WE Fall 2018 Magazine

One AWWA Operator Scholarships Making an impact across the country

Mentoring Pilot Helping students and young professionals learn the ropes

AWWA Water Equation’s Programming

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Contents 4

One AWWA Operator Scholarship Impact

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Students & Young Professional Programs

6-7

Community Engineering Corps Volunteers

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AWWA Scholarship Program

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Tax Reform and Charitable Giving

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Standing Committee Appointed

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Farewell to Ad Hoc Committee

Ride With Purpose, the “Water Buffalos” The Water Buffalos (aka The Herd) are part of something very special. We participate in motorcycle charity rides that originate from several locations across North America and Canada and finish at numerous conferences, workshops, and tradeshows throughout the year—all in the spirit of raising money and awareness for non-profit organizations providing for safe drinking water, sanitation services, and environmental stewardship to communities in need, wherever they may be.

Our membership is currently in 24 States and 2 Canadian Providences and growing. Our biggest ride for 2018 was to the American Water Works Association (AWWA) Conference in Las Vegas, NV. The “Water Buffalos” have been making rides such as this one for 13 years. All expenses for these rides—fuel, hotels, food, etc.—are paid by the individual buffalo. The amount of time travelling also allows us to inform people that may not be aware of such great organizations and the work that is being done.

Likely, you’ve seen the denim vest covered with patches at an event. The vests are our biggest fundraiser each year, in addition to raffling off a motorcycle from time to time as well.

The funds raised since the first ride have resulted in over a million dollars donated to non-profit organizations, such as the Community Engineering Corps (CECorps), and we have educated an unmeasurable number of people along the way.

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While “The Herd” still actively supports the work being done in developing parts of the world by other non-profit organizations, we wanted to expand to projects and education locally as well. Since the majority of our members are also members of AWWA, raising funds and awareness for the work that CEC is doing was a great addition. This allows our members to potentially be more engaged and hands on with domestic projects, in addition to our fundraising and educational awareness efforts.

We encourage any motorcycle rider or motorcycle enthusiast to visit our website, www.ridewithpurpose.org, for information on how you can get involved!

Jaimie Foremann, Vice President of Ride With Purpose

Sharing your stories WE FALL 2018

The stories we share with each other shape how we see the

A magazine for

world and each other. One of

AWWA members

the things that I have noticed in the water industry is how we

and those interested

operate in silent service, rarely

in furthering the

touting the good works of the

water industry.

water heroes who respond in the middle of the night or prepare for another storm or hurricane.

ABOUT WE

In this magazine, WE will share your stories of success

A magazine published

in supporting the water and

twice per year by

wastewater operators through

Water Equation to share

scholarships for continuing

stories and the impact

education and certification; to acknowledge the volunteerism

of our donors on our

of those helping underserved

water industry workforce

communities through Community Engineering Corps;

and communities.

and share the joy in the voices Please send comments

MICHELLE HEKTOR

student and young professional programming.

and story ideas to Michelle Hektor at

of those who benefit from

ACE19 Results

mhektor@awwa.org

VIVA LAS VEGAS!!

Thanks to you, WE raised: Wolman Scholarship: $26,150 Comedy Club: $8,824 Prize Wheel & Headshots: $3,215 Headwaters Reception: $7,500 Aclara “It’s Sweet to Give Back”: $1,700 Total: $47,389

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ONE AWWA OPERATOR SCHOLARSHIP $75,000 AWARDED | 70 SCHOLARSHIPS AWARDED BY WE AND AWWA SECTIONS WATER OPERATORS

WASTEWATER OPERATORS

OTHER

CHESAPEAKE AWWA SECTION SHORT COURSE Evan Norris Baltimore, Maryland Evan’s father introduced him to the water industry and he is currently a Water Treatment Application Tech for the City of Baltimore Department of Public Works. He says that his supervisors encourage him daily because they believe he possesses the necessary attitude, aptitude and willingness to excel in the water industry. Evan’s wife and three children support him as well, and he has set a goal of learning all aspects of water treatment.

