GLWI PARTICIPATES IN WATER SUMMIT

Posted: July 30, 2007

Could the Milwaukee region one day be known for water the way Silicon Valley is known for technology, or New York for finance? Some area leaders think so, and they gathered recently to begin discussing ideas of how to make it happen.

Tom Consi, right, participates in a work session. (Photo: Eric Paulsen/GMC)

Representatives from academia, industry, and the community convened for a Water Summit on July 25 at Milwaukee’s Discovery World at Pier Wisconsin. GLWI director Val Klump was an invited panelist at the event. GLWI scientists Tom Consi and Sandra McLellan also attended.

The Greater Milwaukee Committee (GMC) organized the meeting, which was co-sponsored by the Milwaukee 7 and two of the region’s leading water-related product manufacturers, Badger Meter, Inc. and A.O. Smith Corporation.

Becoming a world leader in water

The summit’s purpose, GMC president Julia Taylor told participants, was to discuss ways to bring together a critical mass of Milwaukee-area companies and research efforts in order to become a world leader in the water industry.

Water has been identified as one of the region’s major assets by the Milwaukee 7, an initiative aimed at developing the economy of Wisconsin’s seven southeastern counties.

The Milwaukee region’s “sheer concentration of [water-related] headquarters, engineering, and research capabilities brings significant opportunities for economic growth, idea and resource sharing, company attraction, and the ability for the region to take the lead on water issues that reach all over the world,” Taylor said.

Worldwide, 1.2 billion people are without safe drinking water, and waterborne illness is the single largest threat to human health. In the United States, places like California, Florida, and the southwest are already facing water scarcity, a problem that will be exacerbated in the future by population growth and climate change.

Research and education—key components

“We have a tremendous opportunity,” Klump told participants during a panel discussion.

“We have in the Great Lakes a sustainable water source,” he said, and “if we are good stewards of the Great Lakes, we won’t have water quality and quantity issues.” That stewardship requires research in order to both identify and understand the problems facing the Great Lakes, and to develop technology for sustainable water use, he explained.

Klump also voiced support for developing a nationally and internationally recognized global freshwater research center that would build upon existing scientific talent and local experience with freshwater systems.

GLWI director Val Klump, left, joins representatives from academia and industry in a panel discussion. (Photo: Eric Paulsen/GMC)

A.O. Smith’s Paul Jones, also a panelist, told participants that the Milwaukee region has an opportunity to provide leadership on water issues regionally, nationally, and globally. He also predicted that new businesses that produce products for water conservation, filtration, flow, and treatment will emerge in the future to address the global water shortage. “Why not have those businesses start here?” he said.

Panelist Mike Switzenbaum, professor and chair of civil and environmental engineering at Marquette University, added that area universities are critical to a regional water industry because they develop the talent and leadership of future water engineers and scientists. "Universities are a key component in economic viability,” he said.

Moving ahead

GMC president Julia Taylor presents suggestions for future work during the Water Summit. (Photo: Eric Paulsen/GMC)

During a work session, participants suggested specific issues that would need to be addressed next in order to move ahead with developing a water industry in the Milwaukee region. Top among them: securing financial support for research and emerging businesses, developing a specific plan and benchmarks for identifying success, and building momentum behind the idea.

Overall, the group agreed that the Milwaukee region is well-positioned to become a leader in water-related research and business, and that the time for it is right.

“The need for water,” said panelist Carrie Bristoll-Groll, a civil engineer from Stormwater Solutions Engineering, “is not going to go away.”

 

–Jennifer Yauck