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President of the Board, Lisa
Sparrow, President and CEO
of Utilities Inc., after the presentation
of NAWC’S
Management Innovation
Awards wherein four member
companies walked away with
honors for their industrychanging
ideas including
Missouri American Water for
their Hammerbodies Wellness
and Safety Program; Baton
Rouge Water Company for its
Efficient Use of Segways;
Middlesex Water Company’s
Marsh Water Main
Replacement Project, and
CH2M HILL’s Sustainability
Pilot Program which consisted
of 57 community projects.
And for the first time,
members had the opportunity
to earn the American Water
Works Association (AWWA)
Customer Service Certificate,
a recognized industry-wide
certification. The program,
developed by AWWA with
support from NAWC, offers
professional training to staff
of water and wastewater utilities
that do not have the
resources available for an inhouse
customer service training
curriculum.
The next NAWC Water
Summit will be held in
Miami, Florida, at Turnberry
Isle from October 7-10, 2012.
American Water Summit
Held in Atlanta
The American Water Summit Conference
met Nov. 9-10 in Atlanta. The event was
organized by Global Water Intelligence of
the United Kingdom. There were close to
300 attendees.
The “Water Investment Idol” judges were Steve
Maxwell, Jeff Garwood, Mark LeChevallier and
David Gray.
The conference concentrated on four
areas: 1) water and energy issues, including
gas shale fracking, 2) investing in
water, 3) desalination, and 4) public-private
partnerships.
Principal organizers of the event were
Debra Coy, Svanda & Coy Consulting, and
Steve Maxwell, TechKNOWLEDGEy
Strategic Group. The conference was a blend
of panel presentations and a networking
roundtable session, including a unique Water
Investment Idol session modeled somewhat
after the hit TV program “American Idol.”
The main sponsor of the event was Pentair.
Panel presentations included such titles as
“Water and Energy,” “Inland Desalination
and Scarcity Solutions,” “Breaking the Mold
on Infrastructure Finance,” and “Growing
Blue – Moving Water Up the Agenda.”
There were 20 networking roundtables with
discussion leaders and topics such as: Kevin
Shafer, Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage
District, “Sustainability in Wastewater
Planning,” Ben Grumbles, Clean Water
America Alliance, “Hydraulic Fracturing:
Fresh Facts and Critical Choices,” and Greg
Heitzman, Louisville Water Co., “The
Corporatized Municipal Water Co.”
There were five “Water Investment Idol”
presenters. Michael Curren, Atlantis
Technologies, was the winner for his radial
deionization water purification system. A
unique electronic technology aspect of the
conference was a system that enabled attendees
to vote on various questions raised in the
panel discussions. Results of the surveys
were immediately shown on a large screen.
Christopher Gasson, Global Water
Intelligence, noted this was the second
America Water Summit held. The first was
in 2010 and drew about 250 attendees.
Christopher Gasson, Global Water Intelligence,
and Kathy Shandling, IPWA.
For more information visit www.uimonline.com/info
November/December 2011
Water Utility Infrastructure Management 13