Integrated Watershed Sciences
Symposium Goals

The Integrated Watershed Sciences symposium, Bridging the Gap between Science and Application, was held November 12th 2003 on the campus of the University of Texas at Austin. The symposium's goal was to bring together academic researchers with representatives of government and non-government organizations to find areas of mutual interest and to highlight some of the critical issues confronting Texas' river systems.

The symposium was introduced by Dr. Jay Banner, Director of the Environmental Science Institute, and Dr. Paul F. Hudson, organizer of the symposium and leader of the Integrated Watershed Sciences working group. The morning sessions included fourteen presentations involving researchers from UT, Texas A&M, and the US Geological Survey, which highlighted state-of-the-art research in the watershed sciences. The presentations included a diverse array of topics, including vegetation and land use, infiltration and groundwater, pollutant modeling, streamflow and sediment transport, estuarine processes, as well as remote sensing applications. The morning sessions concluded with a talk by Dr. David Eaton on the Texas-Mexico water issue along the Rio Grande-Rio Bravo.

The afternoon was reserved for round-table discussion between agency representatives and researchers. Several broad themes prevailed, including a greater need to understand sediment transport, endorsement of the need for a basin-scale approach to address watershed problems, and a greater need for cooperation between different river agencies. At the conclusion of the meeting there was unanimous sentiment for continuation of the working group.