TEX Sh2o | February/March 2015 |
®
The Official Newsletter of the Texas Section AWWA | Every Drop, Every Day, Everywhere ©
Join some finny friends for the Conference Night Out at the Texas State Aquarium April 16
You'll Flip for Texas Water 2015tm April 14-17, Corpus Christi TWDB News | Chapter Roundup | Calendar | and|more! Cybersecurity | LCRA's Drought | Water Use Decline and more!
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| Texas Water 2015 |
Where Did the Time Go? It's the 20th Texas Water! 1995-1996 Texas Section Chair Ronny Hyde of Fort Worth welcomes registrants to the first Texas Water conference in Austin
T
he 20th Texas Water, the Largest Regional Water Conference in the U.S.tm, hits the beach in Corpus Christi April 14-17. Like most 20-year-olds, it’ll be a little bit loud and sprawling, but who can blame it? Its previous birthdays have ushered in a lot of “firsts” that have been important for Texas AWWA specifically and for the Texas water community generally. For example, Texas Water 1997 in Arlington saw the beginnings of the TAWWA Young Professionals Committee that has provided much of the “oomph” that pushed TAWWA into new areas. That recognition of 35-and-under professionals led to the creation of the Maverick Award in 2003, and its CONTINUED PAGE 27 | Texas Water 2015
www.tawwa.org TEXASh2o FEBRUARY/MARCH 2015 | 3 |
| letter from the texas section chair |
Hitting the Beach Texas Section American Water Works Association P.O. Box 80150 Austin, Texas 78708 www.tawwa.org Alissa Lockett, Chair 210-233-3401 Jennifer Elms, Chair-Elect 713-784-4500 Daniel Nix, Vice-Chair 940-691-1153 Christianne Castleberry, Imm. Past Chair 512-751-9272 Mike Howe Executive Director/Secretary-Treasurer 512-238-9292 Fax: 512-238-0496 mikehowe@tawwa.org This publication is distributed bi-monthly to the more than 3,500 members and friends of the Texas Section – American Water Works Association. Contributing writers can contact the editor: Cliff Avery GCP Association Services PO Box 676 Pflugerville, TX 78691 512-251-8101 Fax: 512-251-8152 texwater@texas.net The publication name, TexasH2O: © 1996-2015 Texas Section – American Water Works Association, Inc. © 2015 Texas Section – American Water Works Association, Inc.
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BY ALISSA LOCKETT texas section chair
S
pring is finally here, which means it is closing in on time for us to come together in Corpus Christi at Texas Water 2015tm from April 14 to 17. The Local Host Committee, led by Alexa Fulbright and Richard Eason from the City of Corpus Christi, has planned many great opportunities for networking, professional development, and giving back to the community. In its 20 year, Texas Water 2015 is on course to set records and be a huge success. th
TM
ALISSA LOCKETT 210-233-3401 alissa.lockett@saws.org
Networking. I will be celebrating my last year as a “young” professional this year, so I will definitely be attending the Young Professionals & Student Reception on Wednesday. The budding Mentoring Program will be in full swing, and as always, there will not be anybody checking ID’s so the young and young-at-heart are all welcome. Another great networking opportunity is the Women of Texas Water Lunch on Thursday, where Corpus Christi Mayor Nelda Martinez will be our honored guest speaker. We are sure to have better sandwiches this year, and the great company that the amazing women (and a few brave men) in this industry provide cannot be beat! Be sure to visit the Exhibit Hall, too, as that is the networking hub of the entire conference with more than 450 exhibitors that will have the widget or service that is exactly what you need. Professional Development. We are lucky that the water industry is full of some really smart people that are eager to share their expertise with all of us to make the world a better place. This year the Program Committee, co-chaired by TAWWA Vice Chair Daniel Nix of Wichita Falls and WEAT's Meera Victor of Carollo Engineers, has assembled a rich technical program of about 165 presentations covering the major topics of interest within our profession that will bring your knowledge to the next level. Recognizing the importance of operator training, there will be a dedicated Operator track CONTINUED PAGE 21 | letter from the texas section chair
| 4 | FEBRUARY/MARCH 2015 TEXASh2o www.tawwa.org
| executive director report |
Making It Up as We Went Along BY MIKE HOWE tawwa executive director
A heads up. This is not a “war story” as in a collection of recollections about the past. Even though it nearly starts with "once upon a time", the following is a true story and real names are used. n late 1995, when I was working for the Austin Water utility, the Director, Randy Goss, called me into his office. I was the utility Community Relations Officer and he needed help with a project. After many years of Texas AWWA and the Water Environment Association of Texas each hosting individual conferences, both associations had decided to bow to the requests of their exhibitors and combine forces to host one conference. The exhibitors’ request came after realizing that for many of the years before 1995, both conferences were held in the spring, both conferences had the same exhibitors, and both conferences were seeing the same attendees. The exhibitors realized they were spending twice the money in a short period of time to market to the same attendees. At the same time, the two associations realized their members were in essence attending the same conference in about a six-week period. The only differences were some of the topics at each. At one, primarily water topics. At the other, primarily wastewater top-
I
