October 12, 2011, Wednesday - A Sip of Science at Aster Cafe

Time: 5:30pm

Location: Aster Cafe, 125 SE Main Street

A Sip of Science:  A Climate for Change: Agriculture and Water Quality in Minnesota 

A SIP OF SCIENCE bridges the gap between science and culture in a setting that bridges the gap between brain and belly.  Food, beer and learning are on the menu in a happy hour forum that offers the opportunity to talk with researchers about their current work, its implications and its fascinations.

In recent decades, our growing realization of how we pollute our waterways has led to regulation of the most obvious pollution sources. Cities have updated their wastewater treatment systems and industry can no longer dump their waste products into waterways. But what about non-point sources of pollution that trickle into rivers, streams, and lakes from multiple different sources? What are the cumulative impacts of that pollution on our waterways?

Historically, Minnesota has relied on voluntary incentives to reduce non-point water pollution. Norman Senjem, recently retired from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, says that voluntary measures are no longer enough. In our October Sip of Science, Norman discusses how non-point pollution is severely impacting Minnesota waterways and what steps can be made to address this growing problem by creating new regulation and incentives to hold polluters accountable as well as broadening the context for developing solutions to agricultural pollution.