For Immediate Release

December 4, 2004

Contact: Lori Burkhammer
1(703) 684-2480
lburkhammer@wef.org

WEF COMMENDS HAMLINE UNIVERSITY FOR RECENT ENVIRONMENTAL AWARD

CD-Rom Takes Top Honors at International Environmental Festival

Alexandria, VA - The Water Environment Federation (WEF) congratulates Hamline University (Saint Paul, MN) for taking top honors (interactive category) at the Wildscreen Festival in Bristol, England for its Waters to the Sea: The Chattahoochee River CD-Rom. The international, bi-annual event is the world's premiere festival for nature and wildlife media production.

The CD-Rom, second in a series on North America's rivers, explores the Chattahoochee and Apalachicola rivers from ancient times to the present. Three historic guides, including 2003 Stockholm Junior Water Prize Laureate Heather Mispagel, lead users on an adventure that investigates the human events and land-use practices that have helped shape the landscape and environmental quality of rivers in southeastern United States. Multi-media activities help connect these lessons in environmental history with hydrology, ecology and the science of water quality. John Shepard, concept developer and producer of the project is a WEF member and serves on the Federation's Public Education Committee.

"WEF is dedicated to educating the public and key stakeholders about the importance of preserving water for future generations," said WEF Executive Director Bill Bertera. "The Federation commends Hamline University for producing an award-winning CD-Rom series that promotes holistic, watershed-based solutions for our most basic water issues."

The program was produced in close working partnership with the Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper and Oxbow Meadows Environmental Learning Center of Columbus State University. Funding was provided by Coca-Cola North America, Georgia Power, the Robert Woodruff Foundation and Georgia’s Sustainable Forestry Initiative. The first CD-Rom in the series, Waters to the Sea: Rivers of the Upper Mississippi, was released in 2000. Hamline University plans to continue the series by exploring rivers and ecosystems throughout the United States. For more information visit http://cgee.hamline.edu/waters2thesea/Chattahoochee/.

About WEF
Founded in 1928, the Water Environment Federation (WEF) is a not-for-profit technical and educational organization with members from varied disciplines who work toward the WEF vision of preservation and enhancement of the global water environment. The WEF network includes water quality professionals from 76 Member Associations in 30 countries. www.wef.org