ics. But, each conference also had topics that were universal to all water professionals. The time had come to join forces for all the right reasons, reduce expenses for exhibitors and attendees, and see if collectively, the two associations could build MIKE HOWE a better conference. 512-238-9292 mikehowe@tawwa.org So, in 1996, the first Texas Water conference began at the Austin Convention Center. It was a rousing success. But, it wasn’t easy to create. Co-chaired by Austin utility staff Jane Burazer and Raj Bhattarai, my staff in the utility Public Information Office were charged with the logistical implementation of the conference. We also were to develop the conference brochure. Our first challenge was to decide whose name would go first on the cover. After many meetings with a series of decisions on how the conference would proceed, no decision was made about who was first on the brochure. Finally, with a print deadline looming, I made an “executive decision” to go alphabetically. TAWWA first, CONTINUED PAGE 30 | executive director report
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| drought |
Are We in the New 'Drought of Record'? LCRA Says It's Never Seen a Drier Period Feb. 24 drought map from U.S. Drought Monitor
T
he Lower Colorado River Authority unleashed discussion about the possibility of a new “the drought of record” with its announcement that preliminary 2014 data shows the Highland Lakes is now the most severe drought the region has experienced since construction of the lakes began in the 1930s. As a direct result of the prolonged record-dry conditions and record-low inflows from the streams and tributaries feeding the Highland Lakes, the “firm yield,” or inventory of water LCRA can provide reliably every year, has been decreased by about 100,000 acre-feet, to 500,000 acre-feet per year. (An acre-foot of water is 325,851 gallons.) Further reductions in firm yield are possible as the drought continues. CONTINUED PAGE 19 | LCRA
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| cybersecurity |
Put Cybersecurity on Front Burner or Get Burned BY ASHLEY MATHEWS & RICK McCREARY University of Texas at Arlington
A
nyone involved with public works systems inherently understands our community of professionals should act to protect infrastructure and the computer systems that run it. Yet, the cyberthreats to these systems are often neglected. Managing cyber risk is often pushed to the infamous “back burner” because it’s perceived to be costly, unnecessary, the responsibility of information technology (IT) professionals, or just too difficult to understand. Unfortunately, recent media stories shine a spotlight on how dangerous ignoring cyber risk can be. Will you be the person held responsible for not being proactive about your facility’s exposure to a cyber attack? The Sony Pictures Entertainment saga illustrates that cyber attacks are a nightmare for corporate man-
agement, but it also highlights the real threats to our nation’s security. In fact the risk is so real and pervasive to the control systems that water infrastructure depends upon, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) established the Industrial Control Systems Cyber Emergency Response Team (ICS-CERT, https://icscert.us-cert.gov/ ) to monitor and help respond to incidents. ICS-CERT reported that there were over 200 cyber attacks to industrial controls systems in first half of 2013. Note that this data reflects just the ones that were reported to DHS! One has to wonder how many hundreds of others went unreported. Additionally, it would be a mistake to think cyber attacks are a problem for large corporations, banks, retailers and the federal government. The Repository CONTINUED PAGE 22 | cybersecurity
| 10 | FEBRUARY/MARCH 2015 TEXASh2o www.tawwa.org
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| water use |
Improved Plumbing Standards Credited for Lowest Water Use Since Early 70s A dramatic drop in the level of national water use is traceable to factors such as improved plumbing standards, Texas water conservation experts say. In November, the U.S. Geological Survey released its once-every-five years analysis of water withdrawals, focusing on 2010. The annual withdrawal of 355 billion gallons of water per day was not only a 13 percent decrease from 2005, it was the lowest level in almost 45 years. According to the USGS, withdrawals for public water supply use declined 5 percent between 2005 and 2010, despite a 4-percent increase in population during the same period. It was the first decline since the USGS started analyzing water use in 1950. Carole Baker, longtime chair of TAWWA’s Conservation and Reuse Division and now executive director of the Texas Water Foundation, said that improved standards for plumbing devices such as washing machines and toilets made their impact on water usage. In 2006, during AWWA's Annual Conference and Exhibition in San Antonio, the Environmental Protection Agency unveiled its WaterSense program to help consumers identify products that used water efficiently. Mary Ann Dickinson, executive director of the Chicago-based Alliance for Water Efficiency and a TWF Board member, said plumbing code changes help explain the decreased water withdrawals. “Those code changes have meant about a one percent per year reduction
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since 1994, so five percent from 2005 to 2010 seems right. This is the ‘new normal’ of ‘declining demand’ that we have been talking about,” she said. Another factor in the middle of the 2005-2010 time period may be the recession that hit in 2008. “Declines in industrial withdrawals can be attributed to factors such as greater efficiencies in industrial processes, more emphasis on water reuse and recycling, and the 2008 recession, resulting in lower industrial production in major water-using industries,” a USGS news release said. Dickinson noted that the USGS analysis “documents water WITHDRAWALS, not water CONSUMPTION. It counts withdrawals that are returned back to the environment, like cooling water. Usually in water conservation, we measure reductions in consumptive use. USGS is trying to figure out a way to add looking at consumptive use, but it requires a lot more data and they so far have not been able to figure it out." In the analysis of water usage, Texas was second among the water using states. Water used in thermoelectric power accounted for 45 percent of Texas withdrawals, and irrigation accounted for 28 percent. Along with Texas, three other states – California, Florida and Idaho – accounted for almost a quarter of the U.S. usage. Irrigation accounted for 81 percent of water withdrawals in Idaho, the 39th most populous state.
