Urban Improvements

Urban Improvements

Volume 5, Issue 8 September 2018

This month’s edition of Municipal Water Leader puts the focus on how water management professionals are enriching our urban centers. In our cover story, we speak with Dean Amhaus of The Water Council. Over the last decade, Dean and his colleagues have turned Milwaukee into the Silicon Valley of water technology. Their headquarters, the Global Water Center, is a space where entrepreneurs, scientists, and businesspeople can come together, learn from each other, and establish connections.

Tage Flint, the chief executive officer of Weber Basin Water Conservancy District in Utah and chair of the National Water Resources Association’s Municipal Caucus, recently toured The Water Council. He gives us the practitioner’seye view of the benefits The Water Council can bring in his conversation with us. Charles Otis of Pulsed Burst Systems gives us the innovator’s -eye view, speaking about how The Water Council has helped his company.

We also speak to two engineers from HDR, Inc., about recent projects that join together engineering expertise and urban-planning sophistication. Jeffrey Mitchell speaks to us about the ongoing San Pedro Creek Improvements Project in San Antonio, Texas, a downtown renovation project that aims to return constant flow to the San Pedro Creek.

Robby Bryant, discusses the development of West District Central Park in Calgary, Alberta, an urban park and public space that doubles as a stormwater management feature.

Chairman Bill Shuster (R-PA) of the U.S. House of Representatives’ Transportation and Infrastructure Committee shares his thoughts and perspectives on the America’s Water Infrastructure Act (PL 115-270), a legislative package that features the Water Resources Development Act of 2018. This legislation was signed into law by President Trump on October 23, 2018.

An innovative program with potential for national application is California’s Eastern Municipal Water District’s water bottle filling stations. These installations allow the area’s citizens to appreciate the quality of Eastern’s municipal water as part of their daily routine.

We hope you enjoy this issue of Municipal Water Leader magazine and find it helpful and inspiring. M

Kris Polly is editor-in-chief of Municipal Water Leader magazine and president of Water Strategies LLC, a government relations firm he began in February 2009 for the purpose of representing and guiding water, power, and agricultural entities in their dealings with Congress, the Bureau of Reclamation, and other federal government agencies. He may be contacted at Kris.Polly@waterstrategies.com.