Program at-a-Glance | November 8-10, 2021

IMPORTANT: In order to receive important communication from the AWRA Team about your conference participation, you must add [email protected] and [email protected] to your safe sender list.

Presenter affiliations are listed in the session descriptions for each program day. Personal designations are not included in the program.

Sessions will be recorded and available for registered attendees. This conference is being conducted via Zoom Meetings. Once you register for the conference, you will receive an automatic email confirmation that will give you instructions on how to access the main conference room. If you did not receive your email confirmation and have registered for the conference, please email [email protected].

Register

Conference Sponsors

Platinum

 

Gold

  

Silver

REMEMBER THE TIME CHANGE ON SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 7 AT 2:00 AM!

For those areas that observe the time change from Daylight Savings to Standard, make sure your clock is adjusted to "Fall Back" one hour. All times listed in the online program are current for Eastern Standard Time.

Monday, November 8 | 10:00 AM - 7:30 PM
All times are U.S. Eastern Standard

ATTN OFFICIAL JUDGES FOR THE STUDENT PRESENTATION & POSTER COMPETITION: If you were contacted by the Conference Planning Committee Student Activities Chair, Allison Lewis, remember to use the appropriate evaluation form when scoring student participants. The link and QR code to this form was emailed to you along with your student assignments. To make identifying student participants easier, the green graduation cap  next to a session title includes a student who is participating in the PRESENTATION Competition. The blue graduation cap next to the presenter’s name in the poster section means they are a student participating in the POSTER Competition.

10:00 AM - 10:30 AM | Coffee Social

10:30 AM - 12:00 PM | Welcome & Opening Keynote

David Waggonner, FAIA, Founding Principal | Waggonner & Ball
Andy Sternad, AIA, Architect & Urban Designer, LEED AP BD+C, Vice President | Waggonner & Ball
11:00 AM ET Session: In Concord with Nature: Planning, Building and Adapting our Coasts, Watersheds, and Developed Landscapes
Facilitator: Lisa Beutler, Executive Facilitator, Stantec, CA

Sponsored by 

12:00 PM - 1:00 PM | Engagement Hour

Sponsored by and 
AECOM 60 Minute Engagement Break - BREAKING NEWS: Algae to Fuel - From Nuisance to Renewable Energy
Join AECOM’s Dan Levy and Will Lovins to hear more about the exciting potential of algae transformation for beneficial use such energy sustainability as well as natural habitat and ecosystem restoration. Joining AECOM from USACE ERDC, Burton Suedel will give an update on the latest developments with the Engineering With Nature Program’s Podcasts and Volume 2 of the EWN Atlas. Join AECOM for this informative session complete with follow up giveaway for all attendees that remain on for the full 60 minutes as well as a larger prize TBD that will raffled and awarded at the end the session.

STANTEC 60 Minute Engagement Break - BREAKING NEWS: H2O+U. By 2025 Stantec is hiring 2,000 people to join our water team. Find out more.

1:00 PM - 2:30 PM | Session 1

Training the Next Generation of Facilitators – Interactive Seminar
Moderator: Lara Fowler

Applications in Environmental Flow Management
Moderator: Ge Sun & John Balay

Impacts of Human Behavior and Education on Utilization of Water Resources
Moderator: Cat Shrier

Coastal Considerations of Climate Change
Moderator: Xixi Wang

Identifying and Tracking Water Quality Pollutants
Moderator: Bangshuai Han

2:30 PM - 3:00 PM | Break: Cutest Pet Contest Wins the Work-From-Home Employee of the Year Prize

3:00 PM - 4:30 PM | Session 2

One Water: Putting Theory into Practice
Moderator: Jon Dinges

Agricultural Nutrient Loading: Studies of Tracking and Management
Moderator: Hannah Hartzler

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) in Water Resources
Moderator: Valerie Seidel

Implementing Adaptation and Resiliency Through Impacts of Climate Change
Moderator: John Rehring

Prediction, Planning, and Management of Water Resources
Moderator: Megan Rivera

4:30 PM - 5:30 PM | Engagement Hour

Sponsored by KCI 60 Minute Engagement Break - Overcoming the Asset Management Hurdle/KCI Project Highlights
Increasingly, local government jurisdictions, including cities, counties, water supply and reclamation utilities, and stormwater utilities, are finding that they can improve their financial performance and spend capital funds more strategically through the effective application of modern asset management. In the Report Card for America’s Infrastructure, ASCE (American Society of Civil Engineers) identified the implementation of asset management programs as one of the methods to raise America’s C- score. How does one get started, though? KCI’s Shana Lowe will conduct an engaging presentation covering the basics of asset management and how to get started on the development of a program. No asset management software yet? No problem! There is plenty of work that can be started within an organization before software is in place. Ms. Lowe will then pass the mic over to Amanda O’Shea. Ms. O’Shea will discuss some of the asset management and GIS projects that she has implemented in her 14 years at KCI, including a geometric to utility network migration and development of a cloud-based operational digital twin for Gwinnett County Department of Water Resources. It is anticipated that the presentation will only take 30 minutes, and time for Q&A will follow.

