The American Public Works Association (APWA) announced that APWA member Philip Guerin of Worcester, Mass., was recently honored by the White House as a ?Champion of Change? Innovator in Infrastructure for creating jobs in his community and using innovative techniques to develop valuable projects that help improve America?s infrastructure.

American Water Works Company, Inc., recently announced the financial close of its sale of regulated operations in Arizona and New Mexico to EPCOR USA at a purchase price of $470 million.

Itron, Inc. recently announced that Water Utility of Madison, Wis., will implement Itron?s advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) for Project H20, the city?s program to automate the collection and analysis of water meter reads.

FMI (www.fminet.com), the largest provider of management consulting and investment banking to the engineering and construction industry, announced the release of its Nonresidential Construction Index report for the first quarter of 2012.

On Feb. 21, the Clean Water America Alliance announced winners of the 2012 U.S. Water Prize for watershed-based approaches toward water sustainability.

Itron, Inc. (NASDAQ: ITRI) announced on Feb. 21, that it was chosen by the Cairns Regional Council, under the Port Douglas Demand Management Campaign, to deploy its advanced water metering solution.

Poseidon Resources on Feb. 10 announced the Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board (SARWQCB) unanimously approved an amended National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit for the Huntington Beach Seawater Desalination Project.

The American Water Works Association (AWWA) has published a new book to provide utility managers, operators and water quality staff, city officials and others with a thorough understanding of when design-build (DB) project delivery is a good choice for a water or wastewater utility.

While automatic meter reading has been around for several decades, technological advances combined with economic and environmental conditions are increasing interest in smart metering systems.

Innovative financing and pricing flexibility are key to preparing the nation?s aging freshwater systems to handle growing demand and environmental challenges, according to a Charting New Waters report released Jan. 26 by The Johnson Foundation at Wingspread, American Rivers and Ceres.