Tuesday, November 10, 2009: 10:30
AM
Oral
Barry S. Levy and Victor W. Sidel,
Presiders In this session, there will be several presentations concerning
conflicts, both between countries and within countries, over water rights in
several parts of the world, including South Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and
the United States. The presentations will describe these conflicts and their
underlying causes and address ways these and similar conflicts can be resolved
before they become violent, including international and national legal
approaches, use of diplomacy, and mediation and arbitration.
Session Objectives:
1. Describe the sources of conflict over water 2. Discuss the risk of armed
conflict over water 3. Identify the message for managing water supply that will
avoid conflict
Water, Health
and Communities
Tuesday, November 10, 2009: 2:30
PM
Oral - Federal agencies (CDC & EPA), State & local
environmental and public health agencies and water providers have worked to
build systems to identify risk resulting from drinking water and recreational
water contamination and to support useful risk communication techniques. The
work focuses on improving monitoring, tracking potential risk & illness and
developing methods to communicate any risk to community and commercial sectors.
For decades, sanitary engineering and water treatment processes have centered on
preventative public health. However, community water treatment facilities,
medical care and public health entities and their representatives have become
disconnected. Public health and medical care professionals may not be trained to
recognize illness due to water contamination exposures. Concurrently, heightened
concern exists about water contaminated in disaster situations, natural
(drought/flooding), environmental accidents (spills) or purposeful contamination
(terrorism). Included in this session: 1. The US EPA Office of Ground Water and
Drinking Water’s work with State Safe Drinking Water Act primacy agencies to
promote interagency coordination and to identify and communicate potential
risks. 2. The CDC National Center for Zoonotic, Vector-Borne and Enteric
Diseases’ Healthy Water Program efforts to characterize waterborne disease and
its sources and to improve national waterborne disease surveillance. 3. The CDC
Environmental Health Services Network (EHS-Net) Water Project that supports the
work of environmental health specialists in state & local health agencies
with a focus on small water systems. 4. The NYC water bureau efforts to work
with public health and medical health professionals toward communicating on
health issues.
Session Objectives:
This session will provide the larger view regarding water quality, health and
communication issues from federal agency perspectives and how state & local
community agencies put in place practical steps toward integrating water &
health issues. It addresses emerging programs and applications at different
levels of government and will: *Describe relationships that exist or should
exist between water providers and public health agencies, at the federal, state
and local levels. *Discuss emerging tracking systems that are being
cooperatively developed by Federal agencies (CDC & EPA) and how water
providers and public health officials will coordinate with these new tracking
systems. *Explain communication strategies regarding water safety and how these
strategies can be established at different levels of government.
Organizer:
Rebecca Head, PhD, DABT