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| 12 | FEBRUARY/MARCH 2015 TEXASh2o www.tawwa.org
| water use by state |
This USGS chart shows water withdrawals by state from west to east. Note that Idaho, the 39th most populous state, ranked 3rd in withdrawals because of irrigation.
www.tawwa.org TEXASh2o FEBRUARY/MARCH 2015 | 13 |
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| water awareness |
Public Still Has Trouble IDing Water Source A new statewide poll commissioned by the Texas Water Foundation shows only 28 percent of Texans say they “definitely know” the natural source of their drinking water -- the exact same percent as ten years ago. A TWF press release called the statistic is “troubling – especially after a period of record drought -- because research shows a direct correlation between knowing where your water comes from and your willingness to conserve.” In 2004, the Texas Water Development Board commissioned a statewide quantitative study to measure consumer awareness levels, attitudes and behaviors related to water. A major finding was that only 28 percent of Texans said they “definitely know” the natural source of their drinking water, and research showed a strong connection between knowledge of water sources and willingness to conserve. TWF’s new 2014
poll shows the percentage of people who know where their water comes from when they turn on the tap hasn’t budged. “You’d think that a decade of drought would get people to pay attention to where their water comes from,” said TWF Executive Director Carole Baker. “Maybe we shouldn’t be surprised that three-quarters of Texans don’t know where their water comes from since the State of Texas has not invested in conservation education. However in North Texas, they’ve proven how increased knowledge can dramatically curb consumption despite tremendous population growth and lingering drought.” Following the 2004 poll, the state adopted a conservation campaign brand “Water IQ: Know Your Water” – tying knowledge of natural water sources to helpful conservation tips. CONTINUED PAGE 18 | Water IQ
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| 16 | FEBRUARY/MARCH 2015 TEXASh2o www.tawwa.org
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| water awareness | CONTINUED FROM PAGE 16 | water IQ
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While no state dollars have been used to fund a comprehensive Water IQ campaign in Texas, the North Texas Municipal Water District has funded a regional Water IQ campaign every summer since 2006, at an annual budget of $1 million to $2 million. Despite a population increase of 49 percent in the region since 2000, NTMWD has been able to curb projected peak day consumption by 200 million to 400 million gallons every summer since 2006. “North Texas represents a bubble of knowledge and the potential for increased education in a fast-growing state,” said Baker. “It’s our hope that the Texas Legislature will look again at funding statewide conservation education this session. Our state can’t afford to continue this patchwork approach to educating people about something as critical to our quality of life and economy as water.” In 2014, TWDB awarded a grant to TWF to conduct a 10-year follow-up to the baseline study. Both the 2004 and 2014 surveys were conducted by Baselice & Associates, with the most recent poll conducted among 1,103 adult Texans October 5-20, 2014, and a margin of error of 3 percent. The 2014 survey shows that only 23 percent of Texans said they’ve seen, read or heard anything about what the state plans to do to meet future water needs. “That’s really disappointing, especially since just over a year ago voters approved Proposition 6 to transfer $2 billion from the Rainy Day Fund to finance projects in the state water plan,” said Baker. “When it comes to water, we have short attention spans and could use all the education we can get.”
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| 18 | FEBRUARY/MARCH 2015 TEXASh2o www.tawwa.org
| drought | CONTINUED FROM PAGE 9 | LCRA In a Feb. 18 presentation to the LCRA board, staff reported preliminary data shows the Highland Lakes are now in a new “critical period” marking the driest conditions on record, eclipsing the 1947-57 drought that until now was the worst on record for this region. “We’re in a historic drought like we’ve never seen in our lifetimes,’’ said Phil Wilson, LCRA general manager. “Based on our preliminary analysis of 2014 data, we are now in a new critical period. As a result, our reliable inventory has been reduced by 100,000 acre-feet a year, to 500,000 acre-feet per year. Even in these conditions, however, lakes Travis and Buchanan remain significantly above their all-time lows,” The most water used by firm customers in a single year was about 250,000 acre-feet in 2011, far below the estimated 500,000 acre-feet per year firm yield. Lakes Travis and Buchanan are the primary water supply reservoirs for many cities in Central Texas. On Feb. 18, the lakes stood at about 717,000 acre-feet, or 36 percent of capacity, – almost 100,000 acre-feet higher than the all-time low combined storage of 621,221 acre-feet, or 32 percent or capacity, seen in 1952. The revised estimate of the firm yield changes the
amount of water available for sale in the future, but does not impact existing contracts, such as those held by the City of Austin and other firm customers. It’s important to note the firm yield is unrelated to trigger levels in the 2010 Water Management Plan. The state-approved plan, which determines how water is allocated in a drought, sets out three triggers that must be met before the LCRA Board issues a Drought Worse Than Drought of Record (DWDR) declaration. Those triggers are: • 24 months since lakes Travis and Buchanan were full. • Prolonged low inflows worse than inflows during the 1947-57 drought. • Combined storage in lakes Travis and Buchanan at less than 600,000 acre-feet. After a DWDR declaration, LCRA would cut off Highland Lakes water for remaining interruptible customers and would impose mandatory across-the-board water use cutbacks of 20 percent for firm customers. Current estimates show the earliest combined storage could hit 600,000 acre-feet is the May-June timeframe.
