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A Sharper Focus on Water Risk By Dean Amhaus, President & CEO We’ve finally (almost) made it to summer, but at The Water Council we are already thinking about autumn… Read More

Busy times for all of us, but for The Water Council team that has been especially the case the last several weeks! Read about our experience at WEFTEC, new members of our Board of Directors, a new membership program and upcoming innovation programs in our October update.

WEFTEC is a highlight of The Water Council’s year, and though the event looked different in 2021, that fact didn’t change. The Water Council has a strong presence at this year’s event in Chicago, co-sponsoring the Global Center with the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation on behalf of the state of Wisconsin.

We are just a few days out from the start of WEFTEC, the global conference for water professionals organized by the Water Environment Federation. We are so excited to meet up with the rest of the water technology sector for the first time in two years to learn and network.

As I write this, we are expecting another day of severe storms and extreme heat in Milwaukee. Is this caused by climate change? It’s hard to say for certain, but we know climate change is here and will get worse, as confirmed by the recent United Nations report. While the news about climate change is alarming, we at The Water Council see a huge opportunity to leverage our work in water innovation, technology and stewardship to make a real impact in the sustainability movement.

I’m pleased to invite you to our second Milwaukee post-WEFTEC business development event for U.K. and European companies October 20-22. We’ve created a thought-provoking agenda to facilitate a meaningful exchange of ideas and strategies: from engaging with new, powerful panels to small group discussions featuring water specialists, state government officials, utility partners and industry C-suite executives, and, of course, through personal networking.

Water, as one of Water Leaders Summit panelists said this week, is having a moment. Our discussions this week, much like week one, couldn’t have been timelier. On Tuesday, we talked to Sara Gonzalez-Rothi, senior director for water for the White House Council on Environmental Quality, with a follow-up panel from Emilio Tenuta of Ecolab and Claudia Toussaint of Xylem. As expected, they emphasized over and over how closely water is tied to climate change.

What a week it has been for Milwaukee! I’m talking, of course, about the first three sessions of our annual Water Leaders Summit, presented by A. O. Smith and Baird. Why, did something else happen here this week?

We’re thrilled to announce we will host Sara Gonzalez-Rothi, the first-ever senior director for water on the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), at part of our virtual Water Leaders Summit happening July 20-22 and 27-29. Read on to see the full agenda.

The urgency is growing to address water quality and scarcity issues, as shown in a recent Gallup poll and data released by the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration. Read more in the May update from The Water Council President & CEO Dean Amhaus.