Rotary Lake Erie Watershed Crisis Conference

Run Time: 14:08

The mission of the Rotary Lake Erie Watershed Crisis Conference was for US and Canadian Rotarians to facilitate and encourage discussions, partnerships and solutions for water management throughout the Lake Erie Watershed. The conference was held at the Grand Plaza Hotel Toledo.

Following the Lake Erie toxic algae/water crisis of August 2014, which made the water in Toledo’s regional water system “undrinkable” for nearly three days for over 400,000 residents, Toledo Rotary was urged by Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur (D, Toledo) to make a difference bringing forward the issue of safe drinking water in Lake Erie. This same condition threatens the waters of Green Bay, WI, Saginaw Bay MI and other waters in the Great Lakes which touch US and Canadian shores.

Clean water and especially drinking water has long been a priority for Rotary International resulting in this conference being supported at the highest levels. The conference featured many exciting keynote speakers along with other distinguished, invited guests and speakers from federal and state government, universities, along with the agricultural and environmental communities.

Cameron Davis spoke at the conference. Mr. Davis is senior advisor to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator. In that capacity he provides counsel to the EPA Administrator on the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. His job includes coordinating Great Lakes policy and funding initiatives valued at more than $1 billion since FY10 with more than a dozen federal agencies and with state, municipal, tribal, business and civic stakeholders. He also served as a lead negotiator on the U.S. negotiating team for the 2012 U.S.-Canada Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement.
For more than two decades, Mr. Davis has worked to develop and implement water quality and quantity policy.