5:30 PM - 7:30 PM | LIVE - Poster Technical Session & Student Competition

NOTE: All student poster competition participants are required to present their poster in the Zoom Meeting Session. If you cannot present live, you will be removed from the program.

Click here to view poster session titles/abstracts from 5:30 - 6:30 PM. Posters presented during this hour cover the following categories:

• Behavior and Water Management & Water and Energy | Zoom Room #1
• Biological Soil Crust & Coastal Sediments | Zoom Room #2
• Nutrient Management, Water Quality, and Wetlands | Zoom Room #3
• Innovation in Data Collection, Monitoring, & Modeling | Zoom Room #4

Click here to view poster session titles/abstracts from 6:30 - 7:30 PM. Posters presented during this hour cover the following categories:

• Environmental Monitoring | Zoom Room #5
• Innovation in Data Collection, Monitoring, & Modeling | Zoom Room #6
• Flooding, Flood Mitigation, & Floodplain Management | Zoom Room #7

ATTN: We need you – our conference attendees – to evaluate student participants in the poster competition where one student will receive the People's Choice Award! How do you know who is competing and how do you score them? A blue graduation cap next to a presenter's name indicates they are a student eligible to compete for the People’s Choice Award. As you watch their poster presentations, please make sure to complete the People's Choice Award Evaluation Form.

Alternatively if you were contacted by the Conference Planning Committee Student Activities Chair, Allison Lewis, and asked to serve as an official judge for the poster competition, please check your email for the link to the Poster Evaluation Form. Students participating in the poster competition are identified by a blue graduation cap.

End of Day One

Tuesday, November 9 | 10:00 AM - 6:00 PM
All times are U.S. Eastern Standard

10:00 AM - 10:30 AM | Coffee Social

10:30 AM - 12:00 PM | Session 8

Decision Support Tools for Sustainable Water Supply and Demand Management at Tampa Bay Water
Moderator: Hui Wang

Urban Flooding Open Knowledge Network Part I: Delivering Flood Information to Anyone, Anytime, Anywhere
Moderator: Siddharth Saksena

Wastewater and Resource Investment
Moderator: Bishav Bhattarai

Water Wars: What Are they Good For? Eastern US Topics
Moderator: L. Donald Duke

12:00 PM - 1:00 PM | Engagement Hour

Sponsored by  and 
Black & Veatch 60 Minute Engagement Break - Regulatory Initiatives/Trends in Florida – Is Your State Next? In the past several years, Florida has implemented numerous water initiatives that are changing the regulatory landscape in the state. Although unique to Florida, these new rules will likely influence the development of similar regulations in other regions. Black & Veatch and Taylor Engineering delve into the impact of these recent initiatives, including House Bill 53 – Public Works, Senate Bill 64 – Reclaimed Water, and SLIP (Sea Level Impact Projection), and discuss what they could mean for your state. Speakers: Jo Ann Jackson, One Water National Practice Leader; Jon Dinges, Senior Water Resources Planning Leader; Walt Reigner, SE Regional Director Civil Infrastructure Systems; and Dr. Angela Schedel, Taylor Engineering

Esri 60 Minute Engagement Break - GIS Technology and Data to Support Water Resources Analyses Advancements in GIS, both desktop as well as web-based implementation patterns, have accelerated our ability to analyze, map, and share information across the hydrosphere. We’ll provide a series of demonstrations on how a global, web-GIS is transforming work done at global and local scales for water resource planning to building local climate resilience. Presenters: Dan Pisut and Dean Djokic

1:00 PM - 2:30 PM | Session 5

Water Wars: What Are they Good For? Western US Topics
Moderator: Lisa Beutler

Best Management Practices, Conservation, Economics, and Concerns in Agriculture
Moderator: Swamy Pati

Modeling for Management, Regulation, Water Quality, and Water Supply
Moderator: Roger Copp

Measuring, Monitoring, and Managing Drought
Moderator: Greg Guthrie

Innovative Water Resources Projects Through Alternative Delivery Methods
Moderator: Ernie Cox

2:30 PM - 3:00 PM | Break: Virtual Background Photo Contest

3:00 PM - 4:30 PM | Session 6

Phosphorus Recovery from Wastewater Treatment: Current State of the Practice
Moderator: Erich Marzolf

Streamflow and Stream Restoration
Moderator: Felix Kristanovich

Novel Techniques in Water Resources Modeling
Moderator: A. Michael Sheer

Flood Risk, Management, and Model Development
Moderator: Rachelle Sanderson

An Economic Approach to Water Resources
Moderator: Eric Hersh

Special Panel: Is Rapid Growth Compatible with Resilience in Southwest Florida?
Moderator: Jen Jones

4:30 PM - 6:00 PM | Social Networking & Kahoot! Trivia Event

Sponsored by 
Join us for a Conference Social Event beginning with 30 minutes of happy hour, where you can sign up to network and meet new friends in a theme of choice. Then, your breakout room will enter the main room where we will be using the platform Kahoot! for three rounds of trivia. You will need to go to Kahoot.com and enter the participation code that will be emailed to you, and choose a room for happy hour. Prizes for first place and second place will be announced at the AWRA Annual Awards Ceremony and Closing Keynote.

