Speaker
Gerald Sehlke, PhD
Past President, AWRA
Gerald (“Jerry”) Sehlke has 33-years’ experience in various energy, natural and water resources-related areas. Water-wise, he has primarily focused on conjunctive management of surface water/groundwater, water rights, water quality, adaptive management, and their integration through IWRM. This includes helping the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers design an Adaptive-Integrated Water Resources Management (A-IWRM) Framework for the U.S. Jerry’s professional passion has been developing a nexus between policy, law and science. That is, ensuring that ongoing environmental and natural resources related science can support our state’s/nation’s policy and legal needs and evaluating whether environmental and natural resources policies/laws are scientifically sound. Jerry is a past-President of the American Water Resources Association (AWRA) and a past-Chair of the Laws and Institutions Committee of the Environmental and Water Resources Institute (EWRI). He has written or co-written over 50 peer-reviewed and technical publications.
Description
To develop effective Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) programs, we need to understand and integrate our knowledge concerning the hydrologic inputs/outputs (hydrologic cycle), the physical, socioeconomic, legal and environmental constraints, and water use associated with the water resources of interest. In addition, we need to develop water policies and laws that are scientifically-based such that they comport with the physical laws that govern the movement and storage of water. This information should be utilized to help design, develop and implement holistic approaches that integrate and harmonize water resources governance, socioeconomic policies and goals, and the institutional, scientific, and operational capacities necessary for efficiently and effectively managing our water resources. Finally, to the extent possible, IWRM programs should inventory, develop, and manage all hydrologically interconnected water resources as a unitary source from within a “competent hydrologic unit,” at the appropriate basin, sub-basin or “catchment” (watershed) scale.
Most IWRM programs will benefit from the development and use of conceptual models for identifying, delineating, and linking these issues, resources and activities within the competent hydrologic unit of interest, in a more systematic and comprehendible manner. This webinar provides an idealized, conceptual model that demonstrates the linkage between the various aspects discussed above, within a competent hydrologic unit.
Learning Objectives
Participants of this webinar will be introduced to:
- why conceptual models should be developed for IWRM program in order to help better visualize, plan, monitor, and manage hydrologically interconnected water resources and their associated data/information;
- he basics about how IWRM conceptual models can be designed to help stimulate decision makers, managers, researchers, and water users to better understand, manage and govern our water resources in a more holistic, systematic, and integrated manner; and
- basin information, factors needs, activities and impacts that should be included in IWRM conceptual models.
Webinar Recording & PDH Certificate
Included with your webinar registration is access to a recording of the program and a fillable certificate to self-report your Professional Development Hour (PDH) credit. Your PDH certificate will be available to download once you complete the registration process and receive your confirmation email. Access to the webinar recording is available on AWRA’s Webinar Center and in the email you’ll receive from “Facilitation Team" following the webinar.