BATON ROUGE, La. (Oct. 15, 2021) – State legislators from around the south met at The Water Campus this week for The Council of State Governments Southern Office (CSG South) Water Management Forum.
During the forum, legislators participated in discussions with water management experts from The Water Institute of the Gulf, Louisiana State University (LSU), the LSU Center for River Studies, Louisiana Department of Natural Resources, University of Texas at Austin, South Carolina Floodwater Commission and many more.
“This was a great opportunity for legislators to learn from Louisiana and areas around the south on the latest science involved in addressing water management issues,” said Nick Bowman, policy analyst with The Council of State Governments Southern Office and organizer of the forum.
The Council of State Governments Southern Office (CSG South) has highlighted the importance of water management in previous reports and programs, including the January 2020 Southern Legislative Conference Regional Resource, The Netherlands Model: Flood Resilience in Southern States, and October 2020 Southern Legislative Conference Virtual Program, Flood Planning and Mitigation: Lessons from South Carolina and Texas.
“We were honored to welcome legislators from across the south to The Water Campus, share our experiences, and learn from the challenges facing their communities,” said Justin Ehrenwerth, president and CEO of The Water Institute. “A common thread throughout the conference was the importance of collaboration. All agreed that we simply cannot address our most pressing water challenges unless the government, academic, non-profit, and private sectors are working together.”
Discussions ranged from Louisiana’s science-based Coastal Master Plan developed by the state’s Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority to lessons from the South Carolina Floodwater Commission as well as the Dutch Dialogues model for addressing the challenges faced by coastal communities around the world.
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