California Water Issues in Focus at ACWA Conference

SACRAMENTO, CA--(Marketwire - May 9, 2011) - Water supply, water quality and the fate of the San Francisco Bay-Delta will be key topics of discussion at the Association of California Water Agencies' (ACWA) 2011 Spring Conference & Exhibition in Sacramento May 10-13. Themed "Shaping a New Political Landscape," the event is expected to draw nearly 1,700 local water leaders to the Sacramento Convention Center and surrounding hotels.

To kick off the conference program, California Department of Food and Agriculture Secretary Karen Ross will keynote the opening breakfast on Wednesday, May 11, with remarks on the overlap between California water policy and agricultural policy. Later that day at a luncheon, California Natural Resources Secretary John Laird will share the Brown Administration's plans and priorities for water, parks, fisheries, and the Bay-Delta Conservation Plan.

Other program highlights on Wednesday include a statewide issue forum on water quality titled "Is It Safe to Drink?" at 10 a.m. and a town hall meeting on the BDCP at 2:15 p.m.

At a luncheon on Thursday, May 12, UC Davis engineering professor Ross W. Boulanger will share lessons learned from the recent events in Japan and their relevance to California's aging levees. Other program highlights that day include a statewide issue forum titled "The Next Chapter: How Do We Really Sustain California's Groundwater?" at 10 a.m. and a water debate on the reasonable use doctrine at 2:15 p.m.

ACWA will also present its 2011 Clair A. Hill Water Agency Award for Excellence and 2011 Excellence in Water Leadership Award during the three-day conference.

• WHAT: ACWA's 2011 Spring Conference & Exhibition
• WHEN: Tuesday, May 10 - Friday, May 13
• WHERE: Sacramento Convention Center and surrounding hotels

ACWA is a statewide association of public agencies whose 440 members are responsible for about 90% of the water delivered in California. For more information, visit www.acwa.com.