InWMC’s 2017 Symposium

The topic of this year’s annual Indiana Water Monitoring Council Symposium was “Modified Flows and Their Impact on Stream and Lake Ecosystems.” It was hosted on November 28th at the Indiana Government Center and featured over 100 students and professionals from universities, government agencies, and the private sector in attendance. Organizations represented included IDEM, IDNR, USGS, TNC, Purdue, Ball State University, and several others.

The event’s speakers focused on the central theme of understanding, managing, and predicting the effects of modified flows, and included examples reaching outside Indiana.

For example, Howard Reeves’ of the USGS Michigan Water Science Center presented on Michigan’s current system to address water withdrawal users to preserve aquifers over time. Also, Dan Carlisle of USGS detailed what has been learned from the National Assessment of Streamflow Alteration on how modified flows affect biological communities around the country.

However, examples of modified flows in Indiana focused on important topics such as tools for data analysis presented by Mark Pyron of Ball State, and on how flows in Indiana will be altered by climate change impacts. A topic addressed in great detail by Melissa Widhalm of Purdue’s Climate Change Research Center.

Presentations from all of the speakers can be found below:

Jeff Frey of the United States Geological Survey giving the welcoming speech for the InWMC Symposium.
Howard Reeves delivering the opening presentation of the symposium
Dr. Mark Pyron of Ball State University speaking on applications of IHA software to understand effects of modified flows in rivers.
Melissa Widhalm of Purdue’s Climate Change Research Center speaking on the projected changes in Indiana water systems from the effects of climate change.

In addition to presenting information and ideas, this year’s symposium featured several opportunities for both networking and discussion. Specifically, members of the InWMC discussed some avenues for increased outreach and education about effects of modified flows to improve engagement in a wider range of audiences.

You can find more pictures from the event on our Facebook Page.

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