Aspen-Nicholas Water Forum

The Aspen-Nicholas Water Forum , convened annually by the Aspen Institute’s Energy and Environment Program and Duke University’s Nicholas Institute for Energy, Environment & Sustainability, serves as a platform for addressing domestic water challenges in the 21st century. The plethora of challenges in the US water sector—from the drought in California to the need for policy solutions that address water trading opportunities— will continue to be addressed at this convening as the Aspen Institute and Nicholas Institute collaborate to develop forward-thinking pathways to address the state of the US water system.

Water and Disasters: Risk, Resilience, and Adaptation

The 2022 Aspen-Nicholas Water Forum explored what must be done to ensure the water sector becomes more resilient to water-related disasters and how can communities navigate and prepare for the impacts of increasingly common water-related disasters? How do we reconcile different values as individuals, businesses and government negotiate who receives resources to mitigate, adapt, and recover?

The annual Aspen-Nicholas Water Forum convenes thought leaders to address ongoing challenges to water sustainability in the United States. Participants come from the private sector, government, academia, and nongovernmental organizations—representing expertise in industry, finance, philanthropy, government, academia, agriculture, food and technology companies, investors and entrepreneurs. Topics discussed include big data, innovative financing, water quality, and water affordability. The common thread linking each forum is the fundamental question of what does good water governance look like for the United States?

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