The inaugural meeting of the Sustainable Water Resources Roundtable (SWRR) was held December 10-11, 2002, in Alexandria, VA, hosted by the Water Environment Federation (WEF) and the Planning Committee of SWRR. More than 60 people participated, representing federal agencies involved in water, state and local governments, and businesses and environmental organizations. The Roundtable participants collectively identified an important need that water resources decision-making from the individual to the local to the national level would be greatly improved by better coordination, collaboration, and information sharing among all water resources organizations and interest groups. In this regard, the SWRR can provide a forum for experts to collaborate, share knowledge, discuss ideas, seek better solutions and produce new information, ideas, and recommendations on how to better apply sustainable water resources management practices in the US.
The SWRR is in its formation stage and is seeking a diverse range
of experts from federal, state and local governments, industry and
business and a variety of other organizations to help. It has an open
membership and is strictly voluntary. Activities and work plans are
now just beginning. If you are interested in getting involved or want
more information, contact Jill Lane at e-mail: JRaynorlane@wef.org. A web site has been established at
The idea of a Sustainable Water Resources Roundtable (SWRR) was
presented at the 2001 and 2002 meetings of the Advisory Committee on
Water Information (ACWI). The Roundtable was endorsed as a
subcommittee action item of ACWI, to give it time to mature and to
bring it under the wing of the Federal Advisory Committee Act. An
inaugural meeting was held December 10 and 11, 2002 in Alexandria
At the December 2002 meeting, attendees shared views on the importance
of sustainable water resources and of the important need for a
Roundtable to focus on water-sustainability issues. A series of
speakers provided valuable background on the history of sustainable
water efforts in the U.S. how SWRR might contribute to furthering and
improving these efforts. Breakout groups then discussed specific
actions that the Roundtable might undertake which include:
- Establishing sustainability targets for guiding discussion;
- Developing a conceptual model for water resource stressors and benefits;
- Identifying sustainability criteria;
- Developing indicators for measuring degradation and/or progress;
- Disseminating data, information, and ideas;
- Developing a research agenda; and
- Supporting a nation-wide assessment of water use conditions and needs.
December meeting attendees discussed operating principles for the SWRR and decided that a loose structure encouraging involvement from all participants was important. The common link was volunteers willing to work together to promote sustainable water resources management. It was decided to develop a set of operating principles that would guide the SWRR, including the encouragement of other's participation, consensus decision-making, and commitment to promoting the best use of state of the art science and technology. The group also discussed the role of the Roundtable in both helping to disseminate information and in compiling and developing information and recommendations.
There was agreement that participants of SWRR will be committed to interdisciplinary, inter-jurisdictional, and cross-boundary ownership collaboration that identifies and supports national, state, and field-level activities to sustain water resources. The Roundtable promotes shared leadership, monitoring, research, and responsibility in contributing toward the achievement of these goals throughout the United States. The Roundtable activities and discussions will focus on criteria, indicators, and methods for assessing the sustainability of water resources as well as exploring, promoting, and improving how this information is used to promote sustainable water resource management.
The SWRR has established a steering committee consisting of approximately twenty volunteers. The steering committee will help facilitate the development of an initial work plan for the Roundtable that includes:
- Developing strategies for operation,
- Defining a conceptual model to describe the characteristics of sustainable water resources,
- Developing a list of indicators and metrics for sustainable practices,
- Evaluating data resources available to conduct assessment and evaluation priorities,
- Considering research needs for sustainability of water resources
- Identifying and recruiting additional stakeholder groups,
- Providing multi-dimensional assistance to existing water resource users and regulators, and;
- Seeking additional funding for further SWRR development and continuation.
The long-term goal of SWRR is to contribute to the development of a collaborative 2005 report on the sustainability of water resources and uses in the United States, utilizing the criteria and indicators the Roundtable adopts through participatory collaboration.