WERI’s first Guam Water Resources Forum 2022, held in November 10 at WERI’s conference room and online was a success, showcasing new and innovative water research work, reports, and products.
Dr. Ross Miller, WERI’s Interim Director, opened the Forum and later expressed,
"I wish to take a minute to say thanks to you all, and ask you to extend thanks to your students and staff who contributed to the recent WERI Guam (Water Resources) Forum. I thought it went very well, was impressed by the breadth, depth, and quality of the work that was presented. The comments I have received, including from Senator Joann Brown, have been very positive. A special thank you to Dr. Habana who organized and MCed the forum, and to Jayvee Cacal who did the bulk of the IT set up, kept it running, and arranged for the food, and to Gema Payumo whose excellent work underlies almost everything we do."
"I wish to take a minute to say thanks to you all, and ask you to extend thanks to your students and staff who contributed to the recent WERI Guam (Water Resources) Forum. I thought it went very well, was impressed by the breadth, depth, and quality of the work that was presented. The comments I have received, including from Senator Joann Brown, have been very positive. A special thank you to Dr. Habana who organized and MCed the forum, and to Jayvee Cacal who did the bulk of the IT set up, kept it running, and arranged for the food, and to Gema Payumo whose excellent work underlies almost everything we do."
The presenters and attendants interacted with the 11 short presentations. Presentation highlights were Chip Guard, meteorologist, reported the State of the Climate in the Western Pacific and how ENSO, El Niño and La Niña, affects rainfall, drought, and sea level in this part of the globe. Chip also provided a forecasts 2023. Former WERI Director Dr. John Jenson presented climate change impact on GWA’s infrastructure, with reference from his work and communications with WERI Meteorologist, the late Dr. Mark Lander. Dannika Valerio unveiled WERI’s MAppFx, an online interactive data visualization of map and graph of nitrates, a new research result feature added to the Guam Hydrologic Survey website. Hazelle Ko presented chloride and production analysis interpretations and showed a map animation of the history of production well chloride concentration on Guam. Dr. Blaz Miklavic received a warm welcome as the new WERI geologist, presented on connecting the world’s karst and their similarities to Guam’s island karst aquifer.
Attendants were representatives from local and state, interagency partners: GWA, NWS, GEPA, SWCD, BYU, Kumisión I Fino’ CHamoru, and the private sector. WERI looks forward to providing more of these outreach forums in the future.