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| section chair |
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4 | letter from the texas section chair on Friday morning and a Chemical Safety Training Workshop on Wednesday afternoon that covers chlorine and ammonia safety. Don’t forget to take credit for the many CEUs and PDHs that you earn! Giving Back to the Community. This year’s environmental event commemorates Curtis Smalley’s support of the original idea to give back to the local community by doing a community service project before the conference. The 2015 Curtis Smalley Environmental Event on Tuesday morning will help raise awareness of potential harm to the Corpus Christi Bay by contaminants in stormwater runoff. Participants in the event will walk along Shoreline Blvd. placing tiles on stormwater inlets with messages reminding the public that stormwater drains directly into the inlets and out into the bay. Texas
Water is also a time for us to give back to our own water community through the Dodson’s Drive Fun Run bright and early Wednesday morning, which raises funds to support TAWWA/WEAT Young Professionals activities around Texas. Show your support to the hard working operations personnel within our water industry at the competitions in the Exhibit Hall. I’ll be there helping out the Alamo City Tappers (the SAWS Women’s Pipe Tapping Team), so drop by and say hi. At the Conference Night-Out at the Texas State Aquarium on Thursday night, I will pass the gavel to Jennifer Elms so that she can lead this association into a bright future. I look forward to seeing my water professional friends (present and future) at the event as we celebrate water with some fish friends.
www.tawwa.org TEXASh2o FEBRUARY/MARCH 2015 | 21 |
| cybersecurity |
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 10 | cybersecurity of Industrial Security Incidents, an industry-wide organization devoted to tracking cyber crime, reports a 60 percent increase in cyber attacks on public water utility systems in recent years. World events have proven cybersecurity is very important, and organizations are taking steps to improve, but still one wonders “have we done everything we reasonably should have?” Indeed, this is the challenging question and here are several suggestions to help settle one’s mind: * Use Existing Resources & Prioritize Efforts: As mentioned in the July/August issue of TexasH20, look at www.awwa.org/cybersecurity and download the free “Process Control System Security Guidance for the Water Sector” document. Evaluate how many of the Priority 1 and 2 Controls can honestly be checked off. Better to challenge if a control is truly implemented, rather than a hacker discover the weakness and exploit it. Also, use the checklists to help decide where to apply limited resources and staff to improve. At a minimum, effort should be expended to meet all of the Priority 1 and 2 controls in the AWWA document. * Review Industry Threats: A plethora of information pertaining to industrial controls for water systems exists on the ICS-CERT website mentioned above. Included are more details on the nature of the threats (bad actors or events) and specific vulnerabilities (weaknesses in systems). * Train Appropriate Staff: Ensure organization employees have training applicable to their actual responsibilities. This means thinking beyond training for the
technical staff, who implement and maintain the industrial control systems, and recognize education needed for the person or team responsible for the organization’s risk management. To that end, the University of Texas at Arlington offers a Cyber Risk Management Certificate Program composed of four nontechnical courses (www.uta.edu/ded). Designed for non-technical staff, this program provides professionals with sufficient knowledge and skills to improve upon their organization’s risk exposure. Each course explains cyber risks, and what to do about them. * Bang the Drum Loudly: Perhaps a few key people in the organization acknowledge the importance of managing cyber risks, but that is very different from devoting staff time, pledging funding and removing obstacles to risk reduction. Use the previously mentioned resources to provide concrete examples of real world cyber attacks which have negatively impacted organizations (system failure, equipment damage, PR embarrassment, costly recovery, loss of public trust). Although not specific to water systems, a 2013 report provided a cautionary example of how vulnerable industrial control systems can be. It told of two researchers who demonstrated the ease with which a SCADA system on an oil well could be hijacked by hackers. By sending commands and fake data to the “secure system”, they proved how easily a pipe rupture or tank overflow could be triggered by those intent on disrupting a service, making a political statement, revenging a grievance, or simply testing their skills. * Cover the Basics: Ensure that the organization is CONTINUED NEXT PAGE | cybersecurity
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| cybersecurity | CONTINUED FROM PAGE 22 | cybersecurity doing all of the easy things to protect your system. Simple actions, such as ensuring all default passwords have been changed, go a long way towards reducing risk exposure. Other examples of basic steps include: • Check for unauthorized wireless networks; • Limit the number of staff with privileged system accounts; • Promptly terminate accounts of departed employees; and • Escort visitors in sensitive areas. As a result of today’s connected world and the ability to remotely access systems, improving the cybersecurity of public utility systems is becoming imperative. Good resources exist and basic precautions should be implemented. It’s time to act by moving cyber risk management from the “back burner”. Ashley Mathews is deputy director of UT Arlington's Public Works Institute. Rick McCreary is chief information officer for UT Arlington's Division of Enterprise Development.
