³Ô¹Ï±¬ÁÏ

³Ô¹Ï±¬ÁÏ (³Ô¹Ï±¬ÁÏ) announced that it joins with a diverse coalition of businesses, farmers, environmental not-for-profits and government agencies that issued a landmark call to action aimed at heading off a national crisis in water quality and supply that could affect the nation’s economy, the livability of our communities and the health of our ecosystems.

"Charting New Waters: A Call to Action to Address U.S. Freshwater Challenges," is the culmination of an intensive two-year collaboration exploring solutions to U.S. freshwater challenges. It was presented to the Obama Administration September 15 at a meeting of federal agencies convened by the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), and released to the public during a noon forum at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center.

Timothy Ford, Ph.D., ³Ô¹Ï±¬ÁÏ Vice President for Research and Dean of Graduate Studies, attended the forum. ³Ô¹Ï±¬ÁÏ was one of more than 100 stakeholders that participated in the two years of conferences and deliberations that led to the Call to Action. The parties in this initiative also made commitments as individual organizations to take actions to address freshwater challenges.

"There was broad consensus among participants that our current path will, unless changed, lead us to a national freshwater crisis in the foreseeable future," the Call to Action reports. "This reality encompasses a wide array of challenges ... that collectively amount to a tenuous trajectory for the future of the nation's freshwater resources."

The report identifies serious challenges to the quality and supply of freshwater, such as pollution and scarcity; competing urban, rural and ecosystem water needs; climate change; environmental and public health impacts; and a variety of economic implications. It offers actions to confront these threats and a plan to ensure that our freshwater resources are secure for the 21st century.

Ford states, "Charting New Waters is an important step forward in publicizing some of the challenges the U.S. - and the world - face in maintaining clean, sufficient supplies of freshwater. The challenges and solutions are not new; those of us in the field of water and health have discussed and published on these topics for decades. What is new is the growing public and political discourse on water that the Johnson Foundation has helped to promote. We all share the hope and expectation that this discourse will continue to gain momentum and that the recommendations from the report will become tomorrow's reality. I am proud that UNE has been a contributor in this process."

While a great deal of progress has been made since landmark freshwater legislation in the 1970s, many freshwater challenges persist, the report says. It sees some as acute and obvious, such as severe droughts and broken water mains. Others are characterized as more subtle and chronic, building quietly over the years, such as endocrine-disrupting chemicals in rivers and drinking water and the slow but steady depletion of aquifers and declining snowpack in parts of the country.

The document is believed to be the first such comprehensive, cross-sector examination of U.S. freshwater challenges and solutions. It represents consensus recommendations of diverse interests convened by The Johnson Foundation at Wingspread in Racine, Wis.

Reliable freshwater supplies are an essential underpinning of U.S. economic security, with energy generation, manufacturing, food production and many activities of daily life dependent on access to freshwater, the report says. It notes that an estimated 41 percent of U.S. freshwater withdrawals are for thermoelectric power generation, primarily coal, nuclear and natural gas; 37 percent go toward irrigated agriculture.

The document proposes a series of shared actions across sectors to ensure sustainable and resilient freshwater resources so that we have the ability to absorb changes, sudden or otherwise, through flexible water management strategies.

The Call to Action's recommendations include a range of freshwater management strategies to head off a potential crisis, such as streamlining and better coordinating fragmented governance among federal, state and local jurisdictions. Another key need identified in the report is modernizing our freshwater regulatory framework, developed in the 1970s to deal with the acute environmental issues of that era.

"For decades, U.S. water strategy has been cobbled together from diverse, incomplete, and sometimes conflicting policies. We can no longer afford to manage our water that way. The good news is that smart, effective, and innovative solutions to the nation's water problems exist and can be implemented. That's what this report recommends," said Dr. Peter Gleick, President of the Pacific Institute, one of the nation's leading water scientists and a co-signer of the Call to Action.

For additional information about the Call to Action, visit .

Named one of the best regional universities in America by U.S. News & World Report, ³Ô¹Ï±¬ÁÏ is a leader in health sciences education, biomedical research and the liberal arts. It offers student-centered, interdisciplinary programs in the College of Osteopathic Medicine, Westbrook College of Health Professions, College of Arts and Sciences, College of Pharmacy, and the College of Graduate Studies.  For more information, visit www.une.edu.