ICIWaRM holds its annual “Partners Meeting”

On 19 January 2018, ICIWaRM gathered its many partners together for a coordination, or “business”, meeting at The National Academies’ Keck Center in Washington, DC. The meeting was hosted by the National Academies’ Board on International Scientific Organizations, or BISO. As a network of US government entities, universities, NGOs and professional associations, ICIWaRM increases its influence by bringing these partners together approximately once a year to compare note, review past activities and brainstorm ideas for future collaboration.

Key discussion points included:

• How to financially and institutionally sustain products such as the Princeton-based flood and drought monitors, or the PERSIANN family of products, or to use them at smaller scales, such as small island states;
• Increased work in crowd-sourcing/citizen science, and using mobile devices;
• Work on resilient water supply and climate change;
• Becoming a clearing house for the development banks with respect to policy-oriented projects;
• Continued engagement in helping implement the US Water Strategy and in the water experts program of the US Water Partnership;
• Potential involvement in water quality issues especially with respect to water governance and river basin organizations;
• Further consideration of how to connect good science to the well-informed decision-maker; and
• Better internal communication within the network.

Attendees included representatives of

• (USG) DOS, USGS, NASA/ARSET, NOAA/NWS, NSF, USBR, USEPA and USACE;
• (Academic) Colorado State University, Princeton University, University of Arizona, University of California – Irvine, Oregon State University, Florida International University, and University of Maryland
• (NGOs, IOs and Professional Societies) World Bank, AWRA, ASCE, NGWA, and USWP.