October 25-26, 2007 - University of Virgin Islands
St. Croix, US Virgin Islands
The Seventh Caribbean Islands Water Resources Congress was a conference that brought together professionals from a wide range of hydrologic domains, from highly technical fields to those more social in nature. The presentations and discussions were broken up into four general categories: watershed management, advances in water sanitization, surface and groundwater quality, and management of limited freshwater resources.
As the US Geological Survey (USGS) was one of the main sponsors of the conference, many presenters and audience members were from that organiztion. The predominance of these attendees were hydrologists and engineers with decades of experience within their respective fields. A similar base of knowledge and expertise was provided by the hydrologists and engineers from the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez (UPRM), who were the other big source of presenters. Others included scientists, social scientists, and hydrologists from other organizations. Participating nations included Canada, USA, Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands, and Barbados.
The CARIWIN presentation put forward to the congress was done so to bring to light the presence of the project within the Caribbean and to highlight the activities of CARIWIN to other Caribbean organizations and institutions.
Follow this link ( CARIWIN presentation at CIWRC 2007 [.pdf]) for a copy of the presentation.
Held at the University of Virgin Islands in St. Croix, US Virgin Islands, the conference program aimed to provide:
(1) an exchange of ideas and information for water resources investigators, educators, consultants, and management professionals;
(2) an update on the current water resources situation in the Tropics and the Caribbean; and
(3) sharing and transfer of data, technology, and management practices (PR Water Resources and Environmental Research Institute. October 25, 2007. Final Program – Seventh Caribbean Islands Water Resources Congress. Mayaguez, Puerto Rico).
With presentations, discussions, and a banquet, the conference provided an ample setting to exchange ideas of projects going on throughout the Caribbean and beyond; to meet people within the field in the region; and to slowly build synergies or at least yield to the possibility of creating synergies with these regional water stakeholders.