Slides from the 75th meeting of LAWEN. The Adaptation Strategies team released The Louisiana Water Economy: Our Shared Destiny Issue 1, Volume 1 Findings and Recommendations for the Greater New Orleans Region at this meeting.

2. In the Beginning...

3. Celebrate the past & envision the future

4. Honoring those no longer with us

5. 8 years!
75 meetings
> 200 presentations

6. Meetings in Baton Rouge & Lafayette
Identification of Seven Louisiana Water Sectors
Neighborhood Drainage Workshops
Sewerage and Water Board Citizen Task Force
Support of Development of GNO Urban Water Plan
GNO Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance Development
Strategic Planning for Prosperity NOLA
GNOF Idea Village Water Challenge Support
Rainwater and Graywater Task Force
EPA Water Cluster Leaders Representatives- 2013-2017
Mayoral Forum- 2009
Outreach to Community at Numerous Events
Numerous Workshops and Presentations
More...

7. LAWEN DRAFT COMPENDIUM
Post-Katrina, historical context of water leadership in
the Greater New Orleans area
A compilation of notes from 7 years of water meetings,
written by Damien Tatum
Over 350 pages of notes and 700 photos!
Available online at ...

8. NEXT STEPS

11. Integrated Water Management
A WATERSHED APPROACH
Integrated Economic Development
CIRCULAR ECONOMY
Integrated Lifestyle Management
CONNECTING YOUR HEALTH

13. Water is both friend and foe.
Water is fundamental to what it
means to be Louisiana.
Water--for better and
for worse--is our
future!

14. • Agriculture & Fisheries (AF)
• Coastal, Environmental, & Disaster Mgmt (CE)
• Ecological & Cultural Tourism & Recreation (ET)
• Industry, Energy, & Manufacturing (IM)
• Law & Policy (LP)
• Maritime, Ports, & Navigation (MP)
• Municipal Sewer, Water, & Drainage Infra (MI)

15. Circular Economy Principles
The Rockefeller-Lancet Commission Report
GDP Flawed
COP 21
Louisiana’s Financial Picture
Framework of the report:

16. Methodology
Principal research- June 2015 - June 2016.
Studied business, academic, and public activities across the seven
sectors in each of the thirteen parishes.
Studied larger market drivers, and issues ranging from local to global.
Water Professional Interviews- 49 Interview Subjects
Peer Review- Team of six
Literature Search- > 325 studies

17. Methodology
STAUL-R Matrix
(Spending, Training, Advocating, Using,
Leading, and Resources natural and
social )
SWOT Analysis
Application of Porter Cluster Principles
Funding:
Year 1- GNOF in partnership with
Neighborhood Partnership Network
Year 2- Adaptation Strategies

18. Challenges
No academic definition of a “water economy”
Lack of consistent, quantitative data across the sectors
Issues with NAICS Codes
Multiple state and national elections, loss of contacts
Economic projections based on higher oil prices
Early in the evolution of the field

19. Defining a Louisiana Water
Economy
All economic and social activities in which water is an
important and/or dominant factor, and in which Louisiana’s
relative water “wealth” and abundance—whether for
“good,” or as is the case with costly surge, flood, and
disaster management, for “bad”—contributes to the
existence of the sector, resource, or activity.

20. Findings
The thirteen parish study area (& state) lacks
a common, comprehensive vision to realize
the region’s water economy potential.
Vision is framed by the question “what does
success look like?”
Louisiana—and our water economy
—requires a vision for what it means to have
a healthy, productive, thriving state.
VISION

21. LEADERSHIP
Strong, systems-wide, private sector
leadership is needed to guide and build
Louisiana’s water economy.
In certain sectors Louisiana exhibits
leadership because land loss, sea level
rise, hurricanes and floods compel us to.

22. METRICS
Water, including its social and environmental
impacts, is inadequately and inconsistently
measured, leveraged, aligned, and monitored.
Regionally, inconsistency in how, why, and
what we measure hampers socioeconomic
progress, and undermines environmental
systems.
The lack of sustainability, carbon-, and water-
footprint plans and reports in the region
represents an opportunity for investment.

