Alabama Youth Policy Summit

Finding the Balance; Water Resources in the Southeast 

Birmingham, AL -July 25-30, 2010

The Keystone Center's Youth Policy Summit (YPS) provide students with a unique training and preparatory experience that engages a contemporary, science-intensive policy issue. Their experience provides them with the research, negotiation, problem solving, and policy analysis skills they will need to be successful in their future endeavors as scientists, lawyers, doctors and business professionals.

In partnership with the Alabama School of Fine Arts, The Keystone Center will conduct a Youth Policy Summit in 2010 focused on Water Quality and Human Health. Keystone will work with MISE to select students from high schools around the state to participate in this program. Participating students will be asked to negotiate consensus-based recommendations for their respective Governors, state legislatures, and leaders in the business and non-profit sectors.

The topic of water adequacy is particularly timely. As a precious and often scarce resource, water conflicts exist across the country, and the world. In recent years, water issues have become more prevalent in Alabama, with dense population, agriculture and heavy industrial use all creating multiple demands and all contributing pollutants to this resource.

Students will focus upon both water quality and quantity for agricultural, industrial, and residential use in the state of Alabama and it's connection to neighboring states. Issues will include different demands for this scarce resource, and different economic, environmental, health and equity aspects.

Students will examine and explore possibilities of supply, demand, transportation, treatment and allocation of water sources for commercial, government and municipal needs.  While balancing the environmnetal and health concerns, students will wrestle with issues to meet the water needs of their state, while providing for sustaianable economic development and equitable access to healthy waterways.  All solutions have environmental, economic and social implications. Students will balance the political, legal, economic, technological, environmental and social factors associated with each possible solution.