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| education |
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Don't miss TAWWA's and WEAT's inaugural joint program at Texas Water 2015tm highlighting water outreach initiatives. This important event is scheduled 1:15-3:15 p.m. Thursday, April 16 in the Selena Rotunda of Corpus Christi’s American Bank Center. Join us in a collaborative, storytelling environment as we learn about the tools and resources used by El Paso Water Utilities, the City of Wichita Falls and the San Jacinto River Authority before, during, and after their highly visible and politically charged water projects. Then hear how a utility can easily implement a program tailored to its own unique situation. Chapter 1 - Wichita Falls: How the Citizens went from No Way to OK! Chapter 2 - El Paso Water Utilities: Drink Up! The Public Perception of Toilet to Tap & Getting Public Acceptance. Chapter 3 – SJRA: If You Don’t Tell Your Story, Someone Else Will…A Hard-Hitting Approach to Communicate the Good, the Bad and the Ugly.
| 24| FEBRUARY/MARCH 2015 TEXASh2o www.tawwa.org
| finance |
Requests for SWIFT Funding Deluge TWDB
T
exas Water Development Board staff is evaluating applications for water project funding from the news State Water Implementation Fund for Texas (SWIFT), after receiving funding requests totaling almost seven times what it’s estimated to disburse. TWDB received 48 applications for more than $5.5 billion at the deadline in early February. The agency received applications from all parts of the state, including a mix of urban and rural projects. The TWDB had estimated it would be providing approximately $800 million in SWIFT financial assistance in this round and will be reviewing the applications to evaluate the specific funding structures requested and
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impacts on total financial assistance that the TWDB can make available in the initial round, according to a TWDB news release. Over the next few months, the agency will conduct a comprehensive scoring process of all applications. Projects will be scored against the prioritization criteria developed through public input in 2014. The project prioritization list will be released later this spring, and TWDB anticipates funding SWIFT loans by the fall. Projects not selected for the first round of funding may be eligible to apply for the subsequent round of funding or other TWDB financial programs.
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| Texas Water 2015 |
TW15 Tentative Conference Schedule
| 26 | FEBRUARY/MARCH 2015 TEXASh2o www.tawwa.org
| Texas Water 2015 | CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3| Texas Water 2015 first recipient, Shay Roalson, became the first YP on the continent to move up the ranks to Section Chair in 2007. Over the years, the back-office processes in support of the conference have grown. Prior to 2005, to build the technical program of the conference, copies of each abstract were reproduced and mailed to as many as 60 people across the state for review. In 2005, an online system was developed by a respondent to a craigslist ad, allowing abstracts to be submitted and reviewed online. This year, more than 500 abstracts were received for just more than 125 slots on the Texas Water technical program. In 2005, Texas Water in Galveston played host to the
first Women of Texas Water luncheon in the foyer of the Moody Gardens Convention Center. After Texas’s own Katie McCain broke the Glass Ceiling to serve as the first woman president of AWWA at the international level, attendance far exceeded projections, and the event became a must for future conferences. In 2006, Texas AWWA staged its first-ever (or maybe it was “thirst-ever”) Best Tasting Drinking Water contest in Austin, and the event has become a staple in the years since. In 2013, again in Galveston, Texas Water launched an environmental-themed event designed to “giveback” to the community by organizing volunteers to participate in a clean-up in Galveston Bay.
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Help Teach Kids About Water
TAWWA’s K-12 Education Committee is looking for volunteers to provide Texas teachers assistance with water-related topics in their classrooms. To volunteer, contact Amy Middleton at 210-302-3201 or amiddleton@sara-tx.org. The K-12 Education committee participated in November at the Conference for the Advancement of Science Teaching (CAST) in conjunction with WEAT and EPA.
