On the morning of the 23rd of May, IESD was pleased to host a lecture given by Dr. Eugene Foster, coming from Portland State University. Dr. Foster is the Manager of Watershed Management Section, Water Quality Division and the subject of his speech was 'Emerging Water Quality Issues in Oregon and the US'.

One of his tasks is to set the criteria of water quality that ensure human health. It is crucial that we understand that zero-level pollutant is impossible. We have to mitigate the problem so that the amount of pollutants is low enough so as to not cause harm to human beings. Local hobbits of consumption must be seriously taken into account, because what matters is the amount of pollutants being consumed and ingested by human beings. Roughly speaking, levels of pollutants have to be lowered in areas where people consume a lot of fish.

A conclusion we might draw after this lecture is that the quality of the water is closely linked to the use of this water. Dr Foster sure knows how to manage quality of water, and he gave us a great insight into US watershed management.