Speakers Series presents "The Freshwater Crisis: Challenges and Solutions"

WHAT: The University of Illinois Springfield Engaged Citizenship Common Experience (ECCE) Speakers Series presents “The Global Freshwater Crisis: Challenges & Solutions”. The discussion will be led by Gary Lamberti, professor and chair of Biological Sciences at the University of Notre Dame.

WHEN: Wed., Oct. 24, 2012 at 7 p.m.

WHERE: Sangamon Auditorium Lobby, on the 2nd level of the Public Affairs Center.

DETAILS: The planet’s fresh water supply is arguably in jeopardy with more than one billion people lacking access to clean water and more than three billion people lacking sanitation for their waste. Toxic chemicals ranging from metals to pharmaceuticals enter, accumulate, and bio-magnify in fresh water habitats. As a result, fresh water is globally threatened, with fish, mussels, and crayfish being the most endangered groups of animals worldwide.

Human and environmental well-being is dependent on the presence of high-quality and plentiful freshwater resources. In the discussion, Lamberti will address how the planet and human populations can deal with this fresh water crisis and explain possible solutions to ensure a plentiful supply of clean fresh water for future generations.

Lamberti, author of more than 130 scientific publications, and past editor of Methods in Stream Ecology, received his doctorate from University of California (Berkeley) in 1983. Lamberti is an aquatic ecologist and environmental scientist whose research focuses on salmon biology, the ecology of invasive species, wetland conservation, and river restoration. At Notre Dame, he teaches biostatistics, stream ecology, and restoration ecology. Lamberti is also a past president of an international society of aquatic scientists.

This event is co-sponsored by the Notre Dame Club of central Illinois and is free and open to the public. For a list of other ECCE Speakers Series events and more information, visit http://illinois.edu/goto/speakerseries.