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www.tawwa.org TEXASh2o FEBRUARY/MARCH 2015 | 27 |
TAWWA Welcomes New Members Joining Oct. 15 - Feb. 28 Yolanda Aaron Humble, TX
Jason Dane Paducah, TX
Hulisher Hornsby III Houston, TX
Emily Martin Houston, TX
Pratistha Pradhan Houston, TX
Pamela Thomas Houston, TX
Boby Aboesono Houston, TX
Anthony Daniels Missouri City, TX
Ethan Howley Austin, TX
Ernest Martin JR Houston, TX
Mackrena Ramos Houston, TX
Rick Torrez Lubbock, TX
Matt Acker Spring, TX
Leslie Dharmawardene Friendswood, TX
Diane Hunt Houston, TX
Sandra Martin Tomball, TX
Trish Rayner Gutierrez Denver, CO
Lamont Traylor Irving, TX
Zafar Ahmed The Woodlands, TX
Celina Dozier Austin, TX
Karen Ivey Ingleside, TX
Pete Martinez San Marcos, TX
Patrick Rightmyer Kingwood, TX
Satish Tripathi Houston, TX
Scott Albert Texarkana, TX
Scott Dyer Grapevine, TX
Heena Jadav Houston, TX
Jason Matthews Arlington, TX
Cesar Rios Kingwood, TX
Kevin Trujillo Cleveland, TX
Michael Ashley Grapevine, TX
Mike Elliott Quinlan, TX
Subhash Jain Katy, TX
Michael McBee Dallas, TX
Allana Robertson College Station, TX
Cynthia Tucker Irving, TX
Cheyanne Atchley Austin, TX
Mike Ellis Amarillo, TX
Jerry Jansen Tyler, TX
Benjamin McCray Houston, TX
Roberto Rodriguez El Paso, TX
Stephen Uttrodt Houston, TX
Sheldon Avant Houston, TX
Russell Engrav Houston, TX
Justin Johnson Arlington, TX
John McElya Stafford, TX
Valeria Rodriguez Sugar Land, TX
Javier Valdez Edinburg, TX
Bernard Bahaya San Antonio, TX
Dionne Epps Houston, TX
Kristi Johnston Dallas, TX
William McPherson Liberty Hill, TX
Sandra Rosini Montgomery, TX
Clemente Velez Houston, TX
Nina Barlow Houston, TX
Benjamin Esparza Garland, TX
Brandy Jones Midlothian, TX
Joshua Milks San Antonio, TX
Angela Rubottom Austin, TX
Tim Vu Houston, TX
Roy Bell Rule, TX
Rick Evans Longview, TX
Etahn Jones Midlothian, TX
Francisco Miranda Houston, TX
Eddie Rutledge Aledo, TX
Duke Wade Willis, TX
Bruk Berhanu Austin, TX
Jacob Everett The Woodlands, TX
Narendra Joshi Houston, TX
Dana Mitchell Irving, TX
Sagerton WSC Rule, TX
Mark Waggoner Lubbock, TX
Michael Bevilacqua Austin, TX
George Farah Fort Worth, TX
Michael Kelly Houston, TX
Chanceler Moehring Atascosa, TX
Mario Sais Brownsville, TX
James Waihenya Houston, TX
Greg Blackburn West Lake Hills, TX
Harold Ferguson Wickett, TX
Michael Kennedy Houston, TX
Kenneth Moore Hurst, TX
Sylvia Salazar Grand Prairie, TX
Stacy Walters Fort Worth, TX
John Borowski The Woodlands, TX
Waldy Fernandez-Lopez Corpus Christi, TX
Paul Kilpatrick McGregor, TX
Tom Moore Irving, TX
Sylvia Salazar Forest Hill, TX
Prentiss Watkins Houston, TX
Joan Bowers Houston, TX
Antonio Florez Benavides, TX
Khanh Kim Cypress, TX
Sylvia Mourtakos Pasadena, TX
Vincent Saroni Dallas, TX
Dontrell Watson Houston, TX
Collin Brown Dallas, TX
Joseph Frankie III Houston, TX
Jonathan Kleinman Austin, TX
Elizabeth Muir Houston, TX
Jim Sheffler Lorena, TX
Mark Wehmeyer Houston, TX
Jeanine Bryant Houston, TX
Crawford Gallien Missouri City, TX
Wes Kucera Garland, TX
Robert Myers Gatesville, TX
Richard Sifuentes San Antonio, TX
Debra White Houston, TX
Michael Budge Dallas, TX
Andre Garces Dallas, TX
Brett Larson San Antonio, TX
Jerel Myles Houston, TX
Priya Singh Houston, TX
Bianca Williams Austin, TX
Sean Burke Austin, TX
Adrian Garcia Fair Oaks Ranch, TX
Cameron Lawrence Dallas, TX
Edward Nagorski Houston, TX
Patty Sipe Plano, TX
Gloria Williams Crosby, TX
Ryan Byrd Houston, TX
Abigail Gardner Fort Worth, TX
Eduardo Leal Richardson, TX
Lilian Nguyen Houston, TX
Hale Sloan Killeen, TX
Jason Williams The Woodlands, TX
Ross Cansino George West, TX
Jason Gardner Houston, TX
Chris Leathers Dallas, TX
Jacob Niemeier Dallas, TX
Louis Soule Houston, TX
Laura Wilson Midland, TX
Amy Carlton Canyon Lake, TX
Nick Garefalos Dayton, TX
Paul Lee Grapevine, TX
James Gay Houston, TX
Levi WSC Lorena, TX
Specialty Maintenance Products Houston, TX
Orlando Wilson JR Houston, TX
John Carman Fort Worth, TX
Old Marbach School WSC George West, TX
Kristen Carranco Houston, TX
Brad Geary Azle, TX
Xinxin Li Houston, TX
