The Water-Security Connection
By Dean Amhaus, President & CEO
I often talk about how the U.S. doesn’t pay enough attention to water issues (see, for example, this column from just last week), so you can imagine how pleased I was to see Vice President Kamala Harris’ recent announcement of the White House Action Plan on Global Water Security. Of course, this is just a first step and it must be followed by concrete action, but it’s encouraging to see this public acknowledgement of water’s importance to national and global security.
This announcement couldn’t come at a more opportune time for The Water Council. We are nearly ready to announce an exciting partnership with implications for our organization and the nation’s water security. Stay tuned for more information very soon.
Meanwhile, we expect water and national security to be a major topic of our Water Leaders Summit happening Oct. 5 and 6. The theme is Unifying Innovation & Stewardship. We need both for our nation and the world to thrive. Click here to learn more about sponsorship and registration. Discounted early-bird registration ends Friday!
Innovation Update
There’s no summer break when it comes to our innovation programming. We will host our third and final week of training next week for participants in our BREW 2.0 Post-Accelerator. These 10 late-stage startups from all over the world are looking to scale up their water technology innovations.
You can learn more about NanoAffix Science, one of this year’s participants, in this profile from Wisconsin Inno. Learn about the full cohort at this year’s Demo Day, happening virtually June 23. Registration is free.
We are also wrapping up our spring Tech Challenge. Our sponsors, A. O. Smith Corporation, Badger Meter, Watts Water Technologies and Xylem, recently chose the semi-finalists and are now meeting with them to choose a winner.
water stewardship
Not to be outdone, our water stewardship team is also staying busy. Today we launched our first Comprehensive Water Stewardship Training. This three-day virtual training teaches principles, foundations and best practices to improve water stewardship strategy and performance. If you missed this round, you can register for our next session in December. Members receive a 25% discount.
We continue to build our new WAVE: Water Stewardship Verified program. Last week we announced our newest client, BlueTriton Brands. BlueTriton is a North American provider of bottled water brands including Poland Spring, Ice Mountain and Pure Life. WAVE will help BlueTriton improve its enterprise-level water stewardship performance and public reporting, concluding with independent verification of its progress.
Helping with our water stewardship efforts this summer, particularly WAVE, is our intern, Louie Glotfelty. Louis is a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee working toward a master’s degree in urban planning. Learn more about Louie on our blog.
Does this sound like the kind of work you want to do? We are looking for our next manager of water stewardship solutions. Ideal candidates have at least one or two years of experience in water and sustainability and a graduate degree in business, environmental sciences or a sustainability-related field.
new members
This month we welcome new members Triple Clear Water Solutions of Needham, Massachusetts, and Elodys International of Soulaines-sur-Aubance, France.
Our vice president of economic development and innovation, Karen Frost, and our European representative, Beverley Ferrara, were happy to catch up with several of our overseas and U.S. members at IFAT in Munich, Germany, a few weeks ago. It’s wonderful to catch up with members old and new as pandemic-related restrictions continue to loosen.
That reminds me: Members, don’t forget to register for our upcoming member meeting June 21 at Potawatomi Business Development Corporation. It’s our first in-person meeting since 2019, and we can’t wait to see you!
Our staff met with several members and BREW participants at IFAT, including Vienna Water Monitoring Solutions.
Member News & Opportunities
- News: Rapid Radicals, a member and alumnus of our BREW Accelerator, won the Wisconsin Governor’s Business Plan Contest.
- News: A. O. Smith Corporation has acquired Atlantic Filter Corporation, a water treatment solutions company.
- Event: The U.S. Green Building Council is holding its inaugural Digital Product Solutions Showcase on July 26-28.
- Event: The US Water Alliance will hold its One Water Summit in Milwaukee on Sept. 13-15.
Photo by Peter Zuzga