AMWA’s 2008 Annual Meeting:  A Win-Win-Win Opportunity

It’s not often you can commit just three days and score significant benefits for your utility, your industry and your own professional development.   The AMWA Annual Meeting, however, offers just such a win-win-win proposition:

• There’s no better place to encounter new ideas, emerging trends and forward thinking on a host of issues that can positively impact the management and operations of your water system.
• Where else can you network with other top water executives to expand your horizons and share your own insights to enhance theirs?
• The meeting agenda – developed under the direction of AMWA’s Utility Management Committee – provides interactive sessions that advance professional knowledge and industry leadership expertise.
  

Here’s an overview of the program:
 
Success and challenges in the recovery of the Sewerage & Water Board of New Orleans from Hurricane Katrina.

The latest thinking on attaining sustainable business performance, drawing on U.S. and international utilities’ experiences and providing a construct for assessing your own sustainability posture.

Case studies revealing what’s been learned in pilot studies of integrated, multidimensional contaminant warning systems, an important front-line water security initiative for water utilities.

An executive perspective on cyber threats and the importance of industrial control system security in a world where a laptop and an Internet connection can provide the ability to interrupt water utility operations.  

Short-term and long-term solutions to controlling energy costs, and some good options for addressing climate change and “going green.”

The business of water in Europe, as outlined by the general manager of the water provider for The Hague, including the “corporatized” public ownership of utilities including, public-private partnerships and climate change impacts.  

Louisville Water Company’s capital planning and how it helped the utility anticipate the cost of long-term and short-term financing options and minimize the net present value of its total financing costs.

Establishing an ongoing approach to knowledge retention to ensure that business continuity, overall performance and customer satisfaction are maintained at high levels, while minimizing the impact of workforce attrition.

North Texas Municipal Water District’s successful WaterIQ 101 conservation program that used interactive media, television and print materials and other tactics to motivate customers to change their attitudes about water use.  

Insights on how utility CEOs can use watershed planning tools to understand and manage impacts such as climate change, shifting populations, emerging contaminants and increasing regulations change in support of sustainable water supplies.

Miami-Dade Water and Sewer Department’s work on a community and utility-wide scale to assess risks and plan for climate change induced coastal flooding.

In addition to all these program highlights, there will be many informal opportunities for executive interaction at luncheons and receptions.  The annual awards luncheon will honor recipients of the 2008 Gold Awards for Exceptional Utility Performance and Platinum Awards for Utility Excellence.  A Wednesday morning tour will give participants the chance to see New Orleans’ flood protection structures, including the largest drainage pumping station in the world, as well rebuilt areas of the city’s historic neighborhoods.

Take advantage of this win-win-win experience.  Register for AMWA’s 2008 Annual Meeting today.