9 am: Conference registration opens
Gund Hall, Harvard Graduate School of Design, 48 Quincy Street, Cambridge, Mass.

11:45 - 12:25 pm: Introduction: The Ecological Engineering Advantage
Dr. Robert France, Associate Professor of Landscape Ecology and Science Director of the Center for Technology and Environment, Graduate School of Design, Harvard University
Anja Bruell, board member, International Ecological Engineering Society; designer, Aquatectura
David Del Porto, Senior Designer, Ecological Engineering Group

12:30 - 12:50 pm: Industrial Watershed Management
Arnold A. Allemang, executive vice president, Operations, The Dow Chemical Company

Arnold A. Allemang of The Dow Chemical Company will share an industry perspective about water management challenges and provide examples of how companies, including Dow, have made some progress in water management. He will also address the need for an integrated, collaborative approach to water management by industry, academia, regulatory agencies, water authorities and NGOs to create sustainable solutions.

1 - 2:15 pm: Case Study: Ford Motor Company's River Rouge Plant
Roger G. Gaudette Manager, Construction Services Ford Motor Company
Roger Schickedantz, Associate Partner, William McDonough and Partners
Fred C. Payne, Ph.D. Vice President and Director, Remediation Services, ARCADIS

The Ford Motor Company is nearing completion of the first phase of rebuilding its Rouge Complex, an 1,100-acre facility that stands out as one of the world's great industrial centers.  Ford is committed to transforming the facility into a sustainable manufacturing center, and the 67-acre Phase I redevelopment has provided a remarkable proving ground for Ford and its contractors.  Watershed management has emerged as a major focus for application of sustainable practices in the facility renovation. 

When completed, the Phase I Rouge Complex watershed will retain and steadily discharge the precipitation of a 10-year storm, over a 15-day period.  This watershed will, as closely as possible, emulate the hydraulic and water quality behavior of the area's natural watersheds. This has been accomplished through the use of vegetated roof surfaces, porous and tubular underground stormwater storage, constant-discharge weirs, porous paving, and constructed treatment wetlands.

2:15 - 2:45 pm: Coffee Break

2:45 - 3:45 pm: Integrated Water Management: Balancing Water Supply and Ecological Needs
Scott Horsley, President, Horsley & Witten, Inc.
Pamela Heidell, Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA)
Karl Honkonen, Massachusetts Executive Office of Environmental Affairs (EOEA)
Julie Keane, Coastal Pollution Remediation Coordinator, Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management
Vicki Gartland, Hydrologist, Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation
Robert Zimmerman, Jr., Executive Director, Charles River Watershed Association

Scott Horsley, President of Horsley & Witten, Inc and representatives of Mass. EOEA and MWRA will present several approaches to decision making on management of public water supplies in the context of competing uses. Mr. Horsley will present the proposed Management Plan for the Ipswich River which seeks to balance water withdrawals, inter-basin transfers with in-stream flow thresholds using a broad variety of management techniques. Karl Honkonen of Mass. EOEA will present the Commonwealth's new water policy. MWRA will present important policy and criteria as well as a model-based method which is used as one tool to make decisions about extensions to the agency's public water system. The session is designed as a charette with significant interaction with participants to jointly develop a list of what works and what doesn't work in the area of integrated water management.

3:50 - 5:10 pm: Pricing and Valuation of Water
Sheila Cavanagh Olmstead, Assistant Professor of Environmental Economics, Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies
Julie Hewitt, US EPA Office of Economy and Environment
Andrew Shea. Vice President, Poseidon Resources Corporation
Mary Jo Kealy, Ph.D., Principal Economist, CH2M-Hill

Water is essential for life, yet it can frequently be purchased very cheaply, and often,free. Thinkers from Adam Smith to Benjamin Franklin have noted this paradox. However, as competition for water resources intensifies, and as concerns about water quality grow, the inadequacy of established pricing methods have become apparent to many stakeholders. This session will present new ideas on how to quantify and value water resources and ecological services. It will also explore:

• why water is treated differently from other commodities
• the problem of "externalities" in setting the price of water
• how the price of water impacts consumption
• the economic impediments to developing new, and "alternative" sources of supply
• the importance of establishing partnerships among stakeholders
• the importance of risk assessment in valuing water resources
  

5:15 - 6 pm: Ecological Engineering Case Studies: Landscapes that Clean Water
Introduction: Carol Steinfeld, author, Reusing the Resource: Adventures in Ecological Wastewater Recycling
Jim Bays, P.W.S., Principal Scientist, Natural Treatment Systems, CH2M-Hill
Erica Gaddis, Researcher, Ocean Arks
David Austin, Research Director, Living Machines

Ecological engineering show-and-tell with an emphasis on show: A wide variety of attractive plantscapes clean wastewater and stormwater, from Miami to Massachusetts, Virgin Islands to Venice.

