Nominations are open for PNCWA Vice President and Treasurer-elect. PNCWA members may nominate qualified WEF members for both positions. Nominees must be WEF members in good standing and must have signified willingness to serve. WEF members may self-nominate.
The PNCWA Constitution & Bylaws, Policies, and Procedures Manual and Strategic Plan can be viewed at Governance and Records.
The Member Services Committee is excited to promote our amazing volunteers in our newest section of the monthly digest. If you know someone we should feature in the “Member Spotlight,” send an email to committee chair Brittany Park. For our next spotlight, we would like to introduce you to Miaomiao Zhang. Take it away, Miaomiao.
When the organization decided to cancel the annual conference this year, the InFLOW subcommittee decided to pivot and offer a year-long option for 2020 participants, including a multi-day InFLOW virtual workshop in 2021. Each month, we’ll highlight our participants, and they’ll share why they are excited about this year’s program. Read about Mary Martin here.
Why are you excited to participate in the InFLOW Program?
I am looking forward to sharing resources with young engineers and helping each other build our professional skills.
The latest COVID relief bill appropriated $350 billion in new Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds, allowing for uses which specifically include making necessary investments in water and sewer infrastructure unrelated to COVID-19. (Section 9901)
The PNCWA Board has worked together this year to review and update the organization’s mission statement. We want our mission statement to reflect who we are today and where we want to head in the future. This is a statement that will act as an anchor for members, committees, and supporting organizations.
The mission of the Pacific Northwest Clean Water Association (PNCWA) is to be the premier association in the Northwest dedicated to educating and connecting members to promote a healthy water environment in our region.
The Member Services Committee is excited to promote our amazing volunteers in a new section of the monthly digest. If you know someone we should feature in the “Member Spotlight,” send an email to committee chair Brittany Park. For this month’s spotlight, we would like to introduce you to Frank Dick of the City of Vancouver. Take it away, Frank.
When the organization decided to cancel the annual conference this year, the InFLOW subcommittee decided to pivot and offer a year-long option for 2020 participants, including a multi-day InFLOW virtual workshop in 2021. Each month, we’ll highlight our participants, and they’ll share why they are excited about this year’s program. Read about Lesley Martinez here.
Lesley Martinez
Civil Engineer I at Tetra Tech
B.S. Civil Engineering from University of Portland, May 2020
WEF’s Water Advocates program empowers you to share your knowledge and expertise to inform government decision-makers about the importance of water. Two letter campaigns to congress are in progress now, and your support will increase awareness of these needs:
Wildfires, Safety, and Water Quality: After the Smoke Clears
By Allison Lukens, EI, Mead & Hunt, Inc.
If you live in the Western part of the United States, chances are you were impacted by the historic wildfire season in 2020. A total of 10.27 million acres and nearly 59,000 fires burned last year, contributing to the largest annual wildfire acreage burned in the U.S. since 1960. Although it’s difficult to predict the precise time, location, and magnitude of wildfires, we need to accept that they are a possibility and do whatever we can to prepare for them. 
The PNCWA Summit Series went out with a bang! Over the course of the six summits, PNCWA has delivered on its mission to provide professional development opportunities to its members, while raising much-needed funds. Most importantly, we have continued to stay connected through these challenging and uncertain times.
We have so many people to thank for the success of the Summit Series. We want to start by thanking our sponsors and you, the members of PNCWA, for your trust and support this year.
The December FY2021 Consolidated Appropriations Act included $638M for low-income water and wastewater ratepayer assistance. NACWA and other wastewater industry groups are working with the Dept. of Health and Humans Services on how to implement this program.
The Member Services Committee is excited to promote our amazing volunteers in a new section of the monthly digest. If you know someone we should feature in the “Member Spotlight,” send an email to committee chair Brittany Park. For our first spotlight, we would like to introduce you to Brittany Downing of City of Portland. Take it away, Brittany.
Where did you go to school?
I graduated from OSU in 2017 with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering. While in school, I joined the engineering sorority, Phi Sigma Rho, and I am actively involved on the board of our chapter’s Alumni Association as the Events Chair. I also continue to support the collegiate members as an Alumnae Advisor.
