Lake and Reservoir Management
Water may prove to be the most critical natural resource impacting human and ecosystem health. There is mounting evidence that the condition of water supplies in many regions of the world, including the United States, is worsening (National Research Council, Confronting the Nation’s Water Problems: The Role of Research, Washington, D.C., National Academies Press, 2004). With the rapid economic growth taking place, there are challenging problems occurring in many water supply reservoirs.
The specter of climate change hangs over these developments with implication for both water availability and quality. During the past couple of decades, there has been a vast improvement in understanding of the physical, chemical, and microbiological processes that govern water quality in lakes and reservoirs. Similar advances have occurred in the understanding of water treatment processes. There is an urgent need to take advantage of this new knowledge by more closely integrating lake and reservoir management with the operation of water treatment plants.
Looking into the immediate future, the major problems in the lakes and reservoirs of the world will become more pressing in the rapidly developing regions such as the Asia-Pacific. These regions are demanding the benefits of rapid growth and can now afford to pay for management solutions in terms of improved water supply and the associated environmental management. IWA is a very strong international organization, and can provide our Specialist Group with a spring board into this rapidly developing world. There is huge potential to help solve these real problems from an interdisciplinary and applied perspective.
The focus of our Specialist Group is on lakes and reservoirs that are used for drinking water purposes. In keeping with the aims of the International Water Association, we will take a strong international perspective, bringing together expertise from regions of the world where it is rapidly being acquired, and applying it in regions where it is most needed. For example, we are interested in:
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Applying new instrumentation and techniques for reservoir water quality monitoring;
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Implementing in-situ control strategies to remove nutrients from the water column in reservoirs;
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Adopting best practices in the management of cyanobacteria and algae;
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Using in-reservoir water quality management strategies that include: mixing and destratification, hypolimnetic oxygenation, novel algaecides and algal control, flocculants and nutrient binding agents, and biomanipulation;
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Evaluating reservoirs as barriers to or as sources of pathogens; 5) Employing hydrodynamic and water quality models to facilitate understanding and optimize operations; and
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Actively integrating reservoir management and water treatment. Indeed, by considering their source water reservoirs as the first stage in the water treatment process, water treatment utilities should be able to simultaneously improve water quality and reduce treatment costs.
The group conference 2nd IWA Symposium on Lake and Reservoir Management: Sustainable Approaches to Enhance Water Quality has been successfully held on 13-17 June 2011 in Granada, Spain. For more information, please visit the conference website (www.iwalakesymposium.es ).
Chair
Professor John C Little
Virginia Tech Environmental Engineering
418 Durham Hall Blacksburg
24061-0246
United States
Tel: 1 540 231 8737
Fax: 1 540 231 7916
Secretary
Professor Tsair-Fuh Lin
Dept. of Env. Engineering
1 University Road Tainan City
70101
Chinese Taiwan
Tel: 886 6 236 4455
Fax: 886 6 275 2790
Management Committee
see committee members here
Highlight Information
