Water Resources and Environmental Issues in 2050: A Retrospective Look Toward the Future

摘要

The past 40 years have witnessed many changes in the fields of water resources andenvironmental engineering. In some respects, the tools and methods used to analyzeand design water systems have undergone significant changes. However, in otherrespects, there has been a gradual evolution but the underlying concepts andmethodologies have changed very little. This paper is part of session that will first lookback at how water resources and environmental planning has changed over the past 40years and then attempt to look over the horizon at what water resources andenvironmental engineering will look like 40 years from now by exploring the insightsof a select group of leading engineers and scientists. Topics may include how thepolitics of global warming or the advent of new technologies such as nanotechnologiesinfluence water resource and environmental engineering policy and practice. A panelof experts will discuss these future changes and attempt to answer the fundamentalquestion of what we must do to prepare ourselves and those for whom we haveresponsibility to face future environmental and water resource challenges. This is theinitial event in a series of future activities planned by the Emerging and InnovativeTechnology Committee to look at 2050 visioning in the water resources andenvironmental area.