Speaker to examine how fresh water resources are being stressed

Major rivers that no longer consistently flow to the ocean. Hundreds of meters of decline in fossil groundwater sources in some of the Earth's largest and most productive aquifers. Contamination and pollution of some of the world’s most prized water bodies.

These are the result of the same pressures driving climate change and unsustainable energy consumption, says Upmanu Lall, Columbia University's Alan and Carol Silberstein Professor of Engineering.

"The exponential growth in human population and the resulting per-capita demand on resources are straining the quality and quantity of fresh water supplies around the world," Lall says.

But unlike research on climate change, research on global hydrologic change has been more fragmented, resulting in limited data and relatively low visibility, says Lall, who is coming to Penn State on Monday, Sept. 22, as part of this year’s EarthTalks series, "Quenching the Thirst: Managing the Water Resources of a Changing Planet."

In a talk titled "Global Water Crisis? Prospects, Directions and Science Needs for Sustainability," Lall will examine the many stresses on fresh water resources and lay out a research agenda to assess and mitigate global hydrologic changes. The talk is scheduled for 4 p.m. in 112 Walker Building.

Lall, who directs the Columbia Water Center, is nationally known for his work in water resource systems analysis and models for water resource management. He also is interested in understanding hydroclimatic patterns and their predictability and managing planetary change due to coupled human and natural dynamics.

In his view, "water, food and energy security are inexorably linked and key to developing planetary solutions for equitable and sustainable global growth."

"Quenching the Thirst" is sponsored by the Earth and Environmental Systems Institute in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences, the College of Agricultural Sciences and the Penn State Institutes of Energy and the Environment. Occurring annually, the EarthTalks series highlights a critical issue in environmental sciences that is explored in public talks by national and Penn State experts.
 

Last Updated March 19, 2009

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