UConn’s announcement that it was seeking additional supplies of water for its Storrs Campus in November of 2012, stirred up a bit of controversy and and outcry for better planning for our water resources in Connecticut. So what has happened? First of all, State Representative John Hampton convened a Water Summit in early November of 2013. A large panel made up of several legislators, government officials, industry representatives and conservation organizations met at the LOB to discuss state wide water planning and next steps. Sub-comittees were formed out of this Summit and met several times since the first of this year. The Summit will reconvene to discuss findings at a date TBD.
The University of Connecticut hosted the Strategic Water Resources Planning Conference and Workshop in February of 2014. The conference was attended by over 100 legistlators, government officials, industry representatives and conservation organizations. The event was extremely well facilitated and informative. It is our hope that the momentum contines and we see some progress in this year’s short legistlative session.
WHAT HAPPENS NOW?
The Water Planning Council already has the structure and involvement of necessary government agencies and stakeholders to move forward with water resource planning. However, it does not have the authoriy and resources to accomplish this. It is now up to the legislature and our Governor to grant these things to the Water Planning Council. It is up to the people of Connecticut to let them know that this is what we want.