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On Wednesday, three Michigan officials – one who ran Flint’s water treatment plant and two from the state Department of Environmental Quality (Michigan DEQ) – were charged with allegedly mishandling information related to the Flint water crisis.

This is not an article about why water and wastewater utilities should consider a public-private partnership (P3) to deliver urban stormwater infrastructure projects. As you surely know, a P3 appeals to many municipalities for their ability to leverage private sector expertise and efficiencies — and shoulder financial risk — for delivery of what would traditionally be a public sector project.

The American Water Works Association recently announced that Steve Via has been promoted to Director of Federal Relations of the association. Via was formerly AWWA’s Regulatory Affairs Manager.

U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell recently announced nearly $95 million will be distributed from the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) to all 50 states, U.S. territories, and the District of Columbia to support conservation and recreation projects in local communities.

While the crisis in Flint, Mich., can be traced to an unfortunate and confounding sequence of human errors, it has also prompted a national discussion about the extent of our nation’s water infrastructure needs. It has placed a particular focus on the challenges involved with replacing the millions of lead service lines that still carry drinking water from the public water system to homes in many U.S. cities.

Last week, AMWA wrote to Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) in support of three bills he recently introduced in response to the water crisis in Flint, Michigan. AMWA’s letter came after gathering feedback from AMWA members during the Water Policy Conference and from the association’s Legislative and Regulatory Committees.

A contractor for San Jose Water Company in San Jose, Calif., has taken delivery of more than 3,000 ft of zinc-coated iron pipe from AMERICAN Ductile Iron Pipe, making it among the nation’s first utilities to install zinc-coated pipe.

Since the conversion of its foundry to lead-free operations in 2001, Neptune Technology Group has produced nearly 32 million lead-free bronze alloy meters that have proven themselves in the field. These lead-free meters have met NSF/ANSI 61, Annex F standards for lead performance, NSF 372 for lead content, and the most recent Safe Drinking Water Act regulations.

According to a new market update from Bluefield Research, water scarcity and drought continue to reshape the water landscape, as demonstrated by the recent increase in wastewater reuse projects in the United States.

UIM: Water Utility Infrastructure Management journal, is bringing its second annual Water Finance Conference to Denver, Colorado, Aug. 30-31 at the Denver Athletic Club.