WATER NOTES
EDUCATION
DWRF Presents 2018 Kristin Safran College Scholarship to Jules Guyard Jules Guyard’s goal is to be a neurosurgeon one day. But until that day comes, he spends much of his spare time giving back to his community of Weed, California, through several volunteering efforts. He once helped with fire relief for two weeks after a devastating fire burned through a portion of the town and volunteered with a food donation organization once a week for two years. He’s also known to help the elderly in his neighborhood whenever needed. Jules’ academic achievements are just as impressive. With a 4.3 grade point average, he was valedictorian of his graduating class from Weed High School. Jules, who is the son of Sebastien and Valerie Guyard of IBWA bottler CG Roxane, was also a member of the school’s soccer and snowboard teams and was active in the school’s student government. Currently, Jules is a Jules Guyard neurobiology major at UC Berkeley. His achievements have not gone unnoticed, as Jules is the recipient of the Drinking Water Research Foundation’s (DWRF) 2018 Kristin Safran College Scholarship. During the judging process, the Kristin Safran College Scholarship Selection Committee blindly reviewed applications from children or grandchildren of IBWA members. Judges did not know the names of the children, parents, or the company the parents worked for when reviewing the applications. Members of the committee include DWRF trustees Jack West, Stew Allen, and Kristin’s widower, Russ Safran. The Kristin Safran College Scholarship Fund was created by DWRF in February 2010, in honor of former IBWA Board of Directors member Kristin Safran (ARK Specialty Services), who passed away in 2009. The scholarship was established to help high school seniors pursue their college studies. For more information about DWRF, visit www.thefactsaboutwater.org.
TARIFFS
IBWA Urges the USTR to Provide Tariff Exemptions for Bottled Water Coolers and Filters IBWA submitted comments to the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) on October 9, 2018, urging the administration to allow exemptions for bottled water coolers and filters from China that are currently facing 25 percent import tariffs. IBWA stated that it would be extremely difficult to procure these products from countries other than China and also argued that tariffs would have a negative financial impact on the industry, particularly for many small- and mid-sized bottled water companies. In total, these tariffs may increase costs to the industry by $306.9 million each year. The USTR announced tariffs on several imports from China earlier this year, including bottled water coolers, filters, and other products and machinery important to bottled water companies. When this occurred, IBWA submitted comments to the USTR urging the administration to remove the bottled water products from the list of potential items facing tariffs, citing potential financial harm to the industry as a key reason. Unfortunately, the products remained on the list, and tariffs were imposed on July 6. If you have any questions on this issue or would like a copy of the comments IBWA submitted to USTR, please contact IBWA Vice President of Government Relations Cory Martin: cmartin@bottledwater.org.
NOV/DEC 2018
BWR
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