NACWA News

As part of NACWA’s upcoming 50th Anniversary in 2020, the Association is putting together a comprehensive report that details all of the remarkable progress the public clean water sector has made over the last 50 years – including all the amazing contributions clean water utilities have made environmentally, socially, and economically to their communities and to the nation.

NACWA convened its 49th Annual Association Business Meeting during the 2019 Utility Leadership Conference in Minneapolis last week. In addition to reports from NACWA’s President, Treasurer and CEO, the membership took action to elect a slate of new and returning Board Members and to amend the Association’s bylaws.

As NACWA plans to celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2020, the Association is also honoring its founders—and the many incredible people that helped to make the Association what it is today. One such individual was Charles V. “Tom” Gibbs, the first president of the Association of Metropolitan Sewerage Agencies (AMSA)—now known as NACWA.

Just this past Saturday, June 22, marked the 50th anniversary of the now famous Cuyahoga River fire. Though it was not the first time the river was ablaze, the 1969 fire proved to be a turning point for water quality in the United States and a major impetus for today’s Clean Water Act.

NACWA’s 2018 Cost of Clean Water Index indicates that the average cost of wastewater services rose 3.9 percent in 2018, surpassing the increase in the rate of inflation as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for the 17th consecutive year. According to the Index, the national average amount that a single-family residence pays for wastewater collection and treatment is now...