Water Finance

This month, an estimated 11,000 water professionals will convene in Boston, Mass., for the American Water Works Association?s (AWWA) Annual Conference & Exposition (ACE14). Attending the association?s annual conference is nothing new for people in the water industry. Perhaps for some, attending each year has turned into somewhat of a formality.

The Utah State University (USU) Buried Structures Laboratory has published a comprehensive study on PVC pipe excavations, testing and life cycle analysis. USU, located in Logan, Utah, is also home to the Utah Water Research Laboratory and has significantly contributed to water and wastewater research internationally for more than 50 years.

Membrane filtration is nothing new in the area of water treatment. But while the large majority of municipal water and wastewater treatment plants still use conventional filtration methods, membranes continue to be recognized as the modern filtration technology of choice.

The American Water Works Association (AWWA) has tracked water industry issues and trends since its founding in 1881. That tradition continues through its annual State of the Water Industry (SOTWI) survey.

The International Private Water Association (IPWA) will hold a Financial Tools Taskforce meeting via conference call on Thursday, March 27, from 9:30 a.m. to 11:15 a.m. (EST). The focus of the meeting will be a presentation by the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC).

Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman Bill Shuster (R-Pa.) and Ranking Member Nick J. Rahall, II (D-W.Va.) have announced the establishment of the Committee?s next special panel, which will focus on the use of and opportunities for public-private partnerships (P3s).

In January, California Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr. issued a drought emergency throughout the state and directed officials to take all necessary actions to prepare for severe drought conditions. But according to a report late last month from Fitch Ratings, California water utilities should be able to manage the state?s drought emergency in the near term.

In a response to the chemical spill in West Virginia last month that left more than 300,000 people without drinking water, U.S. Senators Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), Chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee and Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) reached agreement on legislative language that will help protect Americans from chemical spills that threaten drinking water.

In the midst of California?s worst drought in more than a century, Ben Grumbles, president of the U.S. Water Alliance, announced the recipients of the 2014 U.S. Water Prize last month while speaking to the California Irrigation Institute conference attendees in Sacramento.

Michael Deane, executive director of the National Association of Water Companies, presents an exclusive perspective for waterfm.com on investor-owned utilities.