Clifford Otun Dallas, TX
Michael Spencer Folsom, CA
Vanessa Chapa Houston, TX
Todd Girdley Dallas, TX
Franklin Lilly Round Rock, TX
Harold Palmer Corpus Christi, TX
Rosser Standifer Dallas, TX
Robin Chmiel Houston, TX
Bill Goodell Huffman, TX
Sin-Hong Lin College Station, TX
Joanne Papajohn Houston, TX
Frances SullivanGonzalez Austin, TX
City of Aledo Aledo, TX
Mark Goodman SR Houston, TX
Mark Loethen Houston, TX
City of Wickett Wickett, TX
Bryan Grimes Ballinger, TX
Julie Lovell Ben Franklin, TX
Gary Cocke Plano, TX
Adriana Guel Pasadena, TX
Charles Loy Austin, TX
John Coffee Cisco, TX
Debra Guerrero Houston, TX
Junying Lu Houston, TX
William Cole JR Beaumont, TX
Ruel Hampton II Manvel, TX
Alloan Lytle Houston, TX
Reginald Coleman Humble, TX
Tracy Harvey Port Aransas, TX
Rajesh Malla Cypress, TX
Barron Cooper Houston, TX
Douglas Haude Spring, TX
Isai Manzano Arlington, TX
Joshua Cruz Houston, TX
Joe Hillsman Houston, TX
Amanda Marshall Houston, TX
Lakeisha Pawlik The Woodlands, TX Jeffrey Pearson Euless, TX S. Peck Baytown, TX David Pedersen Houston, TX Annaeka Perkins Humble, TX Cynthia Pfluger The Woodlands, TX Mariel Polter Austin, TX Shane Porter Conroe, TX
Rodney Syer Dallas, TX Desta Takie Houston, TX Texas Operations & Professional Services Houston, TX Shubha Thakur Houston, TX Michel Thelus Houston, TX Janet Thomas Cleburne, TX
RaWilliam Winston Houston, TX Matthew Woodard Pflugerville, TX Marques Woodley Houston, TX Oran Woods Humble, TX Kelly Wyatt Van Vleck, TX Zhihua Xu Houston, TX Jorge Yanez Pasadena, TX Lynn Younts Dayton, TX Pedro Zertuche Houston, TX Tianshu Zhang Houston, TX
Joe Thomas Cleburne, TX
| 28 | FEBRUARY/MARCH 2015 TEXASh2o www.tawwa.org
| letter from the texas section chair |
CALL FOR ABSTRACTS TEXAS WATER REUSE CONFERENCE July 17, 2015 Lubbock, Texas
ABSTRACTS DUE ON MARCH 20, 2015
WATER REUSE ABSTRACT SUBJECT AREAS WateReuse Texas, Water Environment Association of Texas, and Texas American Water Works Association invite you to submit an abstract for the 4th Annual Texas Water Reuse Conference — co-sponsored by our three associations. INSTRUCTIONS: To be considered for a technical presentation, submit an abstract by MARCH 20, 2015. Abstracts must be one page or less and include the title, author(s), and up to three subject areas selected from the box at right. Abstracts should be submitted to don.vandertulip@arcadis-us.com. SESSION PROPOSALS: Individual speakers and organizations may submit proposals for complete sessions (1.0 to 1.5-hour) duration. Session participants will be required to submit manuscripts and PowerPoint files in accordance with the same schedule as individual speakers.
APRIL 17, 2015 JULY 7 , 2015
CCC
Customer conversion challenges
CDS
Conveyance, distribution, and storage system design and operation – including crossconnection control
OPR
Operations/maintenance and operator issues
RCD
Reuse customer development
RUD
Reuse utility development
FOLLOW THE MONEY RFO
Funding options for water reuse facilities
WRR
Water reuse rate structures
WATER REUSE PLANNING AND SUCCESS
IMPORTANT DATES MARCH 20, 2015
UTILITY OPERATIONS
IND
Abstracts due Authors notified
: Industrial reuse: Facility and Fracking
IRD
International reuse case studies Membranes, MBR and Satellite plants
PLN
Planning for water reuse
JULY 10, 2015
PowerPoint Presentation due Author Registration Deadline
MEM
JULY 17, 2015
TEXAS WATER REUSE CONFERENCE
RGR
Regulatory, institutional, and legal issues
SUT
Sustainability through reuse
URB
Urban reuse – golf courses, parks, landscape, residential
“NO PODIUM” POLICY: By submitting an abstract, a potential presenter agrees to (1) prepare and submit a Power Point by JULY 7, 2014 for publication in the conference proceedings; (manuscript up to 20 pages optional), (2) to prepare and deliver an oral presentation at the Conference; and (3) register for the conference by JULY 10, 2014. Individuals who fail to submit presentation slides as scheduled will be replaced in the conference program with an alternate presenter. See list of important deadlines above.
