DENVER - To help water utilities prepare for drought and mitigate its impacts, the American Water Works Association (AWWA) is offering a three-part webinar series entitled, “Western U.S. Drought: What You Need to Know.” The first webinar in the series is July 29.
Registration for the full three-part series is $180 for members and $285 for non-members. Individual webinars are $75 for members and $120 for non-members. Each of the 90-minute webinars begins at 11 a.m. MT.
The July 29 webinar is in a town hall format and is titled, “Updated U.S. Drought Portal Provides Comprehensive User Information” and features Kelsey Satelino and Steve Ansari from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Integrated Drought Information System. The event includes a demonstration of the new U.S. Drought Portal at Drought.gov, focusing on tools and resources to help water utilities better plan drought and mitigate impacts.
The second webinar on Aug. 24 is titled, “Exceptional Drought and Historic Extremes in the U.S. West” and features Paul Miller and Mike Hobbins from NOAA; Julie Koeberle from the U.S. Department of Agriculture; Mike Crimmins, professor and extension specialist from the Climate Science Department of Environmental Science at the University of Arizona; and Justin Huntington, research professor of hydrology at the Desert Research Institute. This event provides an overview of the unique climate of the Western United States and how the last year-and-a-half has been different across this region.
The third webinar on Aug. 31 is titled, “An Eye to the Future: Examining Long-term Drought and Climate Change Trends” and features Andy Hoell from NOAA and Isla Simpson from the National Center for Atmospheric Research. The event highlights recent research on long-term trends and future climate change projections of drought in the region and places the current drought, and the current two decades of low precipitation, into historical and future contexts.