IdeaFestival 2012 has added another major pre-festival affiliated event.
Billed as the first IF Water Conference, the event is scheduled for Tues., Sept. 18, the day before the official beginning of the 2012 IdeaFestvial.
The IF Water Conference is hosted by WaterStep, the global water outreach program based in Louisville.
The conference is scheduled for 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at The Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts in conjunction with the IdeaFestival.
The event will include presentations, interactive activities and discussions “centered on the world’s most precious and endangered resource – water,” according to a news release.
The speaker line-up includes:
Keynote Speaker: Gill Holland, independent film producer and co-developer of The Green Building. In August 2012, the U.S. Agriculture Department declared 166 of Kentucky’s 120 counties as drought disaster areas. Holland’s presentation will focus on what we can learn from the drought.
Greg Heitzman
Greg Heitzman, President/CEO of the Louisville Water Company. Much of the water innovation that is used every day to provide safe drinking water started at the Louisville Water Company. Heitzman will discuss ideas that sparked the innovation, and Engineer Kay Ball will describe the Riverbank Filtration Project that was named the “best civil engineering project in the world” by the American Society of Civil Engineers.
Steven Greseth, Infrastructure and Management Consultant for Kentucky-Southern Indiana Ohio River Projects. The Ohio River Falls, a waterfall cascade with one million gallons per second crashing down, is the reason that Louisville, Kentucky, Clarksville, Jeffersonville, and New Albany, Indiana exist where they do today. Greseth’s presentation will explore a series of questions centered around the idea of redesigning the locks to expose The Falls of the Ohio: what are the economic benefits of revealing America’s largest waterfall in the center of Louisville, a major metropolitan area? What compelling stories of our culture and heritage could we share with each other and with visitors? What would it cost to restore Ohio Falls, and how long would it take?
Mark Hogg
Mark Hogg, Founder and CEO of EDGE Outreach, now WaterStep. Hogg has taken WaterStep to the forefront of disaster relief efforts and provided safe drinking water for hundreds of thousands of people in more than 23 countries. Access to safe water is the greatest problem on the planet, but Hogg will paint a picture of a world where ordinary people in developing countries can take care of their own water supply. Utilizing mobile portals to access technology and water training will reshape how people have been helping others in the water crisis. The valve to a water information highway, exponential health impacts, and stronger economies for the developing world is being opened from Louisville, Kentucky.
Gregory Luhan, associate dean for Research at University of Kentucky – Could Louisville be the Water Capitol of the world? Yes! The city’s rich history in water innovation and its location on the banks of the Ohio River are the focus of a year-long effort by the University of Kentucky College of Design and Louisville Water Company. Luhan will share the vision and model of a “Water Innovation Center” that could bring together the entire cycle of water.
Gregory Luhan
The IF Water Festival is considered an “affiliate event” of IdeaFestival, with ticketing through the main IF system.
But the Water Festival is being programmed and managed by WaterStep, the Louisville-based global entity that provides drinking water systems to developing companies, according Ali Shaw, spokeswoman for the event.
The event is meant to launch Louisville as the “world capital of water,” and ”the city of water,” Holland said.
“Water plays an important role in two of Kentucky’s signature industries – horses and bourbon,” he said. “As a water-rich place, we are going to see continued and increased demands on our natural resources.”
Conference tickets are $40 and $15 for students, and include lunch. Purchase tickets here.
As part of the event, an IF Water tent will located at the Main Street entrance to the center on September 18 from noon to 4 p.m. and on the main IdeaFestival days Sept. 19 through Sept. 21 from noon to 2 p.m.
The IF Water tent will have free live demonstrations, along with conversations about WaterStep’s work.
A team of General Electric engineers and volunteers will work to assemble WaterStep’s M-100 Chlorine Generator and demonstrate the technology behind what enables the M-100 to provide about 10,000 gallons of safe drinking water in a 24-hour period.
For more information, call 502-568-6342 or visit www.waterstep.org.
About IdeaFestival: Founded in 2000, IdeaFestival is a celebration for creative thinkers and the intellectually curious. It’s an eclectic network of global thinkers and one-of-a-kind innovators bound together by an intense curiosity about what is impacting and shaping the future of the arts, business, technology, design, science, philosophy and education. The conference is held every fall in Louisville, Kentucky at The Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts. Please visit ideafestival.com for more information. Follow us @ideafestival and #IF12
About WaterStep: WaterStep is a Louisville-based 501(c)(3) organization that provides solutions to the root causes of waterborne illness through an approach that combines unparalleled training and readily-available technology to empower self-sufficiency for people in crisis around the world. WaterStep is currently working to establish training centers in India, Costa Rica, and Haiti. To learn more, call 502-568-6342 or visit www.waterstep.org.
IdeaFestival 2012 has added another major pre-festival affiliated event.