Evan attended the 2018 Short Course at Mount St. Mary’s University with six other recipients of the One AWWA Operator Scholarship from the Chesapeake AWWA Section and WE. Garrett Scheller, Maryland Environmental Service Michael Conaway, Hampstead Wastewater Treatment Plant Tony Owens, Anne Arundel County Wanda Spearman, City of Baltimore Public Works Dara Dorman, City of Baltimore Public Works Andrea Hahn, Carroll County

OHIO AWWA OPERATOR David Gilbert, Water Distribution Supervisor City of Geneva, Ohio As a Utilities man in the United States Navy Seabees, David Gilbert attained the rank of E-5 in under four years. This motivation to succeed continued after he was honorably discharged from the military, and he found his way to the City of Geneva, Ohio, where he recently became the Supervisor of Water Distribution. David says that being a veteran has assisted him in this role, because he developed professionalism and a work ethic through the various jobs he held.

David is a single parent of two children and made the decision to attend Lakeside Community College to obtain his Associate Degree in Civil Engineering, with a concentration in Construction Management. He wants his children to understand “the value of personal growth, development, and fulfillment.” David received a $2,000 scholarship from the Ohio AWWA Section, with 50% of the award coming from AWWA’s Water Equation. He says that this grant will allow him to continue his education without acquiring additional student loan debt. His goal is to use his new degree to advance to a position as a Regional Director for a public water system or to become a Public Works Director.

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Hello fellow water peeps!

First, thank you for your support of AWWA’s student and young professional programming. This is the future of our industry, and I’m proud of us for investing in them. I love working with students and young professionals because they are confident, socially responsible, tech-savvy, and diverse, and they give to causes they care about—one cause being safe and sustainable water.

AWWA has 3,500+ student members, 80 student chapters, and 3,000 young professional members throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, and India. Our newest student chapters include Florida Atlantic University, University of North Florida, Purdue University, University of California–Berkeley, University of South Carolina, and AWWAIndia–Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay.

CARI MACIOLEK

Funding for students and young professionals helps us to provide webinars to student chapters for free, and to create programming at our conferences, such as conference mentoring, networking receptions, job fairs, poster competitions, committee speed networking, and much more.

One of the significant student/Young Professionals (YP) events of the year is our AWWA Leadership Training and YP Summit, which precede the Utility Management Conference every year.

These two events consist of technical training and professional development workshops. Last year, we hosted students/ YPs from 34 of our 43 Sections! Once again, thank you for that. The students/YPs wouldn’t be able to attend without the support of their Sections and their employers.

The biggest program launching this year is our pilot mentoring program for AWWA student members. I worked closely with our Ad Hoc Mentoring Committee to complete research, create guidelines and applications, and set goals for this program.

This is open to student members in Florida, Intermountain, Ohio, and Ontario and will run from October 15, 2018, through May 31, 2019. The goals of the program include the following: Increase personal fulfillment and promote professional development Increase, capture, and transfer of institutional knowledge to support the industry in the face of a changing workforce Enhance mutual respect between students/YPs and experienced professionals and foster a sense of community at the Section level, as well as the Association level Promote a culture of generosity and open dialogue Enhance the value experience for members We look forward to seeing successes, as well as learning from the pilot program, and we are hopeful that this program will be expanded in Fall 2019. We continue to see growth in the student and YP arena, so please keep up your efforts in recruiting, engaging, and retaining them!

Questions, ideas, comments, or just want to say hello? Call/text/email Cari Maciolek at 720.775.9020 or cmaciolek@awwa.org.

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Rural Water Systems in Stevensville: Community Engineering Corps

Ed Sutherlin Since 2014, Community Engineering Corps (CECorps) is proving itself to be a valuable and exciting opportunity for volunteers and underserved communities across the United States. Though only in the fifth year of operation, the partnership between AWWA, Engineers Without Borders – USA, and the American Society of Civil Engineers has completed 17 projects to date and has another 45 actively being implemented by student and professional volunteers.

Projects have ranged from designing community gardens, and performing energy audits on community buildings, to creating public water and wastewater service solutions from the ground up.

