On World Water Day, March 22, the White House recognized AMWA, along with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Environmental Protection Agency, for contributions to the development of two tools that support America’s sustainable and secure water future: the Water Resources Dashboard and the update to the Attributes of Effective Utility Management (EUM) and Keys to Management Success. The recognition was part of the White House Water Summit, an event held to raise awareness of water issues in the United States and discuss potential solutions and innovations for building a secure water future for all.
The Water Resources Dashboard is a resource providing water utilities access to decision-relevant climate and weather data and forecasts. AMWA worked with NOAA and its partners over 18 months to identify the most needed datasets. NOAA then used that information to build a dashboard that will help water utility managers build resilience to extreme precipitation events.
The update of the Attributes of Effective Utility Management (EUM) and Keys to Management Success was undertaken to identify key areas of change and innovation in the water sector, such as accelerated adoption of automated and “smart” systems and data integration, growing climate variability and extremes, increased focus on resource recovery, and greater consideration of stormwater and watershed management. AMWA committed to promoting nationwide adoption of the new EUM and updating its awards program based on the revised framework.
The dashboard is at http://toolkit.climate.gov/topics/water-resources/water-resources-dashboard. See related article for more on the EUM update.