October 10, 2007 05:29 PM Eastern Daylight Time

In Midst of Record Dry Year, Potential 2008 Water Shortages, Southern California World Water Forum to Encourage College Students to Address World, Regional Water Issues

Friday Event Launches Year-Long Grant Competition for Hundreds of Students at Local Universities, Community Colleges

--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Metropolitan Water District of Southern California:

WHAT:  More than 200 students from nearly 30 universities and community colleges throughout Southern California to join officials from UNICEF, Metropolitan Water District and U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to kick off Southern California World Water Forum. The World Water Forum is a pioneering grant competition aimed at developing water-wise concepts, communication strategies and technologies that can help provide relief to water-stressed regions, locally and internationally.

WHEN:  Friday, Oct. 12, at 9:30 a.m.

WHERE: Board Room, Metropolitan Water District headquarters, 700 N. Alameda St., adjacent to historic Union Station, downtown Los Angeles (Los Angeles County Thomas Guide page 634, G/H-3)

PARTICIPANTS: College students throughout Southern California; Metropolitan board Chairman Timothy F. Brick; MWD General Manager Jeff Kightlinger; Vanessa Tobin, deputy director, Programme Division, UNICEF; Lorri Gray, regional director, United States Bureau of Reclamation; and officials from Friends of the United Nations, Water for People, Sanitation Districts of Los Angeles County, local regional chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers

BACKGROUND: As part of the United Nations' "International Decade of Fresh Water," Friday's event launches a competition mobilizing hundreds of college students throughout the Southland. The program will award $10,000 grants to as many as 18 college teams to research, develop and communicate water-use efficiency technology that can be employed cost-effectively in water-stressed regions, locally or internationally.
The competition kicks off as water agencies throughout Southern California plan to deal with continuing record dry conditions and potential water shortages in 2008 and beyond. The World Water Forum is co-sponsored by Metropolitan, USBR, Sanitation Districts of Los Angeles County, Water for People, Friends of United Nations and ASCE.

Contacts

Metropolitan Water District of Southern California
Bob Muir,
213-217-6930; 213-324-5213, mobile