AWWA’s commitment to the CECorps program is exemplified by the critical work our volunteers are performing in the town of Stevensville, Montana. Located in the Bitterroot Valley, Stevensville’s history is rich in the context of Western exploration of the frontier following the Lewis and Clark expedition, and was founded by Catholic missionaries in 1841 at the site of extensive regional fur trading with Native American societies. According to National Census data from 2016, Stevensville has a population of 2,016, with 19% of the population living below the poverty line. Coupled with the low income of residents, the town is additionally facing a common issue in the water and wastewater service industry of a retiring workforce and aging infrastructure, which was kept at bay only by the heroic efforts of a small and dedicated Public Works staff.

In 2018, Kurt Vause connected with one of these retiring public employees, and as a professional engineer and a 33-year member of AWWA, he came forward to assist the Town of Stevensville. Mr. Vause worked with the town to submit a community application to CECorps, with the goal of addressing multiple concerns facing the town’s provision of

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water and wastewater services. Stevensville has historically been unable to devote its limited resources to creation of consolidated system inventories or a maintenance management system. Instead, employees collected materials from individual projects, and store record documents from each project and accesses individual records as needed. The primary concern is that much of the operational knowledge of the utility is held by the few current employees on the brink of retiring, and records, billing, and customer and asset information are accessible only by word of mouth or by paper-based information systems. Experienced staff understand the financial and technical limitations of the town and still capably manage the utilities by focusing on core operations and prioritizing resources to protect public health and the environment.

Mr. Vause’s first step was to work with the Town of Stevensville and the Public Works staff to fully understand the scale of the need and negotiate a manageable scope.

Partnering with a retiring Public Works Director and the town, Mr. Vause developed a plan that was to be executed in two phases. In the first phase, the team proposed to consolidate existing information regarding the water supply and distribution, plus sewer collection, treatment, and disposal systems. With CECorps funding, the team would produce up-to-date system maps of the water and sewer system to help transfer needed knowledge of utility assets to future generations of town staff. In addition, the assembled information would become part of the record inventory to be used as a basis for creating a maintenance management system for utility assets.

The project’s success has thus far come, in large part, from high levels of engagement with the town and community

George Thomas

volunteers. Sam and Ben Hale, two high school senior brothers, were recruited by Mr. Vause and became critical to the overall implementation plan. Through diligent training and extensive fieldwork, the Hale brothers were instrumental in the painstaking process of asset inventorying the entirety of the utility’s physical network. With GPS in hand and under the guidance of the Public Works Director, George Thomas, and with assistance from his staff Glen Bies, Jeff Hale, and Jack Arthur, the project team was able to geolocate and create a digital database of major infrastructure components and populate that database with critical component information.

Supplemented by grant funding through the CECorps, the team built and populated a live digital map in ArcGIS that would eventually allow the Public Works Department to perform ongoing system maintenance and monitor operations without depending on individual knowledge of the system layout. Combining the historic system knowledge of the Public Works staff with observations and data from the field, Mr. Vause and the Hale brothers have produced a tool that will go on to be the living record of the town’s water and sewer utility operation for the foreseeable future.

The project team intends to continue working with the Public Works Department and the town of Stevensville by taking advantage of opportunities now to reduce long-term costs and position Stevensville for the next generation of utility operators. In the second phase of the project, the team intends to create a computer-based maintenance management system for water and sewer assets. They will gather records and data on system performance, expected remaining asset lives, equipment safety, and other operation/ maintenance information from existing staff to help populate the maintenance management system. The team will provide technical assistance to set up the maintenance management system and, with CECorps funding, establish asset criticality within the maintenance management system to help prioritize assets for system repairs, renewals, rehabilitations, and/or replacement.

While these future tasks may appear daunting, Mr. Vause and the Public Works staff are making significant headway on bringing Stevensville into a position to sustainably manage its infrastructure into the future. With resources provided by both the CECorps and AWWA, Mr. Vause and the AWWA

Montana Section plan to continue their relationship with the town and ensure that the residents have continuous, safe, and affordable utility services. The challenges of knowledge retention and management of aging infrastructure is a common story throughout the US, but the CECorps is ready to engage talented volunteers from AWWA Sections across the country to partner with disadvantaged communities and begin the process of revitalizing the physical foundations of American lives.

For more information, please contact Steve Barr–AWWA Community Engineering Programs Manager at sbarr@awwa.org or go to www.communityengineeringcorps.org

Stephen Barr, Manager

Community Engineering Programs

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AWWA Scholarship Program

When Linda Moody, Sr. Coordinator, retired from AWWA this past summer, we examined our scholarship program and realized it would take three people to fill her shoes. So, that’s what we did, and we are excited to create a larger and more robust scholarship program for AWWA!

After all, shouldn’t the world’s largest water association have the largest water scholarship fund? Applications are now open until January 11, 2019.

AWARDING THE SCHOLARSHIP There are three judges on each panel. Sponsoring organizations have the option of naming one judge to the review panel. Other judges are AWWA volunteers.

Scholarships are acknowledged at the Water Industry Luncheon at the AWWA Annual Conference & Exposition (ACE).

Each student recipient is provided with a complimentary registration to ACE. While travel costs are the responsibility of the student, you may choose to assist with these costs. AWWA will provide the name and contact information of the recipient so that travel arrangements can be made directly with the student.

SCHOLARSHIP APPLICATION PROCESS AWWA uses a single application form for all scholarships managed by the Association.

While students may apply for multiple scholarships, a student may only be awarded one scholarship per year. Students are encouraged to apply in succeeding years for other scholarships.

Undergraduate Scholarships

Award

Graduate Scholarships

Award

Vernon D. Lucy III/SUEZ

$5,000 + travel

Holly Cornell/CH2M—Masters

$7,500 + travel

Neptune Technology Group

$5,000

Thomas R. Camp/CDM Smith

$5,000

Mueller Water Products

$5,000 + travel

American Water

$5,000

Charles Roberts/Roberts Filter Group

$5,000

ARCADIS

$5,000

Dave Caldwell/Brown and Caldwell

$5,000

Bryant L. Bench/Carollo Engineers

$7,500

Hazen & Sawyer

$5,000 + travel

Henry “Bud” Benjes/HDR

$5,000 + travel

Stantec

$5,000

Woodard & Curran

$5,000 + travel

Abel Wolman, PhD candidate

$30,000 fellowship

Larson—PhD and Masters

$7,000/ $5,000

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Abel Wolman Fellowship Recipient ALEXANDER GORZALSKI University of North Carolina, North Carolina Section “I’m thankful for the generous support received through the Abel Wolman fellowship. With this funding, I’m creating dynamic models of disinfection and oxidation processes that can be readily implemented by water systems. Water treatment plants collect a cornucopia of operations data for process control and regulatory compliance.

I’m hoping to give that data new life.

The models I’m working on combine operations data with both reaction kinetics and knowledge about the infrastructure where reactions take place (e.g., clearwells, contactors, pipelines). The dynamic models I’m building predict contaminant removal or formation changes in real time. These models have broad utility for predicting the removal of contaminants like pathogens, cyanotoxins, and NDMA precursors, as well as the formation of disinfection byproducts like THMs and bromate. I hope my research can be used to optimize water treatment plant operation and inform the timing of sample collection for laboratory analyses.”

DANIEL MOSIMAN University of Illinois, Illinois Section “Toxic levels of fluoride is endemic in groundwaters around the world, affecting mostly poor, rural populations—as many as 200 million people.

My research is focused on understanding the uptake mechanisms of fluoride by calcium hydroxyapatite (HAP) nanoparticles, and with that, to realize HAP’s untapped potential for high-capacity fluoride removal.”

WE needs to reach its 2018 goal!

Will you answer your phone when Emily calls?

we.awwa.org/2018 Make your annual tax-deductible gift

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How Tax Reform Impacts Charitable Giving

BY MIRA FINE, MOSS ADAMS Key Provisions The 2017 tax reform reconciliation act, also known as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) includes significant changes for businesses and individuals—as well as several key provisions that impact the tax treatment of charitable contributions to non-profit organizations.

The standard tax deduction for single filers is now increased to $12,000 from $6,350 and to $24,000 from $12,000 for joint filers. A higher standard deduction generally means fewer taxpayers will itemize their deductions, which is required for deducting charitable contributions.

Individual taxpayers who do choose to itemize their deductions may now also only deduct up to $10,000 of the aggregate of state and local property taxes and either income or sales taxes from their federal taxes.

