The National League of Cities annual Congress of Cities & Exposition met Nov. 30-Dec. 4 in downtown Denver at the Colorado Convention Center. At the conference, outgoing NLC president Ronald Loveridge, Mayor of Riverside Calif., was replaced by incoming president James Mitchell, council member of Charlotte, N.C. At the opening general session, the featured speaker was Chuck Hagel, former U.S. Senator from Nebraska.
While this annual meeting addresses all of the issues for a city or town, water was certainly highlighted on the exhibit floor. The public-private partnership sector was strongly represented by American Water, CH2M Hill, Severn Trent, United Water and Veolia.
Presentations regarding water included an Exhibitor Solutions Theater talk on ?Migration-Future Proofing Your AMR System? by Neptune Technology. A Mobile Workshop presentation covered a ?River Vision Implementation Plan? regarding the South Platte River Corridor in Colorado. Workshops were also conducted on ?Greening Your Water Infrastructure? and ?Regional Perspectives on Water Infrastructure,? which featured Aurora, Colo., and St. Louis, Mo.
A special feature of this meeting is the City Showcase. This provides exhibitor space for cities to feature major and interesting accomplishments. At this meeting, the City of Philadelphia had a booth titled ?Philadelphia?s Green City, Clean Water Plan.? The plan will invest nearly $2 billion over the next 25 years to significantly reduce combined sewer overflows while creating clean, assessable and safe waterways.
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NLC?s annual Congress stays in the west in 2011, going to Phoenix Nov. 8-12.?