LOCATION: The 2015 Texas Water Reuse Conference will be held at the Overton Confererence Center, 2322 Mac Davis Lane at Avenue X, Lubbock, TX . The conference is scheduled for 9 am to 4 pm, July 17, 2015. Make your reservations for $139 at 806.776.7012.
WATER QUALITY ISSUES DSQ
Maintaining reclaimed water distribution quality
GWI
Ground water issues and concepts – including aquifer storage and recovery
IPR
Indirect Potable Reuse
PRE
Potable reuse
TTR
Treatment technologies
FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION CONTACT: Don Vandertulip Chair, Technical Program Committee 210.402.1572 don.Vandertulip@arcadis-uscom
Jason Christensen Chair, TAWWA Reuse Section Phone: 512. 912.5109 jason.christensen@hdrinc.com
Jenna Covington Chair, WEAT Water Reuse Committee Phone: 972.359.8751 Jennifer.Covington@ch2m.com
www.tawwa.org TEXASh2o FEBRUARY/MARCH 2015 | 29 |
| executive director report |
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 6 | executive director report WEAT second, and then alternate every year. I briefly thought that decision might cause some angst with the planning committee, but no comments were made, and we moved on. We learned a lot about what was important that first year. Since then, I provided guidance to the 1997 conference in Arlington, and shortly after that conference, became the first Executive Director for Texas AWWA. Since then, I have helped plan every conference over the past 20 years. It has been an amazing process as we first took baby steps to grow the conference both in attendees and exhibitors and then, as we realized how popular and successful the conference was becoming, we grew the conference more aggressively to meet the needs of everyone. You may not know that we have a waiting list of more than 100 exhibitors who would like to become part of the conference. We add them slowly to the mix as we build attendance, because we work very hard to keep the balance of attendees to exhibitors correct to maintain the quality of the conference. Over time, we have had to make many adjustments. For example, each organization always had “their” way of doing things or traditions that were hard to change. For example, luncheon speakers were the norm before we joined forces. But, with two organizations trying to also recognize volunteers for their service during the awards portion of the lunch, as well as a keynote speaker, it became impossible to do it all. So, we dropped the speaker and divided the awards up into two different ceremonies. We soon realized the second ceremony was not working well and that was when we created the Awards Breakfast with the video presentation of sometimes nearly 50-awards in an entertaining, fast-paced way that provides the core information
about the honoree with more details in our Awards Booklet. A few years ago it was Foster Crowell from the City of Corpus Christi who declared with no uncertainty that the utility was more than willing to help as long as the utility staff was not responsible for managing registration. We agreed and brought in our current registration support team, GCP Association Services, LLC. These are the folks – Cliff, Clay, Lisa, Liz and Tracy – whom you see every year behind the registration counter. They manage our registration and provide excellent support for the conference. There are any number of great success stories (and, frankly, some that were not so great) but what was just an idea that made sense has grown into the Largest Regional Water Conference in the U.S. © (It really is copyrighted, just as the name, Texas Water™ is trademarked – seriously – we have fought the legal battles to protect our name). And, we still create this conference with just two staff members – myself and Julie, my WEAT counterpart – the folks from GCP and from Freeman, the decorating company, and most importantly, an amazing group of volunteers in each city where we host the conference. If you want to point to the success of the conference, it is these volunteers who get together and just make it happen. Watching them succeed is the best part of what I do. And, 20 years later, the conference is more popular and more successful each year and we have become the envy of every one of our counterparts across the country. It is a partnership that works far beyond what anyone ever expected. I hope to see you all in Corpus Christi to help us celebrate!
engineers surveyors landscape architects www.tnpinc.com For t Wor th 817.336.5773 Denton 940.383.4177
Dallas Sher man
214.461.9867 903.870.1089
| 30 | FEBRUARY/MARCH 2015 TEXASh2o www.tawwa.org
| calendar |
What’s Happening Across Texas DATE
ACTIVITY
TIME
LOCATION
MARCH 20
South Texas Chapter Noon Sporting Clays Tournament
San Antonio Gun Club 928 Contour Dr.
Lance Rothe lance.rothe@hdrinc.om
MARCH 26
Texas Water Day at the Capitol
Texas State Capitol
www.tawwa.org
APRIL 14-17 Texas Water 2015 American Bank Center Corpus Christi
INFORMATION
www.tawwa.org
MAY 15
Texas Water Conservation Series Free webcast series
www.tawwa.org
AUGUST 15
Texas Water Conservation Series Free webcast series
www.tawwa.org
Want to share your event with the Texas water community? Contact Mike Howe, 512-238-9292 or mikehowe@tawwa.org. Check the Section’s website, www.tawwa.org, for the latest information on Section activities.
www.tawwa.org TEXASh2o FEBRUARY/MARCH 2015 | 31 |
TEXASh2o
PRESORTED FIRST CLASS MAIL U.S. POSTAGE PAID AUSTIN, TEXAS PERMIT NO. 1
c/o GCP Association Services, LLC PO Box 676 | Pflugerville, TX 78691 512-251-8101 | (f ) 512-251-812 texwater@texas.net | www.tawwa.org
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