Clean Water Current

The water sector once again united this year for Water Week, a yearly event to celebrate the importance of water and advocate for making water a top national priority. This year, due to COVID-19 concerns, events were held virtually.

The anchor event for the week was the Virtual Policy Zoom-In, co-hosted by 18 different water sector partners on April 27. Utilities representing clean water, drinking water, and stormwater, as well as water research, water reuse, and more were all present and nearly 1,000 total participants were included.

Over the course of the Zoom-In, participants heard remarks from EPA Administrator Michael Regan, Principal Deputy Assistant Administrator for Water Radhika Fox, and key office directors from EPA’s Office of Water. Senator Tom Carper, Senator Shelley Moore Capito, and other Members of Congress participated by video.

NACWA also hosted a special utility executives’ virtual event on water funding and financing issues on April 28. Top EPA staff from the water infrastructure, WIFIA, and SRF programs joined to discuss the latest developments at EPA and take questions from NACWA members.

Water Week 2021 is not yet over, though. Among other events still to come, the Value of Water Campaign will be holding a webinar to examine the results of their latest Value of Water Poll. And you can still join the conversation on social media by accessing premade social media shareable graphics and template messages here. Additional resources are available here.

For our members who were able to participate in Tuesday’s Policy Zoom-In and Wednesday’s finance discussions, we hope you found them informative. For those who were unable participate in the events but would like to view a recording, please email meetings@nacwa.org to obtain a copy.