23. 4. No organization
comprehensively manages water.

24. 5. Government management
systems are fragmented, resulting in
diluted and inconsistent authority.

25. 6. Aging infrastructure poses a
significant threat to water security.

26. 7. Opportunities exist in leveraging
excess capacities and
underutilized resources.

27. 8. Tourism is an underutilized asset.

28. 9. Philanthropy needs alignment to
leverage investments in support of
the water economy.

29. 10. Most of the available funding for
major restoration and infrastructure
projects in Louisiana is the result of
prior disasters.

30. 11. Education resources are not
aligned.

31. 12. Diversity efforts and equity strategies
are in early stages.

32. 13. Many communities are not participating
in the National Flood Insurance Program’s
(NFIP) Community Rating System (CRS).

33. R1: Invest in an inclusive and transparent process to create a vision
for a safe, healthy, thriving region centered on the power of
integrated water management across all seven economic sectors.
Recommendations

34. Recommendations
R2: Identify and convene diverse leadership from each sector to
explore organizational frameworks needed to catalyze, promote and
develop the water economy.

35. Recommendations
R3: Invest in regional community and parish capacity to participate
in developing resource measurement plans and metrics that align
with globally accepted standards.

36. Recommendations
R4: Create a philanthropic water funders council or network to
develop a common vision, and to identify, align, and leverage
regional, statewide, national, and global philanthropic, business, and
government investments.

37. Recommendations
R5: Map watersheds to the neighborhood level to provide systemic
guidance for community land use planning, and to encourage
residents to actively participate in restorative landscaping, water
management, and the water economy.

38. Recommendations
R6: Invest in developing and implementing policy to increase the
use of native plants in public projects as a key stimulant to
business development, education, and resilience.

39. Recommendations
R7: Investment is needed to plan and develop systems to
capture, connect, share, and leverage water-related data.

40. Recommendations
R8: Expand and implement cross-agency and cross-parish
cooperative agreements and directives to guide and optimize
measurement and performance of public sector activities.

41. Recommendations
R9: Invest in education and awareness of aging infrastructure, to
encourage monitoring, maintenance, and data sharing, and to
stimulate potential circular economy innovation in cost-savings,
efficiency, health, and safety.

42. Recommendations
R10: To improve effectiveness and efficiency of outreach spending
on the delivery of environmental and water education/literacy
programs, invest in the capacity of the Louisiana Environmental
Education Commission to develop and consolidate myriad water
and ecological guides, educational materials, and messages into a
set of community toolkits.

43. Recommendations
R11: Invest in planning and developing Louisiana Water Learning
Centers at libraries throughout the region (and state) to serve as
portals for regional water knowledge and opportunities, locations
for community water meetings, and as partners in fostering
environmental literacy, innovation, and entrepreneurship.

44. Recommendations
R12: Identify or develop a university-based program or institute to
serve as an academic catalyst to explore, develop, monitor, and
promote water programs, courses, news, events, conferences,
and developments. Consider an applied research center combined
with a booster model similar to the New Orleans Sports
Foundation.

45. Recommendations
R13: To build participation of the tourism industry as a partner in
Louisiana’s water economy, invest in developing Louisiana water-
related surveys, language, and messages to be tested by tourism
agencies as part of their regular research.

46. Recommendations
R14: Invest in building capacity to develop birding resources,
guides, and networks to build upon the state’s globally significant
location on the Mississippi Flyway, and to connect birders to the
state’s coastal and water issues.

47. Recommendations
R15: Increase investment in efforts to reach people of color,
youth, seniors, and women to participate in water education,
planning, and training.

48. Recommendations
R16: Invest in helping communities achieve maximum
participation in the National Flood Insurance Program Community
Rating System to improve community resilience.

49. Summary
The power of water controls our future.
With this study we move closer to
understanding the potential of Louisiana’s
water economy, and the need to align
strategic investment and actions by all
sectors and actors.
As we strive to build a water economy that
works wisely with water rather than against
it, we adapt and move into a new economic
era.
The question is: Can we move faster?