Thursday

Land Use and Sustainable Cities

Morning workshop from 9 a.m. - noon

Location: BioScience Complex (campus map)

Urban development in the Great Lakes basin and the consequential changes to the hydrologic cycle are creating intense pressure on the ecosystem and degrading surface and ground water quality. The result requires the application of new principles, practices and technologies to address the challenges of urban land and water management. As a current IJC priority issue for investigation and a follow-up to the popular session addressing this topic at the 2003 Biennial Meeting, this workshop will host leading authorities discussing binational policy, the program implications of water quality impacts from urbanization and approaches for planning and mitigating impacts from urban discharges, including watershed based computer simulation modeling. Discussion of this issue and its relationship to Great Lakes water quality has been escalating over the past few years and has been identified by the SAB as an issue that should be addressed when the governments review of the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement. Presentations and interactive dialogue will focus on the development of policy advice to mitigate the impact of urban land use on water resources in the Great Lakes region.