WSTB - NRC Colloquium on Water Implications of Biofuels

Events

NRC Colloquium on Water Implications of Biofuels

The Water Science and Technology Board is organizing a colloquium that will air and address key water quality, water quantity, and related land resources implications of biofuel production in the United States. This colloquium is set to take place July 12, 2007 from 8 am - 5 pm at The National Academy of Sciences Building in Washington, D.C. It will address both "conventional" feedstock (e.g., grain and vegetable crops) and "next-generation" feedstock (e.g., cellulosic biomass and municipal solid waste). For different scenarios of growth in biofuel demand, the form of biomass used for biofuel production, emerging technologies and other factors, issues such as the following will be addressed:

How much water and land might be required to grow different kinds of biomass in different regions? Where is water availability likely to be a limiting factor?
What are the possible, or likely, water quality effects associated with increases in production of different kinds of biomass?
What are the water requirements of existing and proposed production plants, and what water quality problems may be associated with them?
What promising agricultural practices and technologies might help reduce water use or minimize water pollution associated with biofuels production?
What policy, regulatory, and legal changes might help address some of these water-use and water-quality issues?

This one-day colloquium will be built around the five above themes and will be the responsibility of a small committee with expertise in hydrology, water quality, agricultural and environmental engineering, natural resource economics and policy, and biofuel production. These committee members will function as a steering committee for the event and will be responsible for organizing each theme, including the selection of a presenter as well as nongovernmental and governmental discussants to respond to each of the five presentations. Each presenter will give a short presentation on his/her theme at the colloquium; on the basis of these presentations, discussions at the colloquium, and recent literature, the steering committee will then produce a short consensus report and even shorter derivative brochure highlighting issues and opportunities intended to be widely distributed to congressional staff, the education community, the general public, policy leaders, and the technical community.

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