The American Water Summit Conference met Nov. 9-10 in Atlanta. The event was organized by Global Water Intelligence of the United Kingdom. There were close to 300 attendees.
The conference concentrated on four areas: 1) water and energy issues, including gas shale fracking, 2) investing in water, 3) desalination, and 4) public-private partnerships.
Principal organizers of the event were Debra Coy, Svanda & Coy Consulting, and Steve Maxwell, TechKNOWLEDGEy Strategic Group. The conference was a blend of panel presentations and a networking roundtable session, including a unique Water Investment Idol session modeled somewhat after the hit TV program ?American Idol.? The main sponsor of the event was Pentair.
Panel presentations included such titles as ?Water and Energy,? ?Inland Desalination and Scarcity Solutions,? ?Breaking the Mold on Infrastructure Finance,? and ?Growing Blue ? Moving Water Up the Agenda.? There were 20 networking roundtables with discussion leaders and topics such as: Kevin Shafer, Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District, ?Sustainability in Wastewater Planning,? Ben Grumbles, Clean Water America Alliance, ?Hydraulic Fracturing: Fresh Facts and Critical Choices,? and Greg Heitzman, Louisville Water Co., ?The Corporatized Municipal Water Co.?
There were five ?Water Investment Idol? presenters. Michael Curren, Atlantis Technologies, was the winner for his radial deionization water purification system. A unique electronic technology aspect of the conference was a system that enabled attendees to vote on various questions raised in the panel discussions. Results of the surveys were immediately shown on a large screen.
Christopher Gasson, Global Water Intelligence, noted this was the second America Water Summit held. The first was in 2010 and drew about 250 attendees.??
