A Season of Change at The Water Council
By Dean Amhaus, President & CEO
It’s a season of change at The Water Council. In April, I will celebrate 15 remarkable and incredible years leading The Water Council. However, I am ready to pass on the reigns and announced my retirement earlier this month.
It has been incredibly rewarding to reflect on the impact The Water Council has made. While I step away, my commitment to protecting our most precious resource remains steadfast. I also look forward to having more time to enjoy those very resources—both in Milwaukee and beyond. Most of all, I am excited to watch and support The Water Council as it continues to make a real difference in the world, building upon its legacy and reinforcing Milwaukee as the place Where Water Works.
Along with my retirement, we recently announced that The Water Council will become an affiliate member of the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce. This move will open new doors for The Water Council and strengthen our organization, but one thing that won’t change is our commitment to our members and to solving global water challenges.
After all that, I have one more change to announce. If you’re not a member, you will receive a different newsletter next month. This newsletter takes a lot of effort to produce, and we’ve decided to send the full version to members only to enhance the value of their membership. Non-members will receive an abbreviated version from now on. If you see value in the full version, as well as other benefits of being a member, please contact us to learn more about membership options.
small business channel
Thanks to our U.S. Small Business Administration contract, we recently launched a resource portal with articles and videos helpful for water technology startups, small businesses and overseas businesses. It includes information on topics such as regulatory compliance, building your team and how changes to the federal government could affect the water technology sphere. Users of the portal will be asked to create a free sign-in.
On April 16, we will hold a free sustainability workshop for water technology companies, held virtually and in person in Milwaukee. Fresh Coast Climate Solutions will help participants create a sustainability plan that acts as a strategic framework to integrate economic, environmental and human resources considerations into a company’s core business operations and decision-making process.
Our small business work took us to Amsterdam this month for Aquatech, a worldwide event for water professionals. Karen Frost, our vice president of economic development and innovation, helped kick off the Aquatech Innovation Forum as part of the “Welcome to the Fishbowl” panel. She joined with Katie Kollhoff Mouat, our director of innovation programs; Beverley Ferrara, our European representative; and Barry Liner, our chief technology officer, in meeting with members, attending panels and making new global connections to help our small business cluster. Congratulations to our BREW company Weaver Labs for winning Aquatech’s Community Award!
innovation update
This month, we announced our BREW 2025 Cohort, selected from applications representing a record-breaking 19 countries. We have selected 10 companies from six countries, including the first participants from Brazil. The companies are:
- Aquapower (Brazil)
- BIOBOX (Spain)
- Conatus Ambiental (Brazil)
- Green Steel Environmental (U.S.)
- Desolenator (Netherlands)
- Legacy Watercare Innovations (Canada)
- Sum. (U.S.)
- WASE (U.K.)
- Watergate (U.K.)
- Weaver Labs (U.S.)
These companies will receive several weeks of virtual training before visiting Milwaukee in June for BREW Week. This year, we will hold our first-ever BREW Showcase, an interactive event with short pitches and exhibits, on June 19.
Our Tech Challenge is open through May 2 for applications. This session’s topics, chosen by sponsors A. O. Smith Corporation, Badger Meter, Watts Water Technologies and Xylem, are:
- Sensors for biological organisms and disinfectant byproducts
- Removal of organic contaminants from water
- “Lab on a chip” for water and wastewater applications
Participants will compete for a $10,000 prize, an opportunity for potential corporate partnership, and corporate expertise and feedback.
The German American Chamber of Commerce Midwest is organizing a delegation of U.S. water infrastructure experts to visit Germany from June 23 to 27. This visit will provide a unique opportunity to engage with leading German experts, companies and projects, offering insights into their approaches to water infrastructure management, innovation and sustainability. If you’d like to learn more, register for an April 24 webinar.
water stewardship
The Water Council is excited to expand our WAVE programming with a brand-new verification program called WAVE: Action. This new program builds on the original WAVE program, now known as WAVE: Assess, ends. WAVE: Assess helps organizations assess water use, impact and risk across their enterprise. WAVE: Action will help companies that have already assessed their water risks, uses and impacts set targets to mitigate highest-priority water risks and prepare to engage stakeholders in collaborative actions that address shared challenges and opportunities.
We’re happy to announce A. O. Smith Corporation, one of the founding members of The Water Council, as the first participant in WAVE: Action. SCS Global Services, an international leader in third-party verification of environmental, social and sustainability performance, will remain our exclusive verification provider for both WAVE programs.
WAVE: Assess is the world’s first enterprise-wide, independently verified water stewardship program, launched by The Water Council in February 2022. WAVE: Action is a separate verification program available to companies that have completed WAVE: Assess or can show that they have already assessed their water risks and opportunities and created a senior-level water commitment.
As we announced last month, we have teamed up with the ANSI National Accreditation Board (ANAB) to offer virtual comprehensive water stewardship training. We will host a free webinar with ANAB on April 10 for anyone interested in learning more about the training or corporate water stewardship.
Members, contact Matt Howard if you’re interested in discounted water stewardship training.
member news & opportunities
- News: CIS receives the Business Achievement Award for Climate Resilience Industry Leadership from the Climate Change Business Journal for its work on the Fresh Coast Protection Partnership with the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District.
- News: Hunter Crown, LLC hires Ron Dermady as its new Vice President of Operations. Ron brings almost 25 years of experience in recruiting, leadership development, and operational strategy to Hunter Crown.
- News: Laurie Parsons receives the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Alumni Association’s Honorary Alumni Award. Parsons was most recently market and strategy director for Ramboll Water Americas and is now transitioning into retirement.
- News: Kevin Shafer, executive director of the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District, receives a Wetland Conservation Achievement Award from Ducks Unlimited in the category of local conservation.
- News: PolyGone launches a new website.
- News: Mark Fisher, CEO of the Council of the Great Lakes Region, has been named the first president of the Canada Water Agency.
- Events: The Green Sports Alliance Summit will take place June 10-12 in Miami with the theme of Game On 2030.
- Jobs: Veolia North America seeks a safety and security manager based in Milwaukee.
- Jobs: Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission seeks a water resources planner/scientist.
- Jobs: University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s Center for Water Policy seeks an assistant director.
- Jobs: Green Steel Environmental seeks a sales engineer with a background in environmental engineering. Email cover letters and resumes to careers@greensteelenvironmental.com.