Earth Day is April 22nd! The VA AWWA | VWEA Sustainable Utilities Committee is excited to share the following COVID-safe opportunities for you to celebrate Earth Day 2021:
You can watch an educational movie or documentary such as Brave Blue World, The Lorax, Kiss the Ground, or The Human Element; just to name a few!
THIS WEEKEND (April 16 and 17), join VWEA Regional Activities Committee in participating in the state-wide VWEA and VA AWWA Clean-up Events
Register using the VWEA website. Once registered, your regional Chair will contact you directly with detailed specifics on the event.
Due to COVID-19, you will need to provide your own PPE and trash bags for this event, unless otherwise specified.
Can't make any of these events? We encourage you to grab family and friends and create your own cleanup event! Please be sure to snap some action shots and send to leigh.blecki@vwea.org.
Drinking Water Week is less than a month away! Start your preparations with the VA AWWA’s Drinking Water Week toolkit. This tool kit, developed by the Water Awareness and Outreach committee, contains many FREE resources for your utility to use to promote Drinking Water Week. Utilities can access the Drinking Water Week Toolkit at: https://vaawwa.org/page/drinking-water-week/
The toolkit includes:
Logos and Banners
Social Media Posts and Graphics
Template Press Releases
Celebration Ideas/Employee Appreciation
Children’s Activities! (including a children’s art contest!)
VA AWWA encourages all utilities to take advantage of these resources in their Drinking Water Week Celebrations. Join VA AWWA for this year's Children's Coloring Contest. Kids are encouraged to color themselves enjoying drinking water (whether that be drinking water, cooking, playing, or something else entirely!) on thiscute coloring page. You can submit entries on social media by uploading the photo with the hashtag #DrinkH2OVA or by uploading the entries online at https://forms.gle/i7U2PhYer1KcGXdE7. Be sure to include the artist's name, age, and hometown. The winners will win a prize from VA AWWA along with having their photo highlighted on VA AWWA's social media channels! Submissions are due by the end of Drinking Water Week on May 8th.
For more information on the Drinking Water Week materials or if you are interested in joining the Water Awareness and Outreach Committee, contact Lilly Meighan (Chair) at lillian.meighan@lynchburgva.gov
Plan to join us for the 2021 Water for People Golf Tournament in memory of Herb Evans! All proceeds help support Water for People but you get to enjoy a round of golf at the prestigious Kingsmill Resort (The Woods Course).
Sign up individually or as a foursome. Sponsorship opportunities are also available.
**The Northern VA tournament will be held in October this year. Stay tuned for registration details in the Fall.
Join your friends and fellow VA AWWA members for a fun, networking event in celebration of Drinking Water Week virtually on May 5th! The party starts at 4:30 pm and goes on until you want to leave. Don't worry, this isn't your normal Zoom meeting! You can mingle around the room much like a happy hour at a bar. See someone you want to talk to? Walk up and start a conversation! It's that easy!
Bring your favorite beverage of choice (alcohol and non-alcoholic alike) and drink a toast to all the great water professionals that make drinking water possible.
This event is open to everyone so feel free to encourage your friends and co-workers to RSVP. There is no cost but you do need to "register" in order to receive the connection information to join the party.
The VA AWWA Plant Operations Committee proudly announces the 21st Annual Plant Operators Conference to be held May 6th - 7th virtually. This conference is dedicated to promoting education and training, increasing performance, and fostering communication among waterworks operators, maintenance, and management personnel. Attendance is recommended for waterworks operators of both small and large groundwater and surface water systems.
EPA is proposing an SDWA rule that would require public water systems to collect national occurrence data for 29 PFAS and lithium. This proposed rule would require all community and nontransient non-community water systems serving 3,300 or more people, and a representative sample of smaller water systems, to conduct monitoring. PFAS and lithium are not currently subject to national primary drinking water regulations, and EPA is proposing to require the collection of the data to inform EPA decisions. This proposal fulfills a key commitment in ‘‘EPA’s 2019 Per and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) Action Plan’’ (USEPA, 2019a) by proposing the collection of more drinking water occurrence data for a broader group of PFAS. This proposal identifies three analytical methods to support water system monitoring for a total of 30 contaminants, consisting of 29 PFAS and lithium.
Are you an operator looking to advance your career? Have a kid getting their bachelor's? Thinking about going back to grad school? Submit your application for one of the following scholarships.
OneAWWA Operator’s Scholarship
VA AWWA Ray A Jackson Undergraduate Scholarship
VA AWWA Dr. Robert C Hoehn Graduate Student Scholarship
VA AWWA scholarship information, including application forms, can be found here: https://vaawwa.org/page/scholarships Share the link with anyone you think would be interested.
Operator scholarship applications are due Friday, May 14, 2021! Undergrad and Graduate scholarship applications are due Friday, May 28, 2021
Present your professional work and research to leading professionals in the water and environmental industries at the annual WaterJAM conference! Create a poster that showcases your innovative projects, research, and interests in the drinking water, wastewater, stormwater, and environmental fields. Young professionals and students are encouraged to participate!
The top poster in the drinking water category will win $1,000 and be invited to present at the 2022 AWWA Annual Conference and Exposition in San Antonio, Texas. The top poster in the wastewater/stormwater/environmental category will win $1,000 and be recognized at the 2021 Water Environment Federation’s Exhibition and Conference.
EPA Region III notified the Office of Drinking Water that the agency will extend the effective date of the Revised Lead and Copper Rule (LCR) from March 16, 2021, to June 17, 2021. This will allow the EPA to seek further public input, particularly from communities that are most at risk of exposure to lead in drinking water.
During this time, EPA is seeking public comment on a second action to extend the effective date further - until December 16, 2021 - and to also extend the compliance deadline to September 16, 2024, so states have the full three years to take actions to achieve regulatory compliance.
So, you have heard about the great benefits of WaterJAM (both virtual and in-person versions!), and you are interested in attending this year! Your next step may be to justify the value of your attendance to your manager/boss/supervisor. Sound overwhelming? Well, we hope that the advice below will help you develop your plan and will result in your attendance at WaterJAM 2021 in Virginia Beach!
Are you looking for a new job opportunity? Are you an employer looking for great candidates? Either way, check out our newly updated Career Center for opportunities in Virginia.
The webpage contains a summary of current job postings... but check back periodically for new positions as they become available.
Check out the latest issue of Tap Into Virginia!
Click on the link below to view the latest edition online.
Want to advertise with us? Check out the details in our 2021 Media Kit or contact
Dave Gill at david@kelman.ca
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Present your professional work and research to leading professionals in the water and environmental industries at the annual WaterJAM conference! Create a poster that showcases your innovative projects, research, and interests in the drinking water, wastewater, stormwater, and environmental fields. Young professionals and students are encouraged to participate!
