Last night now-past-president Jeanette Brown passed me the ceremonial gavel at WEFTEC here in Los Angeles, and I want to tell you about that amazing gavel. Defying the laws of physics, the gavel is simultaneously light and heavy; it carries an exceptional honor and great promise along with daunting responsibility.

The gavel is light—and also shiny—because it’s relatively easy to be president of the Water Environment Federation working with an incredible board, executive director and staff when we are well along in fulfilling our vision to preserve and enhance the global water environment. We are in good financial condition with a growing membership, and WEFTEC is as robust as ever.

This is an exciting time with many opportunities. We recently completed the data-gathering phase of our strategic planning process, and all our members and stakeholders have weighed in on the strengths of WEF and opportunities for the future. We have looked at the best-in-class non-profit organizations in other fields for ideas and best practices and confirmed that WEF is in excellent shape as an organization. Our members confirmed we are fulfilling our core mission of providing reliable technical information and training on water and utility management topics.

We are increasing our effectiveness in advocacy and are recognized as a trusted voice for unbiased, scientific information for the USEPA and on Capitol Hill and shaping water science and policies in many areas, including biosolids management, the water-energy nexus, nutrient control and recovery, and wet-weather flow management. And we are poised to influence the impending new stormwater regulations coming out before the end of 2012.

The gavel is heavy because there is important work to be done in the year ahead to finalize the strategic plan and begin implementation. We will involve our members, stakeholders, member associations and partners. In talking with our partners, regulatory officials, utility executives, business leaders, and member associations, they and our WEF board and staff are all energized about positioning WEF as an organization to influence the dialogue about the value of water and water infrastructure around the world. This will require us to add resources and increase the skills of our volunteer and staff leaders.  Following are noteworthy goals and activities.    

Continue our effective collaboration with the American Water Works Association. We are launching an Emerging Leaders leadership development program to train a class of water industry leaders who next year will begin work on a leadership curriculum taught by water industry leaders. The Emerging Leaders will virtually collaborate throughout the year and at conferences such as WEFTEC.

Continue our efforts to reinforce the importance of wastewater operators. In the third year of this initiative, we continue to collaborate with partner organizations in improving training materials and developing messages on the importance of these crucial, front-line protectors of public health so our operations professionals will be widely recognized as we know them:  “essential personnel” and “first responders” who are as important to our communities as police and fire officials when budgets get tight or emergency situations arise.

Focus on services for our utility leaders. Water utilities today face more severe funding and financing challenges than ever and are dealing with serious demographic issues, aging infrastructure, technology advances and ever-increasing regulations. One initiative is the formal rollout of the Utility Partnership program, with discounted WEFTEC pricing, special packages for distance learning courses, and discounted publications and a “no charge” membership for a public official as designated by the utility. I plan to work with WEF staff and the Utility Management Committee to make sure that we continue to provide the training, technical information and best-management practices that our utility executives need from us.

Engage a group of water industry leaders in a Water Leader’s Council. Executive officers and thought leaders from business and utilities will work with WEF to help us identify trends and innovations so that we can move boldly to capture them.  We had our first meeting of this group yesterday, and will be sharing more as we move throughout the year.

Change the dialogue about wastewater. We have been promoting a “water is water” message for several years now and are making great strides in helping to break down the silos in organizations and society as the lines between all facets of water blur. Now we are increasingly recognizing wastewater components as a valuable resource and soon should shed the term “wastewater” from our vocabulary.  We have examples of water reclamation utilities, such as East Bay MUD, that are now net energy producers, and as an industry we are recovering nutrients from “gently used” water. I hope everyone participates in discussion about these issues at WEFTEC and afterwards.

As I shared at last night’s ceremony, I am confident that we can expand our leadership role and positively impact our global water environment. I look forward to working with our Executive Director Jeff Eger, our amazing staff, our Board of Trustees, our volunteer leaders, our members, and all of you over the next year to fulfill WEF’s mission and vision and to further communicate the value of water.  Dan McCarthy, president and CEO of Black & Veatch’s global water business, has described water as a fuel with no alternatives.  Water industry strategies and approaches for managing water may vary among regions and utilities, but we all agree on the importance of maximizing and communicating the value of water.