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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.

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?

Celebrate National Dairy Month by learning about Miltrim Farms, a dairy farm in Marathon County, Wis., that became the first farm in North America to achieve certification to the Alliance for Water Stewardship International Water Stewardship Standard.

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.

The use of digital technologies in water-related reporting can lead the way in ESG reporting.

Although buildings are homes to living beings, they can also be thought of as living entities themselves. While it’s not a perfect analogy, buildings are “alive” in the sense that the materials used to make them, the locations they occupy, and the ways owners and occupants treat a building’s shell and systems all have a profound impact on the useful life of a building.

With Elementis and Engel Tool & Forge becoming the latest Milwaukee-area businesses to be certified to the Alliance for Water Stewardship Standard, the high concentration of AWS-certified sites in Milwaukee’s ‘nearshore catchment’ has led to the development of the world’s first ‘Water District’ that others can follow. LEARN MORE

The Water Council’s Matt Howard welcomes the Fund for Lake Michigan’s Vicki Elkin and the Harbor District’s Lilith Fowler to discuss how water-related stakeholder collaboration led to the development of an urban ‘Water District’ model based on the principles of the Alliance for Water Stewardship (AWS) Standard, which also serves as a best practice for other regions to follow. Listen in! MORE

In episode 8 of Water Sessions, The Water Council’s Dylan Waldhueter welcomes Miltrim Farms Manager David Trimner to learn more about the dairy farm’s water stewardship journey and what can be achieved by employing good water stewardship and innovative farming principles. Listen in! MORE