Greetings from the Leadership Development Committee! For those of you who are not familiar with the Committee’s work, we seek to develop leaders for the Association, our organizations, and our community. We hold workshops on leadership throughout the year. We also encourage each other through sharing articles, podcasts, blogs, and books on leadership. One book that I really like was introduced to me by our friends at Rogue Water at one of their Catalyst events. Designing Your Work Life by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans introduces design thinking to live, learn, and succeed in our work lives. The concept is thinking like a designer. What exactly does that mean?

Design thinking includes:

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The WAVE program engages students and emerging professionals from diverse backgrounds with the water industry through a series of workshops and attendance at the 2023 PNCWA conference. The workshops focus on the various paths within the water industry, networking, skills development, employment opportunities, and conference preparation. Each month until the conference, we will highlight our participants.

PNCWA Participates in Water Week 2023 by Sending 8 Members to Washington DC

May 2023

Federal:

WATER WEEK 2023 | APRIL 23-29

The PNCWA Nominating Committee is currently accepting nominations for the following positions beginning in September 2023:

Don’t forget to sign up for the Bioenergy and Co-Digestion webinar! This webinar, hosted by the Sustainability and Biosolids Committee, is on April 25^th from 1-3 pm (PDT) and will cover the following topics.

• Overview and trends of organic diversion regulations. 
• Impacts and opportunities for utilities. 
• Planning for accepting source-separated organics. 
• Trends and barriers to recovering energy and resources from SSOs. 
• Cost/Benefit model and case studies.

The webinar is free to members of PNCWA and only $10 for non-members. CEUs are actively being pursued in this webinar.

Thursday, April 27, 12 pm Pacific/1 pm Mountain

One key to success is to fully understand how to apply your greatest talents and strengths in your everyday life. A person’s talents – those thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that come naturally – are the source of your true potential and power.

Please join us for an energetic and highly interactive Gallup CliftonStrengths workshop where you will have an opportunity to gain a greater understanding of your talents and how to use them in your everyday life.  As part of your registration, you will receive a CliftonStrengths assessment code and complete the assessment prior to the workshop. We will explore how to develop talents into strengths and uncover how to aim your talents at career goals. Your participation in activities, discussion, and discovery, as well as listening to our panelists discuss how their Strengths have shaped their career experiences, will prepare you to create your own Strengths-based development plan.

The WAVE program engages students and emerging professionals from diverse backgrounds with the water industry through a series of workshops and attendance at the 2023 PNCWA conference. The workshops focus on the various paths within the water industry, networking, skills development, employment opportunities, and conference preparation. Each month until the conference, we will highlight our participants.

The Collections Systems Committee (CSC) facilitates the advancement of standards and methods used for the design, construction, operations, maintenance, and management of wastewater collection systems in the Pacific Northwest. We are looking for members who are willing to join the committee and take ownership of some of our smaller projects (such as setting up webinars, pre-conference workshops, etc.). We are an active committee, and we rely on the engagement of our members to increase our impact.

Meetings are held online on the 3^rd Friday of odd months (the next meeting will be May 19^th).  If you are interested in joining, please visit: https://www.pncwa.org/collections-committee

Idaho

• Updates to Idaho HHWQC for Arsenic:  The updates to Idaho’s human health criteria for arsenic were negotiated under Docket No. 58-0102-1801 and published as a proposed rule under Docket No. 58-0102-2201. The pending rule was adopted by the Idaho Board of Environmental Quality on May 26, 2022, and will be submitted to the Idaho Legislature for review during the 2023 legislative session. The pending rule includes the rule as initially proposed along with revisions in Subsections 210.01.b., Footnote k, and 210.03.e. and is available here. Once the pending rule is approved by the Idaho Legislature, DEQ will submit the rule to EPA for review.

Oregon

What a wonderful sight it was on March 22^nd at Optimism Brewing as over 70 people split into teams in a (mostly friendly) battle of wits covering obscure waterways, water-based music, and what WSP stands for. We saw connections being made across the water industry and beyond that we rarely get to see outside of the PNCWA Annual Conference, all while raising more than $4,000 for Water For People. Thank you to our wonderful host, Optimism Brewing Company, and our generous Sponsors AECOM, Schnabel, WSP, Osborn Consulting, Stantec, T.Y. Lin, Carollo, and Consor, as well as our prize sponsors Rey Amargo Chocolate, Overcast Coffee and Elliott Bay Books.

On November 5, 2021, the U.S. Congress passed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill. Since then, the federal government has provided funding for various infrastructure projects. In the Pacific Northwest, funding has been awarded to projects that improve access to clean drinking water, provide access to reliable high-speed internet, repair and rebuild roads and bridges, improve multimodal transportation, upgrade power infrastructure, and provide forest fire protection.

Information on the breakdown of funding given to Idaho, Washington, and Oregon can be found in Part 1 of the blog post series here: Committee Spotlight: Stormwater (pncwa.org)

Today, Meet Juliana, Nicole, and Jasper: