Laurel Firestone’s Post

Entering a fourth year of a groundbreaking and ambitious Strategic Plan, the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago (MWRD) is striving to meet new goals and share them with the public it serves. The MWRD has developed a revamped and interactive dashboard for its 2021-2025 Strategic Plan that can be accessed at https://lnkd.in/dkViD8Cq. The new dashboard enhances user experience with updated data and visuals to track MWRD progress across the Strategic Plan’s five goals, including: resource management, stormwater management, workforce excellence, community engagement and enterprise resilience. Here, visitors to the MWRD website can learn about the water the MWRD releases back into the environment after converting it from wastewater, how the MWRD is expanding its presence throughout the county to mitigate flooding, the demographics of its workforce, how the MWRD is meeting new audiences in its community engagement goals following a pandemic, and how the MWRD sustains strong financial stewardship. “The new dashboard monitors our progress in meeting measurable outcomes outlined in our Strategic Plan, while giving users an inside look at the important work of the MWRD,” said MWRD President Kari K. Steele. “We are striving to meet new goals while presenting them in a transparent manner for our taxpayers who entrust us with the major task of protecting our region’s water environment.” Since the plan was adopted on June 3, 2021, the MWRD has been working to reach many new, exciting, and challenging goals built out of as many as 30 strategies, 50 success measures, 140 initiatives and 360 activities. While the dashboard does not highlight every activity, it gives audiences a firm grasp of ongoing work at the MWRD and its aspiration to meet its Strategic Plan initiatives. “The Strategic Plan presents us with a blueprint to follow as we address water management and resource recovery through innovative, equitable and sustainable measures,” said MWRD Chairman of Finance Marcelino Garcia. Read the complete press release: https://lnkd.in/dR99EDuB #MWRD #CookCounty #WastewaterTreatment #StormwaterManagement

How to Strengthen Public Trust Real time water quality monitoring at every American home, THE.WAVE.TALK

🌊 Join the Conversation: Water Matters! 🌊 I recently attended a consult meeting held by the Kansas Water Office in Pittsburg, KS. It was an eye-opening experience that highlighted the critical importance of water management in our state. 💧 Boomers: Your wealth of experience and wisdom are essential. Your participation can provide valuable insights and ensure that our water management strategies are well-rounded and effective. Generation X: Your sense of responsibility is crucial. These meetings are a chance to step up and ensure our community’s needs are met. Your voice can guide our state’s decisions on this vital resource. Millennials: Your willingness to help is needed now more than ever. By participating, you can make a tangible difference in how we manage our water resources. Your input can shape a sustainable future for all. Gen Z: Your fresh perspectives and innovative ideas are invaluable. Get involved and bring your unique insights to the table. Together, we can create lasting solutions for our water challenges. I can’t stress enough how important it is for everyone to be involved. Let’s share the load of decisions and provide the guidance our state legislatures need. This meeting was not only inspiring but also a reminder of how much education and knowledge are needed to address our water issues. Let’s make a difference together! 💪 (Attached is a picture I took at the venue prior to the meetings starting this morning.)

Join Us for the "Splashdown Saga: 2024 Water Legislation" Panel at the Spring Policy Symposium! Moderated by Evan Jacobs, Director of Communications & External Affairs at California American Water, this panel session is set to dissect the intricate landscape of 2024 water legislation. Evan's extensive experience in communications and external affairs within the water sector gives him a unique perspective on public policy challenges and innovations in water management. Panelists: -Adam Quinonez, Director of State Legislative and Regulatory Relations, Association of California Water Agencies. Adam brings a wealth of experience from his tenure at ACWA, where he oversees state legislative and regulatory advocacy focusing on water quality, energy, and state budget issues. -Danielle Blacet, Deputy Executive Director, California Municipal Utilities Association. With 23 years of experience in legislative advocacy, Danielle has represented a broad spectrum of water stakeholders, from farmers to public water agencies. -Ryan Ojakian, Legislative and Regulatory Affairs Program Manager, Regional Water Authority. Known for his adept skills in policy formulation and coalition building, Ryan has been influential in shaping water policy to support long-term urban water use efficiency. This panel will provide insights into the latest legislative actions affecting water management and conservation in California. Learn from seasoned experts who are at the forefront of navigating and influencing policy for sustainable water practices. Don’t miss this enlightening discussion on the future of water legislation and its implications for stakeholders across the state. For more info: https://bit.ly/3Ug4Fz1 #WaterLegislation2024 #WaterManagement #SustainablePractices #PublicPolicy #WaterTheHeroWeNeed #CAWater

