It's happening today at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center. Here are some thoughts on what's being discussed (summary: water is precious, our situation is scary, but there's hope.)

I'm taking a break from the conference to report to you from the front lines of the Water Matters! Global Water Conference, part of the United Nations World Environment Day North American Programme 2010 in North American host city Pittsburgh (yeah, that's a long title).

First off, I should say that I'm blown away by the attendance - the convention space is filled with attendees of all ages, including quite a few high school and college age students (encouraging, even if they're there as part of a school field trip). There are dozens of local water-affiliated organizations who have set up tables in the exhibition hall. The mood is reflective, given the topic and how it relates to the current BP oil catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico.

But there's also a lot of hope and laughter, a result of having some of the best thinking on water issues gathered in one space to discuss solutions to our problems. And boy, do we have problems.

The opening keynote address by Carl Safina, PhD., of the Blue Ocean Institute was sobering. Sure, Pittsburgh isn't an oceanside city...but our rivers lead to the sea, and as moderator Bill Flanagan put it, "we're all upstream or downstream from someone." Our connectivity makes us all accountable for what we put in--and take out--of our oceans. Carl's presentation included photos of devastated coral reefs and aquatic ecosystems, changed forever by overfishing and water contamination. His call for holding public policy makers accountable and striving to change our energy economy to one that is more environmentally friendly is ambitious. But as he pointed out, "The Stone Age didn't end because we ran out of rocks." Simply put: we need to advance our thinking to create solutions.

The next discussion was a panel on "Water & Your Health", moderated by journalist Marla Cone. Participants included Marc Edwards from Virginia Tech; Herbert Buxton from the U.S. Geological Survey, Toxic Substances Hydrology Program; and Mike Magee from Healthy-Waters.org. Each speaker presented fascinating and horrifying statistics about the number of heavy metals, pollutants and other nasty stuff in our drinking water, particularly in developing countries. I wasn't able to capture everything they said in my notes, but one of the most important takeaways was that water isn't an endless resource. Our oceans may be deep, but relative to the size of our planet and our water needs, they are but a drop of liquid.

As Carl Safina put it earlier, "we live on a wet marble with a wisp of oxygen covering the surface." (The guy is good at being quotable. More importantly: our planet is fragile.)

Next up is a panel on Water & Energy, followed by a luncheon keynote address by John Cronin of The Beacon Institute for Rivers and Estuaries. I'll report back later this afternoon. Stay tuned!

-Stephan Bontrager for Riverlife

More info about the Water Matters Conference here.