The Water Sector Coordinating Council (WSCC) released a December 14 memo encouraging water and wastewater utilities to contact their state and local public health agencies about prioritization of their staff for COVID-19 vaccinations. The WSCC is is a policy, strategy and coordination mechanism for the U.S. Water and Wastewater Systems Sector in interactionsRead More

Xylem has donated and delivered more than 300,000 pieces of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to frontline workers in 2020, working alongside its partners. The personal protective equipment went to healthcare facilities and to water utility operators working to keep essential services flowing in local communities. In March 2020, Xylem beganRead More

Friday evening, Congress released its long-awaited conferenced Water Resources and Development Act (WRDA). Over the past several cycles, this bill has become the vehicle of choice for authorizing essential funding for clean and drinking water infrastructure. While both the House and Senate Committee versions of WRDA 2020 included clean waterRead More

The Rural Community Assistance Partnership (RCAP) announced in July it was sourcing and donating 40,000 N95 masks to frontline water operators in partnership with Xylem Watermark and 120Water. In August, Xylem donated an additional 65,000 which RCAP was able to coordinate with 120Water to distribute in response to continued spikesRead More

In a letter to President-elect Joe Biden last week, the American Water Works Association (AWWA) urged the incoming administration to prioritize COVID-19 relief for water utilities and investment for the overall water infrastructure sector. The letter, authored by association president Melissa Elliott, cites AWWA research that revenue shortfalls at U.S. drinkingRead More

Recent trial programs looking at the efficacy of testing wastewater to detect COVID-19 outbreaks have yielded important insights about how this method of testing can be used to improve public health, including providing an early indicator of infection that can be used to trigger advisories and recommendations How to BringRead More

120Water, a digital water platform for modern sample management and compliance, announced a new program that can provide early detection of COVID-19 outbreaks by testing wastewater for the presence of SARS-CoV-2 RNA that is shed by infected persons. According to current research, the testing of wastewater sewage for SARS-CoV-2 RNARead More

Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a pared-down version of the HEROES Act, the chamber’s previous COVID-19 relief package. The legislation contains $1.5 billion in aid to water and sewer utilities to help low-income ratepayers during the pandemic. The new version of the HEROES bill stripped $1.2 trillion in totalRead More

By Shannon C. Markham “These are truly unprecedented times.” If you have not heard this phrase 100 times in the last few months then you must have recently awoken from a lengthy slumber. The impact of the COVID-19 crisis has been widespread and thorough, affecting countless facets of our modern society.Read More

By Jim Baehr Water utilities were already facing a long list of challenges before COVID-19. Add to the list employee health protection, shutoff moratoriums, intensified affordability issues, unstable cash flow, the inability to foresee the “new normal” and matters become more complicated. It’s probable the list will continue to grow.Read More