The first phase of the Global Water Futures Project, conducted in conjunction with Sandia National Laboratories, focused on the areas in which the United States can innovate in the way it formulates its international water policy and in the way it deploys technologies. To this end, we hosted two workshops in February and March of 2005. The first workshop focused on innovative U.S. policy approaches and the second examined innovations in technology. Transcripts, summaries, and audio recordings for each conference are available by clicking on the links below.

February 8-9, 2005, Workshop One: U.S. Policy Innovation

March 8-9, 2005, Workshop Two: Technology and Global Water Management

To read the final report of the first phase of the Global Water Futures Project, please click here. 

What can be done to address global water challenges?

After decades of research and projects focused on alleviating freshwater problems across the planet, the global community has reached an unprecedented level of understanding of the intricacies of the global water challenge and has developed an extensive tool box for addressing these issues. Indeed, many of the solutions to the web of interrelated problems will come from a combination of policy and technological approaches. Taken alone, neither policy breakthroughs nor technological innovations can solve regional and global water-scarcity issues, but together they offer a potentially powerful synergy. These synergistic solutions can be applied to three broadly defined strategies:

1. augment supply; 
2. reduce demand; and
3. improve management.

In all three of these strategies, one single observation reigns true—there is no silver bullet, no one-size-fits-all solution.