WisBusiness: Water symposium draws Chinese officials, scholars

By Brian E. Clark
WisBusiness.com

More than 25 government officials and environmental experts from China are in Madison to attend the first “China-US Water Symposium: A Wisconsin Idea Approach, Connecting Science, Policy and Practice.”

The gathering is the brainchild of Xiaojun Lu, a UW-Madison microbiology doctoral candidate from Beijing and one of 1,300 Chinese students and 100 Chinese faculty on the campus.

“We hope this symposium will build relationships among scientists, business people, government officials and conservation groups,” said Lu, who helped start the “Environment & Public Health Network for Chinese Students and Scholars” in 2006. Since then, the organization has grown dramatically and now has members in 21 states in this country and 25 provinces in China.

“Like all developing countries, China has a number of environmental problems, much like the U.S. did when it was industrializing,” said Lu, president of the group. “The visitors are here to learn lessons from the U.S.”

In addition to Madison, he said the Chinese delegation will visit Door County and Milwaukee. They will meet with researchers, government officials, business leaders and environmental group members while in the Badger State.

Lu said the group chose to focus on water because Wisconsin has a great deal of expertise in that area, plus numerous businesses that deal with water.

He also noted that protecting water resources is a high priority in China, a country of 1.5 billion people, which recently passed a Clean Water Act on June 1.

State officials said the symposium was funded to test whether the Wisconsin Idea can help position the state as a special place China turns to for goods, services and knowledge it needs to protect its environment and public health.

The symposium has professors, businesses persons and government experts from Wisconsin making presentations on a range of water issues including wastewater treatment, non-point pollution and groundwater.

The topics were researched in China this spring by a team from Marquette University, NEW North, an economic development group in northeast Wisconsin; and state government. Each session will include a report from China.

The invitation to selected authorities and experts in China went from NEW North, the UW Madison Center for World Affairs and the Global Economy, Lawrence University and the Chinese scholars’ group.

NEW North is the lead organization for the event. Marquette is coordinating content and UW campuses in Green Bay, Madison, Milwaukee and Oshkosh are contributing as are state agencies like DNR, Commerce and the Public Service Commission.

Lu said he was impressed by the Wisconsin Idea of spreading universities’ expertise around the state for the public benefit.

“We don’t really have a tradition quite like that in China,” said Lu. “When I came here, I didn’t realize could get involved like this and reach to the community and scholars. I’d like to take this idea back home.”

With China’s rapid development, he said the idea of sustainability is beginning to take seed.

“In China, there is the idea of a ‘circular economy,’ in which there is a good use of resources so the society can be sustainable,” said Lu, who noted that the government is putting more emphasis on wind and solar power, as well as public transportation.

When his PhD is finished, he said he plans to return to China to teach at the university level, or work in business or a government environmental or public health agency.