Berkeley Springs International Water Tasting Seminar

WATER: OUR LEGACY

Friday, February 23, 2008
1PM to 5PM
The Country Inn at Berkeley Springs
There is no charge for the seminar.

FEATURED SPEAKERS:

• Carol J. Boughton
• Abby Chapple
• Joe Donovan
• Tamme Marggraf

Arthur von Wiesenberger
Moderator and Water Master for the 2008 International Water Tasting & Competition
Noted water expert and consultant

Arthur is well known for his highly successful Champagne and caviar club, Nipper's. He has been in the wine tasting business for many years and in the late 70's began conducting water tastings in his winter festival home state of California. He has worked as a water consultant for Anheiser-Busch and Perrier, as well as many others. He is a past president of the International Food, Wine and Travel Writers Association, the American Institute of Wine and Food and the Society of Wine Educators. He has written five books including Champagne & Caviar, A Pocket Guide to Bottled Water and The Taste of Water. He was the Water Master of the First International Water Tasting Festival: International Water Tasting & Competition in 1990 and has been here for all but two since and then only because of the birth of two of his sons.

TOPIC: The Cacapon Mountain aquifer: its "wherezitgoing", not "whodunit". A fun time will be had by all.

The Cacapon Mountain aquifer is the informal name ascribed to the shallow groundwater flow system that surrounds Coolfont, long-standing site of the International Festival of the Waters. Pristine water discharging from springs around Coolfont originate in Silurian-age clastic and carbonate rocks dipping at a steep angle along the east flank of the Cacapon Mountain anticline. Donovan will take the audience on a trip through time and space to more closely understand where this water is coming from and where its going -- and how this influences how we approach this resource. The presentation will outline key elements of concern to all owners of natural springs used for water supply.

Joe Donovan is Professor of Hydrogeology at West Virginia University in Morgantown. He has studied groundwater occurrence and chemistry throughout many parts of the U.S. and Canada, starting his professional career in 1977 in Butte Montana and ending up in 1992 at WVU through strange serial twists of fate (including a PhD in 1992 from Penn State). In this region, he has been involved with exploration for groundwater in underground mine aquifers and in karst aquifers of eastern West Virginia. His interests include why groundwater occurs where it does, and how its chemistry relates to its flow history. His colleague in research at WVU is Dr. Dorothy Vesper, also a previous keynote speaker at the International Festival of the Waters and who along with grad students and Donovan are actively engaged in groundwater research in the Eastern Panhandle region

TOPIC: "The Dark Side of White-washed Products" and will address some products that appear to help, or are touted as helping, but have negative effects. She will connect the dots between the scientific side (endocrine disrupters) and consumerism (the products people buy) ----and this connection to water.

Abby Chapple since moving to West Virginia about 12 years ago Abby Chapple has become an activist specializing in water issues. Among other awards, in 2002 she was selected as Watershed Person of the Year by the state of West Virginia.

Her previous professional career -- as a journalist, consumer advocate and media communicator -- earned her a place in Who’s Who in America.

She is the Past President of Friends of the Cacapon River and now serves on its Board of Directors. For many years she was a board member of West Virginia Rivers Coalition. Currently she is a member of the Morgan County Rural Water Committee and is a founder of Potomac Water Watch, a new organization focusing on pollution, fish kills, intersex, emerging contaminants and endocrine disrupters.

She first became interested in water quality as a sailboat racer and supporter of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. Now she says, “The problem with water -- and there is a problem with water – is that no new water is being made, we have only what is on earth now and much of it is polluted, so we all have a responsibility to clean it up and then protect every precious drop.”

TOPIC: Ancient Chinese philosophy offers an understanding of the world through the "Five Elements of Nature: Water, Wood, Fire, Earth and Metal." Modern Americans can enrichen their lives today by getting acupuncture and learning how to manage personal energy through these same natural phases. They provide insights not only for physical reality but throughout the mind and spirit as well.

Tamme will explain the functions, gifts and challenges of each Element and offer the names of acupuncture points that introduce the feeling of these energies. Emphasis will then be placed on Water's relationship to its four counterparts.

In conclusion, Tamme will present well-known Shakespearean characters who exhibit each of the five constitutional types.

Tamme Marggraf As a Traditonal Acupuncturist, Tamme's goal is to support an individual understanding of how natural and unique energies flow through each being.

Tamme has used many frames of reference to view the art of being human. Her first pursuit was in theater. She trained and performed in the D.C. area with the Folger Shakespeare Theatre. Eventually, she tired of waiting tables and returned to school to receive a BA in Psychology with a minor in Religion from Hood College. As a counselor, Tamme worked with "emotionally disturbed" children and adolescents for eight years. During some of that time, she earned her Master's Degree from the Traditional Acupuncture Institute in Columbia, MD (now TAI-SOPHIA Institute). While there, Tamme developed and honed her professional skills supporting holistic free-flowing energy.

Four generations of the Marggraf family have enjoyed being weekend residents of the Berkeley Springs area. The call to this particular "stage" with its historically unique energies became overwhelming and Tamme became a resident in Spring of 2002. She also has the current honor of being the Executive Director of the Museum of the Berkeley Springs which seeks to inform and inspire people regarding this sacred healing area.

TOPIC: "21st Century Drinking Water Challenges for West Virginia's Urbanizing Corridor". An overview of water resources and water quality issues the three eastern panhandle counties are facing with the increasing urbanization pressure on water resources.

Carol J. Boughton,U. S. Geological Survey ,West Virginia Water Science Center
Leetown Field Office Chief, B.S. Chemistry with minor in Geology—Montana State University, Billings, M.S. Hydrology/Hydrogeology—University of Nevada, Reno

Ms. Boughton is a ground-water hydrologist with experience in high-level nuclear waste repository site characterization, water-resource assessments, and water-quality assessments in the most arid state in the union, Nevada, and in Montana. Much of the work she has been involved in has been driven by a need for better understanding of regional hydrology and water quality due to population growth and increasing urbanization of formerly rural areas. In addition to a recently published assessment of ground-water conditions in Morgan County, West Virginia, Carol is active in water-quality sampling of local streams including the Cacapon River and Opequon Creek. She and co-investigators are currently publishing results of investigations of the spatial distribution and transport of banned legacy pesticides, such as lead arsenate, and organochlorine compounds, such as DDT and Dieldrin, in the northern Shenandoah Valley and their potential for bioaccumulation.