Sometimes it seems that everything under the sun as a special day or week devoted to it, but we've come to recognize that these awareness events are a powerful tool for promoting the value of water and the important role of water operators. This week, May 5-11, we're celebrating Drinking Water Week and Public Service Recognition Week.

• Drinking Water Week, led by the American Water Works Association, has a key mission to educate the public about the role of water in our daily lives. 
• Public Service Recognition Week seeks to honor those who serve our national at all levels of government, including county and local governments. 

Together these events present a great opportunity to communicate the value of water operators as hometown heroes, emphasizing their critical role in protecting the public. Recently, Treatment Plant Operator magazine initiated The Fire Chief Project, with a simple, long-term goal:

Clean-water plant managers, superintendents and operators are held in the same esteem as the fire chief and firefighters. Boys and girls grow up wanting to be clean-water operators.

We couldn't agree more with this sentiment and we can start working towards that goal this week. 

Bonus Benefit of Awareness Events

We talk a lot about communicating with customers and building trusted relationships, but it can be difficult to know what to talk about. We know that in most cases your main job is to provide clean and safe water - and in many cases you have other jobs too.

These events provide date-specific and topical focus around which to plan special events, deliver awareness messages (online and off), and in generally rally their community around a theme. Here are some other events relevant to the water industry: 

• National Groundwater Awareness Week - March
  
• World Water Day - March 22
  
• National Public Health Week - April 
• National Work Zone Awareness Week - April 
• Earth Day - April 23
• Arbor Day - Last Friday in April 
• National Public Works Week - May (May 19-25, 2013)

Do you know of other awareness events we should include in this list? 

The Tribal Utility Governance (TUG) training series is designed to help the managers of tribal water systems better understand how all the pieces of utility management fit together. Like other water systems, tribes often face competing pressures from the public they serve and the government that ultimately makes many decisions. 

Effective and sustainable utility management requires that a holistic and long-term view serves as the broader context for short-term decision making. A federal government task force committed to working on tribal infrastructure issues states this goal: 

"Access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation shall be provided through entities that are sustainable and implemented through integrated agency planning that link sthe development goals of the tribe with the need for such services and infrastructure."

Such a large charge to water and wastewater systems means that heads must come together within the tribe to discuss the financial, managerial and technical issues. It is often the utility manager or another senior operator, who must serve as a leader to balance needs and facilitate understanding of all parties. 

To assist with this important communication and education challenge, the task force prepared a short document that outlines commonalities and best practices of sustainable tribal utilities. I'm sure few would disagree that it is often the following recommendation is one of the most challenging:

"Day-to-day management and funding for the utility should be isolated from politics, either through an independent utility board (e.g., NTUA, TOUA) which provides oversight and high-level direction, or a separate entity (e.g., ARUC)."

However, this reference can serve as the perfect launchpoint for discussions that initiate baby steps in the right direction.  

We all know that one of the neat things about the Internet is the ability to find just about anything you might want to know. When you're studying for a certification exam or just trying to refresh your knowledge, online quizzes can be a fun diversion that is also educational!

One of our friends at RCAC shared a link to ProProfs, which is a site where anyone can create a quiz. If you search for "water treatment" the first few pages of results have some good options. There's even a set of quizzes that follow the California Water Treatment Plant manual. 

Depending on what type of subject you're studying, you can change the search phrase. There isn't anything formal to these quizzes, i.e. they don't "count" for anything. That said, testing your knowledge is one of the best ways to study when you're tired of reading the text book.

Industry professionals: It's also fun to have a group of colleagues take the same quiz and compare your scores. See who knows the most! 

This year's Water Environmental Federation Technical Conference (WEFTEC) will be held October 5-9, 2013 in Chicago. The annual conference is, according to WEF, "the largest conference of its kind in North America and offers water quality professionals from around the world with the best water quality education and training available today." 

What that means in plain language for operators is a huge opportunity to learn from the best and receive a lot of continuing education credits in one shot. But, we know it's often difficult for those at small systems to travel to conferences. WEF is working hard to make WEFTEC more accessible for everyone across the industry.

This year, for the first time, access to the exhibit halls (and up to 8 contact hours each day) is 100% free for those who register online. Also, registration fees have been reduced to make the conference sessions more affordable. This includes operators who can get a special rate (savings of $300) as WEF members. (If you're not already a member, the cost is much less than that $300 difference!)

If you need help getting approved to go, check out WEF's handy Employer Approval Tips guide with talking points, worksheets and forms. Being prepared with facts and benefits can go a long way when a travel decision is in someone else's hands.