Last week on Capitol Hill, water utility leaders urged Congress to increase the effectiveness of the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) by repealing a ban on the use of tax-exempt bonds in WIFIA-funded projects.

U.S. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), and Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, have introduced a new bill, S. 741, The Water Infrastructure Resiliency and Sustainability Act.

The Partnership for Safe Water and the City of Aurora, Ill., is proud to recognize the achievements of the Aurora Water Production Division in providing some of the nation?s safest, cleanest drinking water to the city?s residents.

This week, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency?s WaterSense program and its partners will celebrate Fix-a-Leak Week. EPA estimates that the average American household could be wasting more than 10,000 gallons each year from leaks.

The WateReuse Association and WateReuse Research Foundation have announced a plan to merge the leadership of their organizations. The groups say the merger is an effort to more aggressively address the challenges that local communities face in meeting growing demands for water supplies.

American Water announced last week that Dr. Mark LeChevallier, Director of Innovation & Environmental Stewardship, has been selected by the American Water Works Association (AWWA) to receive the 2015 A.P. Black Research Award.

The American Membrane Technology Association and the American Water Works Association announced four awardees at this year?s Membrane Technology Conference. Awardees were recognized at an awards luncheon during the conference in Orlando, Fla., last week.

MWH Global has announced that Paul Demit has joined the company as senior vice president and director of program management in the Americas region.

Kurt Bruenning has joined Aclara Technologies LLC as the chief financial officer, senior vice president of finance, accounting, information technology and legal functions. Aclara is a provider of smart infrastructure technologies and software solutions to the utility industry.

The County of Los Angeles has voted to make the Home Energy Renovation Opportunity (HERO) Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) program available to local residents. Los Angeles County and 84 cities within the county, including the City of Los Angeles, join more than 200 other cities and counties which have adopted HERO.