The SFPUC assembled managers from the nation’s largest water agencies and top researchers and scientists from across the country at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts for the first Water Utility Climate Change Summit.

“I would go so far as to say this was an historic gathering,” said SFPUC General Manager Susan Leal in concluding the final session yesterday.

The well-attended summit at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts on Mission Street.

This was the largest event organized by the SFPUC that gathered water experts on one single topic that may affect the future supply of clean water not just for the San Francisco Bay Area but for other agencies across the country.

On the final day of the summit, Leal challenged other large water utilities to join the SFPUC with a similar contribution of $100,000 to help develop a Communications Plan for the public about the consequences of climate change and what utilities may need to do and how individuals can help.

Rising sea levels and other facets of climate change will have enormous impacts throughout the world and therefore the quality of life for all its inhabitants. “We have to plan for the worst,” she told the audience of nearly 250 at the Climate Change Summit.

Panelists from Seattle, Portland, San Diego, Denver and New York covered a wide range of topics, from the vanishing snow pack to developing an action plan for future generations.

Video footage of the event can be found here.