Director's Report
As the weather beings to warm, many of us start thinking about summer plans. ACE 17 will be in Philadelphia and I know that Nebraska will have a good representation there. In Philadelphia, there will be a silent auction to support the Water Equation. The Water Equation is a new philanthropic initiative on the part of AWWA. It is focused on meeting the ever-growing need for pure drinking water and efficient wastewater treatment systems, and to address the critical shortage of skilled water professionals. The Nebraska Section has donated a package of mail order steaks to the silent auction. If in Philadelphia, I encourage you to stop by and bid.
I know that many of our Section members have opportunities to provide presentations to school and community groups. AWWA has developed a new suite of materials for these presentations, and they are now available for download online. There are two presentations, one each for elementary students and high school students. The presentations focus on the value of water, how the urban water cycle works, and (for the high school students) potential careers in water. Both presentations include a PowerPoint presentation, lesson plan, handouts and quiz with answer key. Sections and members are all encouraged to make use of the materials. These presentations are available in AWWA's online Public Communications Toolbox, under the Community and Youth Communications tab. Questions may be sent to Deirdre Mueller, AWWA Senior Communications Manager.
AWWA is currently partnered with Rural Community Assistance Partnership (RCAP) and the Environmental Finance Center Network (EFCN) under Area 1 and Area 2 of the 2016-2017 USEPA Small Systems Grant. The period of performance is August 1, 2016 through January 31, 2018. The Association is once again partnering with its 37 US Sections including Puerto Rico to successfully provide free training to small systems through in-person workshops, eLearning, and webinars. Additionally, the Association is pleased to announce that RCAP received notification of award under Area 1 to continue delivery of small systems workshops in 2018. AWWA's sub-agreement was completed recently. The proposal included new lessons and hands-on activities, so the Association will spend the rest of 2017 developing content with workshop delivery occurring during 2018.
AWWA has created a website for sharing Section's educational program called Water Training and Education Resource Exchange (WaTER-X). Sections can contact other Sections directly to inquire about sharing the content. WaTER-X is a focus point of the Education Strategic Theme Committee and will be a key distribution pathway for any Association developed content, including the upcoming cybersecurity training. The on-line catalog can be found at www.awwa.org/waterx.
The last item is to look ahead to the fall of 2017. The visiting AWWA Dignitary this fall will be Mark Coleman of the Michigan Section. He is a new Vice President and a consulting engineer. He is willing to help the program committee by giving a presentation on topics such as lead service line removal, from both his experience and the AWWA perspective.
