Free lecture about worldwide water crisis at NJIT Nov. 16

"The Worldwide Water Crisis" will be the focus of a talk by Upmanu Lall, director of the Columbia Water Center at Columbia University on Nov. 16, 2011 at 3 p.m. in the NJIT Campus Center Ballroom. Lall will discuss how water is becoming increasingly scarce around the world, and the time for taking effective compensating action is growing short. The public is invited to hear the discussion which is part of the NJIT Technology and Society Forum presentation series.

The speaker will highlight how the water crisis is multifaceted as well as global, with unique regional aspects that compound the complexities. Population, economy, ecology and climate all shape local manifestations of the situation. Addressing the scarcity of clean, safe water means contending with a host of related issues that include pollution and the lack of appropriate water- and wastewater-treatment facilities.

Lall will also spotlight policies and technologies that can help to alleviate the worldwide water shortage — provided there is the social consensus needed to implement them. Lall earned his PhD in civil engineering at the University of Texas, Austin. In addition to his affiliation with Columbia's Water Center, he is the Alan and Carol Silberstein Professor of Engineering at Columbia University. He has worked extensively on many aspects of hydrology, climate-change adaptation and water-resources planning and management. Much of his work has also focused on risk characterization and mitigation, and investigation of the dynamics of complex systems.

Provided by New Jersey Institute of Technology