17 May 2011
Watering the Big Apple - Global Futures lecture 19th May
The challenges of maintaining a reliable supply of clean water to protect public health in one of the world’s most populous and bustling cities will be discussed in Dundee later this week.
Dr Roger Sokol is Director of Water Supply Protection at New York State’s Department of Health. He will deliver the Centre for Environmental Change and Human Resilience (CECHR) 'Global Futures' guest lecture at the University of Dundee’s Dalhousie Building on Thursday, 19th May.
In the lecture, Dr Sokol, who is responsible for the regulatory oversight of over 10,000 public water supplies, will discuss the Catskill Mountain Watershed, which supplies New York City with its water and is one of the most famous and innovative examples of catchment management for water control and quality.
Dr Sokol will review programmes such as land acquisition, stream corridor protection, agricultural programmes and forest management, which have all been implemented within the watershed to protect and manage the land.
As well as considering these techniques, he will address the regulatory context under which all of this takes place and will look at the varied partnerships which are necessary to make catchment management systems successful.
CECHR is a joint initiative between the University and the James Hutton Institute. The lecture, entitled ‘Managing land to protect water quality and public health in New York City’, will be held in partnership with Dundee’s IHP-HELP UNESCO Centre.
Professor Chris Spray, Chair of Water Science and Policy at the UNESCO Centre, said Dr Sokol’s talk would prove a fascinating insight into the challenges and issues involved in maintaining water quality and supply to a densely populated city of more than 8 million people.
'The water supply system for New York is world famous, and what is particularly interesting is that they have approached the problems they faced in a very inventive way,' he said.
'By managing the whole of the watershed they dispensed with the need for high-tech, energy-intensive and costly solutions downstream. The sustainable management of this watershed brings wonderful benefits in terms of water quality and the environment and to the local population.
'This sustainable approach to water catchment deals with the origins of the problem rather than simply dealing with its impact. Roger Sokol has responsibility for public health in New York. He is the person who needs to make sure this all works and we are delighted that he has agreed to come to Dundee and share his experiences with us.'
Before taking up his current position, Dr Sokol was Chief of the New York City Watershed Section which was responsible for regulating the largest watersystem in New York State. Working for the State of New York for over 10 years, he has been the recipient of the State Department of Health's Commissioner Recognition Award in 2004 and has published numerous papers within the field of aquatic ecology.
The lecture takes place in the Dalhousie Building at 2pm on Thursday, 19th May. For further information regarding this event please contact the team at cechr@dundee.ac.uk.
For media enquiries contact:
Grant Hill
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University of Dundee
Nethergate, Dundee, DD1 4HN
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