A Clear Commitment to America’s Waters
53
Summer Conference
M
ore than 50 wastewater utility, drinking water util-
ity, private sector, and federal officials came together
during
Water Week 2014
for a day-and-a-half facili-
tated dialogue on climate and resilience issues. The
Water Resilience Summit
, convened by the NACWA and the Association
of Metropolitan Water Agencies (AMWA), focused on the need for
federal-municipal cooperation to build water sector resilience – and
featured representatives from an array of federal agencies, includ-
ing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Federal
Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the Department of
Interior (DOI), the Department of Energy (DOE), the White House’s
Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), and the U.S. Army Corps
of Engineers.
EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy provided a keynote address at the
Summit stating that “...we are spending time on resilience because the
100 year storm is nowmore like the 100 week storm. Municipalities
are developing different strategies to deal with these issues and asking
how can EPA bring solutions to you?” McCarthy also touted the great
work utilities are doing to embrace the NACWA/Water Environment
Federation (WEF)/Water Environment Research Foundation (WERF)
Water Resources Utility of the Future (UOTF) initiative and how it is
helping our cities become more resilient.
Following the Summit, the CEQmet with NACWA staff and a mem-
ber utility representative to outline possible partnerships on key ad-
vocacy issues under the UOTF portfolio, including water reuse. The
Association briefed staff fromCEQ’s Land and Water divisions on the
collaborative UOTF initiative, including efforts to promote resource
recovery, energy generation and water reuse. CEQ discussed its interest
in UOTF issues, especially water reuse which relates to their work with
the National Drought Resilience Partnership (NDRP), an interagency
effort to make it easier to access Federal drought resources by linking
relevant information with drought resilience strategies.
NACWA will continue to engage CEQ and the White House on UOTF
and reuse efforts, exploring possible partnerships and support state-
ments on resilience-related issues in the coming months. A white paper
will be released this summer summarizing the Summit’s discussions
and outlining collaborative next steps.
NACWA, AMWA Host Water Resilience Summit
During Water Week 2014
Utility leaders – in their communication with ratepayers, elected of-
ficials and other stakeholders – are embracing their role as managers
of key resources and focusing their sights on the economic, environ-
mental and social value they provide to their communities,
and the na-
tion. NACWA has embarked on a new effort to describe and assist
today’s clean water utilities communicate these triple bottom line
contributions. Ken Rubin, Managing Director for Rubin Mallows
Worldwide, the paper’s author, will kick off the keynote address,
and be joined by George Hawkins, General Manager for DC Water,
who will provide a first-hand account of how ‘telling the story’ of
your utility and its contributions can reap benefits on multiple
fronts.
Sessions to Focus on Challenges,
Opportunities Facing Utility Executives
The Summer Conference’s focus on executive utility leadership
will showcase how today’s leaders are working to craft a new story
for their utilities. Featured speakers will provide perspectives on
how the transformation in utility operations – to embrace an array
of recoverable resources – will necessitate changes in management
and leadership. Finding the right mix of public and private engage-
ment and investment continues to be a hot topic, and conference
participants will hear insights gained from an important dialogue
between public and private leaders in June. The connection between
water and economic growth and jobs has never been stronger and a
roundtable discussion will explore the issue further with perspec-
tives from utility managers, as well as the labor and environmental
communities.
The conference will include a Saturday, July 12,
Rock the Current
5K Run/Walk at Gov. Tom McCall Waterfront Park benefitting
Water for People Portland. Three post-conference tours will feature
the innovative work NACWA’s members are doing in and around
Portland. Registration and the conference agenda are now avail-
able. Additional information including an agenda and registation
is available on the NACWA
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator, Gina McCarthy
provides the keynote address of the Water Resilience Summit while NACWA
Board Member and Chief Engineer for the Boston Water & Sewer
Commission, Mass. looks on.
