Brown Bag Green Book Panel to Discuss Water Management in East TN

Communications Director

Kristin Farley
[email protected]
(865) 215-2589

400 Main St., Room 691
Knoxville, TN 37902

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Brown Bag Green Book Panel to Discuss Water Management in East TN

Posted: 01/21/2010
The Brown Bag, Green Book series sponsored by the Knox County Public Library and the City of Knoxville presents its next program on Tuesday, February 2, at 12 p.m. in the East Tennessee History Center Auditorium, 601 South Gay Street, as a part of H2Oh!, a series of events about water, in partnership with the Howard H. Baker, Jr. Center for Public Policy.

Join Renee Hoyos, Executive Director of the Tennessee Clean Water Network, Joanne Logan, Associate Professor with the Department of Biosystems Engineering and Soil Science at the University of Tennessee, and Tiffany Foster, water resources specialist with the Tennessee Valley Authority, for a special panel discussion of Blue Covenant: The Global Water Crisis and the Coming Battle for the Right to Water by Maude Barlow.

"Blue Covenant brings the challenges of managing water for the future into sharp relief," says Hoyos. "While we sometimes think that we have plenty of water, resources are declining due to bad development and industrial practices. This book is a real eye-opener and a must read for those concerned about the future on water worldwide and locally." Hoyos joined the Tennessee Clean Water Network as Executive Director in October 2003. She holds a Master's of Agriculture and Management degree and a Master's of Avian Science degree, both from the University of California in Davis.

"Why should we East Tennesseans worry about water," asks Logan, "when we are so blessed with adequate rainfall, mountain streams, large rivers like the Tennessee, and an extensive system of reservoirs operated by the TVA?" She cites failure of many East Tennessee streams to meet EPA water quality standards, severe drought in this area on average every ten years, and a responsibility of all Americans to reduce their water footprints. Logan is an associate professor in Environmental and Soil Sciences at the University of Tennessee. She teaches several classes related to water and has been involved in many water quality studies and watershed restoration efforts throughout East Tennessee.

"I'm excited that we're talking about water supply and usage in East Tennessee," says Foster, a water resource specialist for TVA's Environment and Technology group. Through her work at TVA, she joins with local communities, agencies and watershed groups to develop and implement watershed restoration and monitoring plans and serves as a technical advisor to local watershed groups. She received a Bachelor's degree in Biology from University of North Carolina Wilmington and a Master's in Soil Sciences with a concentration in water quality at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

The public is invited to join the conversation, but reading the book is optional. For more information on the Brown Bag Green Book event, please call Emily Ellis at 215-8763.

Additional events in the H20h! series include the screening of Blue Gold: World Water War on January 31 at 4:30 p.m. in the Toyota Auditorium in the Baker Center on UT Campus. The award-winning documentary explores global loss of fresh water supplies, the politics behind water ownership, and potential consequences of fresh water scarcity.

On Wednesday, February 3 at 7:00 pm in the Toyota Auditorium of the Baker Center, Maude Barlow, Canadian author of Blue Covenant, speaks on the growing national and international water crisis. She was one of the "1000 Women for Peace" nominated for the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize. In the same year, she received the prestigious Lannon Cultural Freedom Fellowship as well as the Right Livelihood Award. Known as the "Alternative Nobel" and given by the Swedish Parliament, the Right Livelihood Award cited her exemplary and long-standing worldwide work for trade justice and the recognition