Sustainable Utilities

Goals of the Committee:

• Foster the transfer of knowledge and information relevant to sustainability issues facing our industry.
• Maintain appropriate communication with other VA AWWA committees, local and national professional associations, and VA AWWA members.
• Create learning opportunities for VA AWWA members and provide a forum for them to share their experience in the implementation of sustainable business practices within their organization.
• Provide valuable resources to the VA AWWA member community that assist water and wastewater agencies in becoming sustainability leaders in their communities.
• Research and communicate local and national sustainability initiatives and programs with VA AWWA membership.

WaterJAM Initiatives:  Tidy Otter

Every year at WaterJAM, the Sustainable Utilities Committee and the WaterJAM Committee emphasize sustainable “green” initiatives for the conference and exhibit hall. We encourage exhibitors to participate, and set an example for others while adding visibility with our sustainability awards!

To apply for the Tidy Otter Sustainable Exhibitor Award, submit the sustainable exhibitor checklist located here:

https://vaawwa.org/documents/en-us/21221ff9-2052-4cf5-9796-789fb008f1f3/1

“Virginia Green” – Eight Years in a Row for WaterJAM!

The 2023 WaterJAM Conference was certified as a Virginia Green event for the eighth year in a row!

Virginia Green is the state's recognition program that recognizes tourism partners that have self-certified their environmental efforts.  The partnership includes the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, the Virginia Tourism Corporation (VGTA), and the Virginia Restaurant Lodging & Travel Association. More than 1,800 Virginia businesses have certified their environmental commitments through the Virginia Green program.  Partners include hotels, restaurants, parks, wineries, breweries, museums, festivals & events, and any other business that considers itself to be a part of the tourism industry.  

The VGTA works to support, promote, and educate the certified partners, as they continuously improve their environmental programs.  Additionally, the VGTA actively engages and challenges consumers to “choose Virginia Green” when making plans for travel, dining, and fun.

Event Sustainability Checklist

The Sustainable Utilities Committee has developed a Sustainable Event Planning Strategy and Tracking Register to identify and track the ways to make our events much more sustainable. While our events provide are important ways to grow our professional capabilities, they also tend to have a significant resource footprint. The Register’s checklists include many common aspects of event planning and execution and offer ways to increase sustainability. The Register PDF file allows editing and saving of information for each sustainability component, which can assist users in tracking and reporting their efforts.

For convenience, it includes the major components that often apply to VA AWWA (and VWEA) events, including:

• Registration and Program
• Exhibit Hall
• Field Trips and Tours
• Food and Beverage
• Offsite Network Events
• Venue Overall
• Event Hotel
• Overall Event Planning

We hope you will download the Sustainable Event Planning Strategy and Tracking Register and use it for your next VA AWWA committee-sponsored event. Please help us spread the word about this new tool and share your experience in using it with us. For feedback and questions, please contact Evan Bowles at ebowles@hazenandsawyer.com or Matthias Wittenberg at wittenbergm@cdmsmith.com.