the Distinguished Service Award to Pat Jurcek.

Pat Jurcek receives the Distinguished Service Award from Mike Parsen, AWRA President (pictured above).

Student Presentation Awards
The section was pleased to award four Outstanding Student Presentations this year. The award winners included: Nicholas Potter for Outstanding Undergraduate Oral Presentation, Carly Mueller for Outstanding Undergraduate Poster Presentation, John Reimer for Outstanding Graduate Oral Presentation and Madeline Matthews receives the Outstanding Graduate Oral Presentation.