CW3E Attends BSMAR and SWEPSYM Virtual Events

October 10, 2020

On 6-8 October, CW3E participated in the 17th Biennial Symposium on Managed Aquifer Recharge (BSMAR-17) and Southwest Extreme Precipitation Symposium (SWEPSYM) crossover event. This year, BSMAR 17 teamed with the Floodplain Management Association and CW3E to hold the SWEPSYM. Unlike in previous years, these two events came together as a virtual event consisting of two presentation “tracks”, BSMAR topics and SWEPSYM topics, over the course of three days.

BSMAR is a collaborative effort between the Arizona Hydrological Society (AHS) and the Groundwater Resources Association (GRA) of California. The symposium continues a longstanding series of symposia originating in Arizona in 1978. The BSMAR 16 conference was held in March 2018 in San Diego. BSMAR 15 was combined with the Ninth International Symposium on Managed Aquifer Recharge (ISMAR 9) held in Mexico City in 2016.

SWEPSYM is an annual conference co-hosted by the Floodplain Management Association and CW3E that brings together the scientific community and water managers in the Southwest. The conference is at the interface of research and applications. In particular it has 4 main objectives:

  • Bring attention to precipitation extremes in the Southwest region of North America
  • Share technical and scientific information and knowledge about the various factors responsible for producing extreme precipitation and the hydrologic processes responsible for generating runoff in semi-arid and arid areas
  • Advance our understanding of the causes of extreme precipitation with the hope of increasing the warning time of precipitation extremes, ranging from droughts to floods
  • Exchange information on engineering, water management, flood control, agricultural, and other Southwest regional needs for information on extreme precipitation

CW3E’s director, Marty Ralph, Ph.D., started off the crossover event Tuesday with a keynote address titled “Bridging the Gap between Atmospheric Science and MAR!”. CW3E scientists Anna Wilson and Peter Gibson gave presentations in the SWEPSYM track on Wednesday and CW3E student Mike Sierks and CW3E researcher Forest Cannon helped moderate the event.

The next SWEPSYM and BSMAR events are scheduled for 2022. You can view the BSMAR Technical Program for the full 2020 schedule, and you can visit the SWEPSYM website to download slides and view presentations from the 2020 symposium.


Screenshots from the SWEPSYM track on Wednesday, 7 October. Top: Anna Wilson presents “Enhancing Hydrometeorological Observing Systems Throughout California”. Bottom: Peter Gibson presents “Forecasting Ridging Related to Precipitation Deficits Across the Colorado River Basin.”