Page 1 - Clean Water Advocate February/March 2013

FEBRUARY/MARCH 2013

Inside

NACWA Shines Spotlight on

Integrated Planning, Financial

Capability....................................... 2

Affordability is a NACWA Top

Priority at Start of

113th Congress.............................. 2

Pretreatment & Pollution

Prevention Workshop Offers

Unique Opportunity...................... 3

NACWA, WEF, APWA Works on

Flushable Product Challenges........ 3

NACWA Honors Agencies............. 4

NACWA, Once Voice for Clean

Water - Yours................................. 5

Greitens to Keynote Summer

Conference..................................... 6

Former Navy SEAL and best-selling author

Eric Greitens will keynote NACWA’s Summer

Conference, July 14 - 17 in Cincinnati, Ohio.

N

ACWA’s

National Environmental Policy Forum

is well-timed,

bringing together policy makers and clean water profes-

sionals to discuss the country’s most urgent clean water

issues. Held in Washington, D.C., April 21-24, the

Forum

will

explore the impacts to clean water from a 113th Congress that is

focused on key budgetary issues – and an Obama Administration

that has made clear that a proactive environmental agenda re-

mains a top priority. The

Policy Forum

also takes place on Earth

Day, providing a unique opportunity to re-examine four decades

of utility leadership under the Clean Water Act and whether, and

to what degree, the Act is helping or hindering a paradigm shift to

The Water Resources Utility of the Future.

The

Policy Forum

will feature high level discussions and NACWA

committee meetings on hot topic issues important to all

Association members, including integrated planning and afford-

ability, controlling agricultural run-off, opening renewable energy

markets, and innovative financing for clean water investments.

Key Congressional and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

(EPA) officials will be among those speaking and attending, en-

suring that Association members come away with the maximum

amount of information on issues sure to impact their utility back

home.

Policy Forum to Examine Clean Water Act Viability;

Set Course for Utility of the Future

NACWA, WERF and WEF Collaborate on

The Water Resources Utility of the

Future. . . A Blueprint for Action

I

n early February, NACWA, the Water

Environment Research Foundation (WERF),

and the Water Environment Federation

(WEF), jointly released a pioneering docu-

ment that defines the evolving environmental,

economic, and social roles that clean water utili-

ties are playing in their communities. As outlined

in

Water Resources Utility of the Future . . .A Blueprint

for Action

, this new water resources ‘Utility of the

Future’ (UOTF) is transforming the way tradition-

al wastewater utilities view themselves and man-

age their operations. The document explores how

traditional publicly owned treatment works have

mastered their core wastewater treatment function

and are now redefining themselves as resource re-

covery agencies and vital community enterprises.

The

Blueprint

opens the door to re-imagining the

Clean Water Act in the wake of unprecedented

progress and evolution over the 40 years since the

Act’s passage. “This

Blueprint

will help us realize

a sustainable future that minimizes waste, maxi-

mizes resources, protects the ratepayer, improves

the community, and embraces innovation in an

unprecedented manner,” said Ken Kirk, Executive

Director, NACWA.

Conferences and a Caucus Follow Suit

As part of the evolving initiative, NACWA,

WERF and WEF made certain that UOTF issues

were front-and-center at their winter meetings.

NACWA’s Winter Conference, T

omorrow’s Clean

Water Utility. . .Is the Future Already Here?

, explored

the evolution of clean water utilities into resource

managers that provide benefits to the environ-

ment and their communities. The Association’s

Summer Conference,

Managing & Financing the

Resilient Clean Water Utility

, will examine other im-

portant components of the UOTF.

The Association has also reached out to the U.S.

House of Representatives with a request to es-

tablish a Congressional Caucus on Clean Water

Technology & Innovation. Such a caucus of leg-

islators would be charged with exploring issues

CONTINUED ON PAGE

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»

A

Clear

Commitment to America’s Waters

CONTINUED ON PAGE

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»

National Association of

Clean Water Agencies

1816 Jefferson Place, NW

Washington DC 20036-2505

p

202.833.2672

f

202.833.4657

info@nacwa.org

•

www.nacwa.org

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