University of Minnesota
HHH
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The Humphrey School of Public Affairs is the University of Minnesota's school of policy and planning.


Public and Nonprofit Leadership Center

Research on Environmental Policy

Professor Deborah Swackhamer leads the environmental research team at the Center for Science, Technology, and Public Policy. She also is the co-director of the Water Resources Center at the University of Minnesota and much of her work is in partnership with the two centers.  Professor Swackhamer and her research group focus on air pollution policy; chemical risk management, including calculating chemical exposure to human, fish, and wildlife; Great Lakes environmental planning and management policy, including the study of estrogens in water and other toxic contaminants; water policy; risk assessment for human health and ecological systems.

Main Project

Minnesota Water Sustainability Framework

Professor Swackhamer recent work included developing a Water Sustainability Framework for the state of Minnesota. The comprehensive report designed to protect and preserve Minnesota's lakes, rivers and groundwater for the 21st century and beyond. Commissioned by the 2009 Minnesota Legislature, the Minnesota Water Sustainability Framework is intended to serve as a legislative roadmap with timelines and benchmarks for future investments in water resources, including the estimated $86 million a year dedicated for the protection of water as a result of Minnesota’s Clean Water, Land and Legacy Act.

More than 200 leading water experts were assigned to work teams to research and write subject-specific white papers. The breadth and depth of knowledge on these teams is impressive but balanced, with team members that include farmers, anglers, landscapers, boaters, mining experts, civil engineers, and ordinary citizens—a cross-section representing nearly every profession, point of view, and interest in Minnesota’s lakes, rivers, and groundwater. The white papers will form the scientific and technical basis of the framework’s recommendations, with help from a synthesis committee and the Headwaters Council, the project’s oversight committee.

Deb Swackhamer presented the report to the Minnesota Legislature on Jan. 5. In this audio clip, Swackhamer says Minnesota’s Clean Water, Land and Legacy Act serves as a starting point for preserving the state’s water supply. For more information also visit the Water Resource Center.

Other environmental policy projects in the STEP area: