by David Crisman, White Paper Committee
Ever since MGWA was organized, it has matured and grown as a professional association. MGWA produces quarterly newsletters and biannual conferences that have been very useful for our members, but the organization still hasn’t effectively reached beyond the professional membership in the groundwater community. As groundwater becomes an increasingly important issue to the state, the need for the MGWA to play a meaningful role in informing the public and decision makers of the science involved in groundwater issues has become more important.
To meet this need, the MGWA Board launched the White Paper Initiative, where MGWA members volunteer to form a workgroup to research an issue of current interest, with the goal of producing a paper of science-based information about the topic and the various aspects involved. This program has allowed the MGWA to become a source of relevant, unbiased, science-based reports that have been used by higher education and the Legislature to productively address problems facing the state of Minnesota.
The White Paper Initiative has also allowed the organization to better and more proactively fulfill the objectives of the MGWA, namely:
- Promote and encourage scientific and public policy aspects of groundwater,
- Educate the general public regarding groundwater resources, and
- Disseminate information on groundwater.
New topics are developed from suggestions provided each year by the MGWA membership. As the next Conference approaches, the White Paper Committee again requests the members to submit topics by using the nomination form on the White Paper page.
Topics that have previously been submitted, but not accepted, may be resubmitted using an updated nomination form.
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