6 - 7:30 pm: Reception & Networking

8 am: Registration Opens

9 - 10:25 am: Overcoming the Barriers to Water Reuse: Water-Recycling Success Stories
Eric Rosenblum, South Bay Water Recycling, Environmental Services Department, San Jose, Calif.
Dr. James Crook, Water Reuse Consultant
Peter Vetter, PE, Applied Water Management
Gerry Preble, PE, Beals and Thomas
Gautham Parthasarathy, Solutia, Inc.
Steve Rossi, City of Phoenix, Arizona
David Del Porto, Senior Designer, Ecological Engineering Group

This panel will discuss the role of water recycling and water conservation as essential elements of a sustainable urban water portfolio. Special topics will include an analysis of the changing nature of local and regional water supply planning and wastewater discharge permitting, how to integrate conservation in water supply planning, and how to craft policies and regulations that promote reuse. Case studies include Patriots Stadium recycles 250,000 gallons per day as part of an agreement with the city of Foxboro, Mass. to reduce its demand on the municipal water supply, an increasingly common requirement of new development. Other full water recycle projects will be presented.

10:30 - 11:55: Creating a Market for Conservation and Reuse: The Role of Government
Dr. Thomas Chesnutt, A & N Technical Services
Dr. Erik K. Webb, Senate Committee on Resources
Steve Lanich, Minority Staff, House Committee on Resources
Josh Johnson, Majority Staff Director, House Water and Power Subcommittee
Shannon Cunniff, Director, Research and Natural Resources, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation
Hon. Linda Ethridge, Mayor, Waco, Texas
Sean Hargens, Co-Director, Integrated Ecology Branch, Integral Institute

What can government do—or undo—to provide incentives for the planning and design of industrial and urban watersheds that incorporate the sustainable principles of ecological engineering? This panel of experts (each of whom has an important role to play in federal, state or local government) considers the tools available to create policy, how their jurisdictions can influence the development of technology and the attitudes of the public, the economic market for water resources, and the influence of government policymaking on environmental markets.

12 noon- 12:30 pm: Modeling Sustainable Water Management Strategies

Tom Cahill, P.E., Cahill Associates

Tom Cahill describes Sustainable Watershed Management, a GIS-based computer model for modeling strategies for water demand, wastewater management, stormwater management and water quality, as well as development impact. He will also discuss the role of landscape planners, architects and designers in watershed management.

12:30 - 1:30 pm
Bag Lunch (provided)

1:30 - 4: BREAKOUT SESSIONS

1:30 - 2:45 pm
Breakout Sessions 1

2:45 to 4 pm
Breakout Sessions 2

4 - 4:30 pm: Coffee Break
 
4:30 - 5:30 pm: Cradle-to-Cradle Design in Water Management and Nutrient Recycling
Dr. Michael Braungart, McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry, EPEA Internationale Umweltforschung, and co-author, Cradle to Cradle

The concept of "cradle to cradle," developed by Michael Braungart and William McDonough, is a revolutionary approach to the redesign of industry that supports itself and enhances natural systems. One of the core principles of the Cradle to Cradle concept is waste equals food, implying that one organism's waste becomes nourishment for another, resulting in an effective elimination of the concept of waste. This is accomplished through the creation of products whose constituent materials are designed to flow infinitely in cyclical metabolisms, resulting in continuous preservation of their material value. Applied to urban and industrial watersheds, this means designing industrial systems such that the outputs of human activity serve as nutrients for ecological processes and further human prosperity.

During this presentation, Prof. Dr. Michael Braungart, former chemist for Greenpeace, will discuss in particular two projects that have successfully applied the principles of Cradle to Cradle to water management: The first is a discussion of a municipal wastewater recycling project in Brazil, which used natural processes to treat household waste in a community and turn it into nourishment for local agriculture. The project tapped the inherent cohesiveness of the community to create a cooperative social atmosphere in which the scheme could succeed. The second is a project conducted in cooperation with Rohner Textile in Switzerland. This project involved the development of a safe and compostable fabric called Climatex and its production process, whose wastewater output is actually cleaner than the water coming in.
More about Michael Braungart: click here; Braungart Design Chemistry click here

5:30 - 6:30 pm: Los Angeles River Watershed: Lessons & Tools for Urban Watershed Management
Kathleen Bullard, Director of Los Angles River Center and Gardens
Jim Bays, P.W.S., Principal Scientist, Natural Treatment Systems, CH2M-Hill

With growing interest in urban greening, "smart growth" strategies, and ecologically based community development, urban rivers are increasingly valued for many purposes, including watershed management, river restoration, parkland, recreation and community revitalization.The Los Angeles River lies at the heart of the Los Angeles region, connecting L.A.'s diverse communities from one end of the basin to the other. Defined since 1938 primarily as a flood control channel and repository for treated sewage water, the L.A. River has only recently re-claimed its status as a real urban river.

