Melissa Scanlan, Director of the Center for Water Policy will speak on the New Angles in Sustainable Energy Policy panel at the Arizona State University’s Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law on May 14, 2021 – 12:30-1:50 p.m. CT.
Center for Water Policy Director Melissa Scanlan has announced the Center will have a Journalist in Residence for the next two years.
Dan Egan, an environmental journalist and author of the “Death and Life of the Great Lakes,” has been named the Brico Fund Journalist in Residence at the Center for Water Policy in the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s School of Freshwater Sciences.
“Through this position, we’re supporting independent investigative journalism that can shed light on the connections between emerging water science, the impacts of climate disruption, and choices we make about the policies that influence our lives,” Scanlan said.
As a Journalist in Residence, Egan will continue his award-winning work as a freelance journalist and author, using his storytelling ability to translate science and policy into compelling content for a large general audience. Protecting a national treasure, such as the Great Lakes, and our other waterways, requires public awareness and understanding of the complex issues and tremendous pressures we place upon our water resources or the threats facing them. Egan’s new book will dive into one of the most pressing of water contaminant issues: excessive algae fed by phosphorus pollution.
Additionally, he will be working on a newspaper project about the impact of climate change on our waters and cities. Egan will serve as an educational resource for students, helping them to understand water science and policy communication. Egan will also represent the Center for Water Policy when he gives talks at academic, government, and environmental group events throughout the Great Lakes region and beyond.
Dan Egan was a reporter with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, covering the Great Lakes from 2002 until 2021. He has twice been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, and he has won the Alfred I. duPont–Columbia University Award, John B. Oakes Award, AAAS Kavli Science Journalism Award, and J. Anthony Lukas Work-in-Progress Award. Egan is a graduate of the University of Michigan and the Columbia School of Journalism.
Melissa Scanlan, Director of the 51ÁÔĆć Center for Water Policy and Professor at UW-Milwaukee School of Freshwater Sciences will be presenting at Marquette University’s Conversations Around Water, discussing “The Center for Water Policy and Building Networks for Greater Collaborative Impact” on March 19th at 10 am. To register for this free event, go to:
Fri, Mar 19, 2021, 10:00 AM CDT
Please join us in welcoming environmental law professor Melissa Scanlan as the new director of the Center for Water Policy. Professor Scanlan, the School of Freshwater Sciences’ newest faculty member, is also the Lynde B. Uihlein Endowed Chair in Water Policy.
Read more about Scanlan’s background and interests here and also in a recent 51ÁÔĆć Report story.
Until the late 20th century, wetlands were viewed as wastelands to be filled for agricultural or urban development. Today, we know wetlands serve several vital ecological, economic, and cultural roles. They store water to buffer against flooding, filter nutrients and toxins from surface waters, provide habitat to a diversity of plants and animals, and support a recreational industry comprised of anglers, hunters, boaters, and wildlife watchers.
The spread of invasive Dreissenid mussels has relocated nutrients from the open water to the floor of Lake Michigan. How has this shift impacted the diets of fish and invertebrates in this system? Ben Turshak (University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee) and his co-authors use state-of-the-art stable isotope techniques to determine the impact of these changes on the diets of aquatic organisms. Managers and policymakers can use this information to identify who the winners and losers are in this new Lake Michigan food web and plan their efforts accordingly.
The Wingspread Event on Great Lakes Restoration and Climate Change (15-17 April 2014) convened renowned regional and national leaders, scientists and other Great Lakes stakeholders to discuss climate change impacts on restoration efforts in this vital system. Through plenary addresses and working groups, attendees discussed various ways policymakers can improve existing restoration efforts in the Great Lakes and develop new ways to address the effects of climate change on this vital system.
May 2014 Conference Report (PDF)
March 2014 Background Briefs: Energy (PDF); Agriculture (PDF); Habitat Restoration (PDF); Invasive Species (PDF); Nearshore Health (PDF); Toxic Substances (PDF)
Our water and sewer infrastructure were designed under assumptions that no longer hold true. A wetter Wisconsin with more frequent, intense storms will tax that failing infrastructure, increasing the risk of waterborne disease. The extreme storms that wreaked catastrophic flooding and historic damage in 2008 and 2010— causing the state to request millions in federal disaster assistance because the deluge overwhelmed our infrastructure—are consistent with the future pattern of climate change predicted for Wisconsin.
Pathogen tracking and public communication strategies modeled after heat wave warning systems can educate the public about local risks and inform targeted boil-water advisories.
We are beginning to glimpse the tip of the iceberg of rain-related disease, but its true incidence and costs to society are not yet fully quantified. The true incidence of waterborne disease in the United States is likely underestimated.