PSU to host NH Water and Watershed Conference

PLYMOUTH — Plymouth State University’s Center for the Environment will host the 2020 New Hampshire Water and Watershed Conference on Friday, March 13, 8 a.m.-4:15 p.m. at Merrill Place Conference Center. The theme of the conference is Persistent and Evolving Water Issues.

The conference brings together scientists, regulators, nonprofit organizations, water resource professionals, land use planners, elected officials and others to share information on regional water resource issues like sustainability, conservation, groundwater standards and drinking water resources, watershed management, wildlife management and the changing water landscape.

The conference will explore trends in New Hampshire drinking water quality. The emergence of polyfluoroalkyl substances in the state’s water supply and its implications for citizens, schools and municipalities will be an area of focus. Other topics are the impacts of climate change, air pollution, contamination and public private partnerships in water quality management.

“Water quality impacts us all – from our lakes and streams and the ecosystems they sustain, to our drinking water supply – and this conference provides a valuable forum for the exchange of knowledge and ideas concerning our state’s water resources,” said June Hammond Rowan, Ed.D., research associate professor at PSU.

Patrick A. Parenteau, J.D., professor of law, and founding director and senior counsel in the natural resources law clinic at Vermont Law School will deliver a keynote, What’s in Your Water? Legal Approaches to Addressing Persistent Threats. Parenteau was named a Fulbright Scholar in 2018. He previously worked for the National Wildlife Federation in Washington, D.C., served as regional counsel to the New England Regional Office of the Environmental Protection Agency in Boston, and as commissioner of the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation.

For more information, visit go.plymouth.edu/NHWWC20-Conference.