6:30 - 7:30 pm: Growing Smarter: The Debate over Density when Protecting Water Quality
and Supply
Harriet Tregoning, Executive Director, Smart Growth Leadership Institute
Rodney E. Frederick, P.E., F.ASCE, USEPA Office of Water, Office of Wetlands Oceans and Watersheds
Geoffrey Anderson, Division Director, Development, Community and Environment Division, USEPA
Steve Suau, General Manager, Sarasota County Center for Watershed Management

This panel will present the range of views on the future of watershed management, including some of the latest surprising findings on the degree to which the density of development affects the ultimate quality of protection in the watershed. We will hear from both policy makers and innovative implementers on how the protection of water quality and water supply is also being mediated by community aspirations for a higher quality of life.

Morning Talks

9 am: Integral Ecology: Including Culture and Consciousness in Sustainable Planning
Sean Hargens Ph.D. (candidate) is Co-Director of the Integral Ecology Branch within the Integral Institute

The issue of cultural value systems (e.g., traditional, modern, postmodern) is of particular importance when working with the multi-scale design efforts of various management systems. A truly sustainable design will not only combine economic, ecological, political, and urban systems but will also include the various cultural perceptions associated with the multiple worldviews inhabiting our urban and industrial communities. Only by including a variety of perspectives and honoring their dynamics and logics can mutual understanding be achieved across the many differences that are encountered in community based water management. Sustainability increases in direct relationship to a projects capacity to include the multiple perspectives of its many stakeholders.

9:35 am: Water Evaluation And Planning (WEAP) system: Softwater for an Integrated Approach to Water Resources Planning
Chris Schwartz, Tellus Institute, Massachusetts

WEAP is a unique approach for conducting integrated water resources planning assessments. It provides a transparent structure facilitates engagement of diverse stakeholders in an open process. A database maintains water demand and supply information to drive mass balance model on a link-node architecture. WEAP calculates water demand, supply, flows, and storage, and pollution generation, treatment and discharge under varying hydrologic and policy scenarios. It also evaluates a full range of water development and management options, and takes account of multiple and competing uses of water systems. WEAP features a graphical drag-and-drop GIS-based interface with flexible model output graphics and tables.

Sessions

10 am - 12:30 pm: Introduction to Life Cycle Assessment as Applied to Water Reclamation and Reuse
Dr. Tapas K. Das, Department of Ecology, Washington State
 
The increasing scarcity of water coupled with escalating cost of fresh water and its treatment has prompted industry to think of water conservation, reuse, and recycling.  Incorporating advanced technologies such as reverse osmosis, nanofiltration, and so on, would result in reclamation and reuse of water and less environmental damage, but to what degree, and with what trade-offs?  To answer these questions, this course will present a number of life cycle assessments (LCA) on industrial and municipal wastewater systems, with a focus on short-term and/or long-term effects and/or benefits of reusing and recycling waters on economics (life cycle cost), energy, public health, environment, and water-ecology.  A series of LCA case studies will be presented on water reuse/recycling practices in pulp and paper, food processing, pharmaceutical, power generating industries, ultraviolet disinfection for wastewater reuse, and agricultural and land applications of wastewater.

10 am - 12:30 pm: Progressing Ecological Design and Engineering: Reports from the Field and Network Meeting

Moderator: Anja Bruell, International Ecological Engineering Society

Ecological engineers, as well as students and others interested in applied ecological engineering, are invited for this networking meeting to share information, discuss ways to move the practice of ecological engineering forward, and learn about new projects and research. Participants are welcome to bring slides, papers and other resources to share with the group in information presentations.

Ernst-Jan Martijn and Adriaan Mels, LeAFand WaterHarmonica, Netherlands
The need for treatment technologies that form a ÔlinkÕ between municipal wastewater treatment plants and (re)use of treated wastewater is more and more acknowledged. Much experience has been gathered with the design and operation of wetland systems, however, the evaluation and spin-off of these experiences has been limited so far. As such, the ÔWaterharmonicaÕ is being developed as an instrument to include ecologically engineered Ôlinkage-systemsÕ as an integral part of design for the renovation and extension of municipal wastewater treatment plants with the aim of using this water for nature and recreational development, and replenishing of ground water sources. The concept has resulted in a research and implementation programme named ÔWaterharmonicaÕ which is financed by the Dutch Foundation for Applied Water Research.

Archana Sharma, National University of Singapore
Archana Sharma explores the feasibility of incorporating the landscape methods of naturally constructed ponds and artificial wetlands within the Eco-Industrial Park (EIP) site through a case study in Singapore and try to identify other possible deterrents for incorporation of the above-mentione landscape measures within the EIP. The paper identifies ÔlandÕ as a critical local resource and a problem factor in applying the proposed landscape methods per se. Conclusively, the paper establishes that Ôplanning landscape inter-linkagesÕ between the EIP and its context immediately catapults the land availability for conserving water through natural/ landscape means.

Tina Olguin, Agricultural University of Norway
Tina Olguin describes ecological wastewater systems and other new projects at the Norwegian Agricultural College (NLH)

and all others who wish to share information