The Importance of the Great Lakes Region in Shaping Our Future As highlighted in a recent article from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel by Great Lakes reporter, Caitlin Looby, PhD, both vice-presidential candidates in the 2024 election hail from the Great Lakes region. This emphasizes what we've long believed: the Great Lakes are not just critical to our nation but are central to our global economy and environmental future. Of course, the region is fertile “swing state” territory as well. You can read Caitlin’s thorough piece https://lnkd.in/gMWCCzE5 Our region, which holds over 20% of the world's freshwater and represents one of the largest economic hubs, plays a critical role in shaping industries, policies, and opportunities for generations to come. The fact that both vice-presidential candidates are rooted in this area underscores the necessity of prioritizing water management, environmental conservation, and innovative economic strategies for the region's long-term success. For many, many years, our colleague John Austin has been leading the discussion on the Great Lakes’ pivotal role in the global economy. His work continues to influence policy and investments that not only uplift our region but also have a far-reaching impact across the globe. You can explore some of his thoughts on this topic in his Financial Poise article. https://lnkd.in/d-P_-k24 At GLUE, we are committed to advocating for sustainable solutions and fostering economic renewal in our region. Together, we can ensure the Great Lakes continue to thrive as a leader in innovation and climate resilience. #GreatLakes #UrbanEmpowerment #EnvironmentalLeadership #WaterConservation #Sustainability #EconomicRenewal #ClimateResilience #Innovation #FreshwaterEconomy #GlobalImpact #MidwestInnovation #EmpowermentSolutions

For many local utilities, funding membership to regional and local trade groups can come under fire when budgets are reviewed. What an excellent program to support the continued development of an informed and skilled workforce.

Here are some good reasons to choose Aquatico's Cape Laboratory to assist with your environmental assessments: CUSTOMIZATION: We can customise reporting to suit very specific, unique requirements across all management levels throughout your entire company. INTEGRITY: We use a secure MS SQL Server database to ensure the safety and integrity of our clients’ environmental data at all times. BENCHMARKING: Each client’s data is maintained and verified against previous statistics to ensure a credible and continuous data timeline. This enables us to re-analyse samples should it be required. COMPATIBILITY: Data can be imported or exported in any required format to allow integration with our clients’ internal database systems. MANAGEMENT REPORTS: Our aim is to create reports that will turn our clients’ environmental data into insightful knowledge and become a critical decision-making tool in order to assess risk as measured against legislative criteria. For any queries, please contact Ian Belford (063 680 4788), Erick Dorfling (066 480 4463) or send an e-mail to info@aquatico.co.za #westerncape #capetown #waterquality #wateranalysis #waterlaboratory

Great post by Patrick Atwater outlining some future ideas for the California Data Collaborative currently lead by Christopher Tull Many areas of water management that have lots of work to be done in terms of better data management and collaboration. May I add Patrick that there is lots to be done into the actual source of hydrological data (hardware + software) especially in urban environments - given the unique insights and governance that the CaDC has might make it the natural leader to steer innovation in that sector and guide the development of the full data funnel: from source (eg., houses) to the final user (agencies). Even limited exercises such as the urban ET explorer might be quite useful, or experiments with "synthetic" data at the parcel level can provide strong insights into what and how much data should agencies aim to generate.

Although the fact of the soil absorbing the oil is correct, clearly it is not something that is environmentally conscious. The benefits of this type of activity is totally outweighed by the environmental costs!! It should never have been printed by Popular Mechanics.