Blog

Dean Amhaus, president and CEO of The Water Council, reflects on 15 years of leading the organization as he announces his retirement.

To respond to challenges involving water quality and quantity, the American Chemistry Council collaborated with The Water Council to develop the Water Body Risk Assessment (WBRA), which provides a framework and step-by-step methodology to help ACC members understand their water uses, impacts and risks in the communities in which they operate.

With a new year, we welcome several new faces helping us fulfill our mission to solve global water challenges through innovation and water stewardship. I’m excited to introduce you to our new board directors, staff member and a leader for our workforce collaboration with Veolia North America.

The Water Council recently announced the hiring of Katie Kollhoff Mouat, our new director of innovation programs. Katie’s background as an engineer and water tech entrepreneur is perfectly suited to this new role. Learn more about Katie in this interview.

2025 is bringing major changes to the U.S. federal government that are sure to impact the water sector. How will a new White House administration and Congress affect water technology innovation in areas such as research, regulations, sustainability, tax policy and funding? Learn more about our upcoming webinars along with updates to our innovation programming and water stewardship in our January newsletter.

The Water Council Board and I are very proud of and greatly appreciate the tireless work that the team provides, playing an important part in solving global water challenges by driving freshwater technologies and advancing stewardship across the U.S. and abroad. Read on to learn how we did that in 2024.

As fall is a time of transition, so too is The Water Council transitioning in our work as we plan for 2025 and beyond. We just wrapped up our first Nexus Sustainability Leaders Summit with much positive feedback, and now we turn our attention to ramping up our small business offerings through our Regional Innovation Cluster Award from the U.S. Small Business Administration. Read more about both of those initiatives in our monthly newsletter.

The Water Council and Marquette University’s Sustainability Lab held our first-ever Nexus Sustainability Leaders Summit last week, and what a way to kick off a new event! Nearly 200 people gathered at the Harley-Davidson Museum to discuss pressing topics in water and energy, including climate resilience, meeting the needs for the energy transition, the role of artificial intelligence in water and energy, and sustainable finance.

The Water Council recently participated in the Invest Northern Ireland (Invest NI) Sustainable Water Connect event with colleagues from Invest NI, Uisce Eireann (formerly Irish Water) and British Water. Our goal? To demystify expansion into new markets and highlight resources available to help companies take advantage of opportunities in the Republic of Ireland, Great Britain and the United States.

The Water Council got our start supporting water technology businesses in Milwaukee’s World Water Hub, and that remains the heart of our mission today. So it was humbling and gratifying to learn recently that we have been awarded a $2.5 million Regional Innovation Cluster (RIC) award from the U.S. Small Business Administration to continue building on that foundation as a mature innovation cluster.