Recognizing the need for a multidisciplinary approach to wetland remediation, Battelle recently sponsored and organized the first major conference expressly designed to bring wetland experts and remediation practitioners together to talk about common issues. More than 320 wetland scientists, remediation professionals, and regulators attended Wetlands and Remediation: An International Conference, held in Salt Lake City, Utah, November 16-17, 1999. Conference cosponsors included Parsons Engineering Science, Morrison-Knudsen, U.S. Department of Defense Environmental Security Technology Certification Program/Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program, and the U.S. Naval Facilities Engineering Service Center. Conference Chairman Dr. Jeffrey Means of Battelle welcomed attendees to the first plenary session and spoke of the need for such a conference. Co-Chairman Rob Hinchee of Parsons Engineering Science presented an overview of the challenges involved in remediating contaminated wetlands and in using wetlands to treat contaminated waste streams. Dr. William Mitsch, director of the Olentangy River Wetland Research Park at The Ohio State University, spoke about ongoing and planned efforts to alleviate inland and coastal pollution problems through the use of restored and created wetlands. Dr. John W. Day Jr., head of the Coastal Ecology Institute, Louisiana State University, concluded the session with an ecological and economic overview of wetland wastewater assimilation. More than 50 presentations in two technical tracks followed the plenary session. Topics covered on the first day included Natural Attenuation, Biological and Ecological Considerations, Wetland Hydrology and Morphology, Remediation of Contaminated Wetlands, Wetland Design and Construction, and Wetland Restoration and Mitigation. That evening’s poster session and reception gave attendees the opportunity to peruse the nearly 60 posters and ask questions of their authors. The conference’s second day was filled with additional technical sessions covering the topics of Phytoremediation and Macrophytes in Wetlands, Wetlands for the Remediation and Treatment of Wastewater, Nonpoint Source Pollution and Agricultural Runoff, Wetland Research Programs, Explosives and Wetlands, Hydrocarbon-Contaminated Wetlands, Mine Waste Considerations, and Metals and Inorganics. “Based on the success of this conference,” said Chairman Means, “I foresee Battelle sponsoring a follow-up meeting in a couple of years to see what kind of progress occurs in meeting wetlands challenges.”
A proceedings volume containing 55 articles based on conference presentations has been published by Battelle Press and mailed to conference registrants. For more information about this volume, visit the Battelle Press Web site, www.battelle.org/bookstore, or call (800)451-3543.
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