WEFTEC Opening General Session To Focus on Creating the Future of Water

Joe Whitworth, president of The Freshwater Trust (Portland, Ore.) as well as water sector leader, author, and advocate for the environment, will give the keynote address during the Opening General Session. Photo coutesy of The Freshwater Trust.

Joe Whitworth, president of The Freshwater Trust (Portland, Ore.) as well as water sector leader, author, and advocate for the environment, will give the keynote address during the Opening General Session. Photo coutesy of The Freshwater Trust.

WEFTEC® 2016 attendees can expect to begin the conference with an eye toward the future when Joe Whitworth, president of The Freshwater Trust (Portland, Ore.), delivers the keynote address during the Opening General Session.

Whitworth, a water sector leader, author, and advocate for the environment, will discuss his approach to natural resource stewardship at the juncture between technology and finance, which he calls “quantified conservation.” The concept, which Whitworth outlines in his book Quantified: Redefining Conservation for the Next Economy, combines traditional environmental work with innovative ideas from the world of business. It promotes situational awareness, data and analytics, and gain-focused investment to recover freshwater ecosystems.

“The business community has done a good job at adapting as the world has changed. They’ve had to, in order to stay relevant and profitable. … The conservation world hasn’t been using the same data, tools, and technologies that are available for the advantage of the environment,” according to Whitworth in the Water Environment & Technology article, “Streaming in a new approach to conserving the natural world.”

As the president of The Freshwater Trust for more than a decade, Whitworth has overseen the tenfold growth of the organization’s budget. In addition to blogging for The Huffington Post, hosting a monthly podcast, and advising nonprofit and government leaders, Whitworth holds a patent for an online platform that coordinates large-scale watershed restoration projects.

“Together, we can take the world of water into the next era. Together, we can think critically about the ways we’re currently managing our water resources and in turn act more strategically and effectively,” Whitworth said.

Don’t miss Joe Whitworth’s keynote address during the Opening General Session, which begins at 8:30 a.m. on Sept. 24 in New Orleans’ Morial Convention Center.

— Justin Jacques, WEF Highlights

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