Duke To Host Public Town Hall Meeting On Drought, Water Conservation On Jan. 8

Contact: Tim Lucas, (919) 613-8084 or tdlucas@duke.edu.

January 3, 2008

DURHAM, N.C. – The Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences at Duke University will host “Will the Water Run Out?,” a public town hall meeting on water conservation and the drought, from 6 to 8 p.m. Jan. 8, 2008, at the Duke Gardens Visitors Center, 418 Anderson St.

The meeting is open to all members of the Durham and Duke communities. It will focus on identifying short-term and long-term water conservation practices and policies that can be implemented if the drought continues and the city’s water supply runs low or runs out.

“What happens on the day after the water supply runs out? Where do we turn? How is the drought affected by a warming climate? And what does the future hold for Durham, the Triangle and our state? These are some of the questions we’ll address,” says event co-chair Avner Vengosh, associate professor of earth and ocean sciences at the Nicholas School.

A panel of local experts will make brief presentations and field questions from the audience.  In addition to Vengosh, panelists and participants will include:

• Jerad Bales, U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Water Science Center, Raleigh;
• Rick Bolich, N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources;
• Melinda Chapman, USGS Water Science Center, Raleigh;
• Kemel Dawkins, vice president for campus services, Duke University;
• Bill Holman, senior visiting fellow, Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions, Duke University;
• Robert B. Jackson, Nicholas Professor of Global Environmental Change and professor of biology, Duke University;
• Sydney Miller, Triangle J Council of Governments;
• Theodore L. Voorhees, deputy city manager, City of Durham.

William L. Chameides, dean of the Nicholas School, will serve as moderator.

The meeting will be videotaped and available online by noon the the following day at www.nicholas.duke.edu/drought for those unable to attend the event. 

Free parking will be available at the Duke Gardens Visitors Center. The center is located off Anderson Street between Erwin Road and Campus Drive, at the main entrance to Duke Gardens.