When the organization decided to cancel the annual conference this year, the InFLOW subcommittee decided to pivot and offer a year-long option for 2020 participants, including a multi-day InFLOW virtual workshop in 2021. Each month, we’ll highlight our participants, and they’ll share why they are excited about this year’s program. Read about Liz Thorley here.
Liz Thorley
Project Engineer at Keller Associates
B.S. Environmental Engineering from Oregon State University, 2018
The Racial & Social Justice (RSJ) Subcommittee has launched the first issue of their newsletter. The Subcommittee newsletter highlights diversity, equity, and inclusion projects and collects multimedia resources and book recommendations to advance learning and awareness of history, perspective, and action for environmental, racial, economic, and social justice. Check out the first issue.
The subcommittee welcomes your suggestions for content, such as educational materials (i.e. essays, books, podcast etc); membership organization RSJ / DEI program (i.e. agencies, consulting firms); projects with RSJ elements; and volunteer opportunities. Email Frank Dick with your input.
PNCWA members participated in the Racial and Social Justice (RSJ) subcommittee’s first virtual social hour on December 22. This was an engagement for people to interact socially while discussing topics of racial, cultural, and gender diversity in our workplaces and communities — a safe space for discussion which also allows us to get out of our comfort zones. The RSJ group intends to host these social hours about once a month on the Teams platform, with a suggested essay or article reading or podcast listen (beforehand). Join us for our next social hour, set for Tuesday, January 19 at 5 p.m. Contact Frank Dick, Rob Lee, or Shelby Smith for the invite!
When the organization decided to cancel the annual conference this year, the InFLOW subcommittee decided to pivot and offer a year-long option for 2020 participants, including a multi-day InFLOW virtual workshop in 2021. Each month we’ll be highlighting our participants, and they’ll share why they are excited about this year’s program. Read about Amanda Howard here.
Amanda Howard
Student at Washington State University
Mechanical Engineering, May 2021
Craig Budrow is a WTP Operator III for the City of Salem’s Willow Lake Pollution Control Facility and holds an Oregon DEQ Wastewater Certification Grade IV.
Craig was nominated by the Plant Supervisory staff with supporting comments such as:
The Women of Water Summit is coming up next month, and the aquafficiency team is excited to hear from so many of our industry leaders! Of course, because we’re all about energy efficiency, we wanted to take the opportunity to acknowledge and highlight some of the women who have done so much to help move the needle in wastewater facilities throughout the Pacific Northwest. Our sponsorship is in honor of the women listed below, whose knowledge, hard work, and support of making wastewater treatment more energy efficient have saved millions of kilowatt-hours (not to mention dollars!) over the years. In alphabetical order (because you can’t rank superstars), they are:
Idaho DEQ is conducting a negotiated rulemaking for an Arsenic Water Quality Standard. Comments on the draft rule are due January 15th.
The Washington State Department of Ecology will hold an informational meeting on EPA’s Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) for Temperature in the Columbia and Lower Snake Rivers on January 28, 2021. EPA published the temperature TMDL in May 2020 and held a 90-day public comment period this past summer. Ecology is responsible for writing Washington’s implementation plan for this TMDL. We would like to meet with interested stakeholders and tribes to introduce the Ecology team who will be working on implementation, give an update on what happened in 2020, and share what we are planning for early stages of implementation in 2021. This meeting is a preliminary, informational meeting. We plan to engage more formally with stakeholders and tribes when EPA reissues an updated TMDL.
Date: January 28, 9:30 to 11 a.m.
Registration: Please register at this link to attend via Webex.
Project webpage for future updates: www.ecology.wa.gov/ColumbiaSnakeTMDL
Washington Department of Ecology DRAFT PFAS Chemical Action Plan (CAP) - Ecology has extended the public comment period from January 4 to January 22. The draft CAP addresses source control, treatment, and other controls for ongoing and legacy contamination in ground, groundwater, and surface waters. Draft PFAS Chemical Action Plan - Washington State Department of Ecology.
The PNCWA Mentorship Program application is now open! This one-year program pairs seasoned clean water professionals with students and young professionals for a series of conversations and learning opportunities that challenge us, inspire us, and help us stay connected. It’s a great way to grow your career and your PNCWA network. If you’re an experienced professional interested in guiding the industry’s future leaders, or a student or young professional seeking advice from someone who has faced the same career questions, consider participating in 2021.