At the same time, charitable deductions are made more valuable under the TCJA as a result of the following changes: Combined effective rates are increased in high– tax rate states because of the reduced state tax deductions. The reduction of state taxes, while still itemizing, creates a higher level of income and therefore, higher taxes. Because of this, it’s even more important to get the most use out of itemized deductions, making gifts of assets even more critical.

Some federal income tax brackets increased under the TCJA, along with the tax on the income in those brackets. Increasing itemized deductions through charitable contributions can help move taxable income into a lower tax bracket The Pease limitation, which required a phaseout of itemized deductions on high adjusted gross income taxpayers, is also eliminated.

Previously, contributions of cash were deductible up to 50 percent of adjusted gross income. The remaining amount was carried forward into future years. These gifts can continue, but now the limitation is raised to 60 percent. That means certain cash gifts subject to the reduced phaseout could be available sooner.

Other Opportunities and Challenges Tax reform presents as many opportunities as challenges for philanthropy. Each of the provisions highlighted in this article can potentially benefit taxpayers and the charities they choose to support, provided each is taken into consideration during the tax-planning process.

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Mira Fine

Public Accountant for Moss Adams LLP Charitable gifts of appreciated assets are still deductible subject to an adjusted gross income phaseout of generally 30 percent. However, greater benefit is obtained from gifts of appreciated assets. The donor gets a deduction for the full fair market value of the item and avoids the capital gains tax that would occur had the asset been sold. A donor-advised fund (DAF) can be used for this tax strategy. Using this same concept, donors can also gift the asset to a charitable remainder trust and sell it with no capital gains tax, then earn the income on the re-invested proceeds from the assets contributed.

To allow great deductions over multiple years, donors can also bunch their charitable deductions. This means that a taxpayer can bunch all charitable gifting from two years in one year and then potentially utilize the standard deduction in the next year. This allows a donor to exceed the standard deduction amount in the years they make charitable contributions and use the standard deduction in the years they don’t make them.

IRA Distributions and Estate Tax Under the TCJA, there’s still the benefit of being able to contribute a required minimum distribution from an IRA to charity. If a donor is at least 70.5 years old, a direct charitable distribution of $100,000 may be made to a qualified charity.

The donor doesn’t get a charitable deduction; however, they don’t have to recognize the distribution as income. This can also be beneficial in other tax areas because it reduces the donor’s adjusted gross income.

The estate-tax exemption is increased to approximately $11.2 million in 2019 from $5.49 million in 2017. If an individual’s estate is over $11.2 million, a donor may donate an amount to charity to help lower the taxable estate to below this estatetax exemption amount. However, under the new exemption amount, the donor may not make a charitable donation if the estate value is less that the estate tax-exemption amount.

Mira Fine has practiced public accounting since 1977 and offers tax consulting through Moss Adams, LLP. She can be reached at mira.fine@mossadams.com.

WE Standing Committee AWWA’s Water Equation received a show of confidence at ACE19 when the Board of Directors voted unanimously to appoint a standing committee to provide strategic guidance for the philanthropy. Operating under an Ad Hoc Committee for the last four years, Water Equation has progressed in its fundraising and awareness initiatives.

These leaders have agreed to serve one- to three-year terms on the new committee:

Name

Section

Bob Willis, Chair

Pacific Northwest

Terry McGhee

Illinois

Martha Segal

Kentucky-Tennessee

Mike Orth

Kansas

Jaqueline Torbert

Florida

Phil Holderness

California-Nevada

Randall Weeks

Rocky Mountain

Tim Wilson

Iowa

Kelly Comstock

Georgia

Elizabeth Carter

Rocky Mountain

The strategic vision includes: Providing educational funding for water and wastewater operators to ensure our ever-changing workforce Creating the largest water scholarship fund for the largest water association Funding Community Engineering Corps projects for all underserved communities in the United States Engaging students and young professionals through leadership programming

Thanks to our Ad Hoc Committee for its vision in steering AWWA’s Water Equation toward its next goals!

Mitch Kannenburg, South Dakota

Duane Gilles, IN; Sally Wright, TX; Tim Wilson, IA; Jeanne Bennett-Bailey, VA; Jacqueline Torbert, FL; Lindsey Olson, NJ; Steve Dennis, CA/NV; Peter Johns, GA

Martha Segal, KYTN Chair

Jamie Hannam, Atlantic Canada

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