The Balmoral Group Trivia Night Hosts: Daniel Dourte, Senior Scientist and Amy Bainbridge, Resource Economist

Social Event Themes: Water Resources, Water Recreation, Water Access, & Bridges Over Water

Breakout Room #1: Water Resources. A place for professionals to network and discuss the latest trends, policies, and research in water resource topics such as groundwater, surface water, water quality, etc.
Facilitator: Jennifer Nunn, Principal Water Resources Engineer, The Balmoral Group

Breakout Room #2: Water Recreation. A hub for water recreation users to network and discuss all the fun ways we utilize the water such as kayaking, canoeing, beach going, fishing, etc.
Facilitator: Valerie Seidel, Principal Economist, The Balmoral Group 

Breakout Room #3: Water Access. An area to converse about public access to water and waterways, public vs. private water rights, and other trending topics regarding access to ownership of beaches, lakes, rivers, etc.
Facilitator: Cortney Cortez, Senior Economist, The Balmoral Group

Breakout Room #4: Bridges Over Water. Bridges over Water. A place for professionals to network and discuss interesting bridge projects that you have been involved in or a favorite bridge that you have visited, etc.
Facilitator: Lori Stanfill, Senior Drainage Engineer, The Balmoral Group

End of Day Two

Wednesday, November 10 | 10:00 AM - 6:00 PM
All times are U.S. Eastern Standard

10:00 AM - 10:30 AM | Coffee Social

10:30 AM - 12:00 PM | Session 7

Supply Source and Natural System Sustainability Assessment and Climate Change Adaptation for Water Supply Utilities
Moderator: Jeffrey Geurink

Urban Flooding Open Knowledge Network: Part II Delivering Flood Information to Anyone, Anytime, Anywhere
Moderator: Janet Clements

Automated Hydrological Feature Extraction from Digital Terrain Data
Moderator: Alvan Karlin

Methods in Reclaimed Water Management
Moderator: Shirley Clark

Automated Framework for Flood Modeling and Forecasting using Geospatial Descriptors and the Interconnected Channel and Pond Routing (ICPR) Model
Moderator: Siddharth Saksena

12:00 PM - 1:00 PM | Virtual Field Trips (FREE) & Lunch on Your Own

Participation in the virtual field trips are included with your conference registration. When you register, simply add them to your registration to get the login details.
Field Trip #1: Estero River, an outstanding natural resource in rapidly growing Southwest Florida suburbia, with headwaters protected by FGCU’s campus
Field Trip #2: The River That Made Seattle - A Virtual Cultural and Environmental Tour of The Duwamish River

1:00 PM - 2:30 PM | Session 3

Virtual Revolution, Not Evolution: How do We Get Lasting Change While Ensuring Productive Agriculture and Good Water Quality?
Moderator: Lara Fowler

Utilizing and Developing Open-access Water Data Tools and Resources
Moderator: Lilli Watson

Monitoring and Evaluating Hydrologic Changes in Coastal Estuaries
Moderator: Rajendra Khanal

Explorations in Multi-faceted Aspects of Groundwater
Moderator: Chin Man Mok

Investigations into Harmful Algal Blooms in Florida
Moderator: Qiong Zhang

2:30 PM - 3:00 PM | Break: At Home Scavenger Hunt

3:00 PM - 4:30 PM | Session 4

Water for Agriculture: The Results of Locally Driven Solutions
Moderator: Lara Fowler

Modeling and Management of Stormwater
Moderator: Emmanuel Nzewi

Modeling Human Impacts and Solutions on Water Resources
Moderator: Richard Koehler

Impacts to and Functions of Wetland Systems
Moderator: Roger Copp

Planning and Management of Local Water Resources
Moderator: Daniel Van Abs

4:30 PM - 6:00 PM | AWRA Annual Awards Ceremony & Closing Keynote

Sponsored by
Jay Famiglietti, Water Crisis Specialist and Executive Director of the Global Institute for Water Security
Session: Can We Solve the Global Water Crisis?

Facilitator: Jason C. Doll, CPSWQ, Senior Project Manager, KCI Associates of NC, PA

Download the PDF or view the digital Awards Program.

6:00 PM | Conference Concludes