Southeast Water Resources:
Management and Supply Issues

August 24-26, 1998

The Tennessee Aquarium & Chattanooga Marriott at the Convention Center

Chattanooga, Tennessee

Sponsored by the Appalachian Regional Commission and the University of Tennessee, Knoxville

• What topics should be covered in the symposium?
• Which issues should be the focus of plenary vs. break-out sessions?
• Who might be commissioned to develop papers on various topics?
• When should the symposium be held?
• Who should be invited to attend?
• Where can we obtain additional funding?

• How findings and recommendations should be disseminated.
• What kinds of publication outlets should be pursued.
• How findings/ recommendations will be linked to the follow-on decision-maker summit.

1. To identify conflicts over current and future water use in the Southeast.
   
2. To identify what resource-related information is needed by decision makers to assist in managing these conflicts and to meet other threats, and,
   
3. To assess how present and future water-resource conflicts may be better managed through new institutions and/or decision-making mechanisms that are regionally based and comprehensive in scope.

3. Invitees: We envision a symposium of approximately 100 attendees, subject to the advice of the steering committee. Approximately a third will be from academic and other research institutions; a third will represent national, state, and local government agencies, including water agencies; and a third will come from nongovernmental organizations. The latter will comprise community groups, environmental advocacy organizations, and private-sector stakeholders. Each invited participant should be a resource person who can offer special skills to the discussion.

4. Structure: The symposium will be embedded within a three-phase effort. During phase 1, we envision that seven "issues papers" will be prepared by noted experts on water problems pertinent to the region. Four will be devoted to physical, ecological, socioeconomic, and institutional issues affecting sustainability (please see the enclosed "Discussion Paper" for details). The remaining three will focus on how all four issues are manifested within particular Southeastern basins/watersheds.

Phase 2 is the symposium itself. Using the papers as a point of departure, participants will suggest ways to resolve water conflicts, provide input on current needs to refine our understanding of these conflict sources, and suggest how to bring about a framework for sustainable policies. It is expected that other issues will be identified by participants in both plenary and small-group sessions. The commissioned papers and symposium discussion will provide input into how to develop a systematic framework for durably resolving conflicts over water use and supply.

Phase 3 will synthesize the workshop discussion and commentary, together with the commissioned papers, into a set of recommendations to be considered by decision-makers from throughout the Southeast at a large-scale summit. The commissioned papers and compiled symposium proceedings will provide insights into why some basin-wide regional approaches succeed while others do not -- for consideration by decision makers at this summit. The summit will also produce a set of priorities among existing water uses that may then be addressed through a regional framework. It will also identify specific conflicts likely to remain unresolved under existing decision-making mechanisms.

5. Additional information: The symposium and decision-maker's summit focuses on water-resource management and supply, such as contemplated interbasin transfers, perceived inequities of water-pricing mechanisms, and threats to supply that affect water quality (or vice versa). Included under this focus are data needs pertinent to water supply, quality, and consumption; river basin and watershed management conflicts; and other decision-making concerns.