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President's Message

Hello all,

In past messages within our website I have done my best to share with you my intentions and commitment to strengthening our relationships with our fellow industry associations to the betterment of our respective memberships.  As we progress through 2007, I am pleased to report substantive progress is being made. 

Although difficulty exists in the shear size of the AWWA bureaucracy, my fellow board member, Steven Duranceau, PhD, PE, has effectively carried the word to key AWWA leadership that AMTA is desirous to enhance the level of cooperation between the associations.  In Tampa this March, AMTA will host a preconference workshop at AWWA’s Membrane Technology Conference which will certainly serve as a session of interest and add to the value of the event as a whole.  This workshop is seen as simply an initial undertaking in a series of many in which the associations will work jointly together.  In January, at the National Salinity Summit in California , a rather productive meeting was hosted by Steve with AWWA. As I write this message, a formal agreement is being drafted to memorialize the commitments offered. AWWA recognizes AMTA as the only national association with its concentration fixed on the fast growing membrane water treatment industry while AMTA undoubtedly respects AWWA’s exceptional, longstanding and far reaching service to the water treatment industry.  

I am also happy to note that at our next two annual conferences ( Las Vegas , NV – 2007 and Naples , FL – 2008) we will be once again working together with our international and regional affiliates.  Similar to the conference in California last summer, an international affiliate’s luncheon is planned wherein the International Desalination Association ( IDA ) will be providing us an update on its upcoming events and reporting on its global perspective of the industry including accounts of the many other successful desalination projects throughout the world.  In Vegas, our newest affiliate, the Southwest Membrane Operators Association, will be hosting a preconference workshop on membrane water plant operations.  Later in Naples, we intend on structuring the entire conference to include two concurrent tracks; one typical of the Southeast Desalting Association’s common offerings on plant operations and one more typical of AMTA ’s national perspective. All networking events, luncheons and exhibits will be on a common schedule.  The net result will be a conference that will have something for all regardless of whether you are a system operator, utility manager, system supplier or design engineer.

Lastly, how many recall our past affiliation with the WateReuse Association?  The linkage between AMTA (then known as the National Water Supply Improvement Association, NWSIA) was close through the 1980s; however, as WateReuse focused on water reclamation and we concentrated on desalting, the two associations began to grow apart.  In late February 2007, thanks to the good work of our current AMTA Vice President, Robert Reiss, PE, a contingent from both associations will begin to meet to recognize our growing commonalities so we may once again work in cooperation again.

In closing, please mark your calendar for our upcoming events including our Technology Transfer Workshops in Portland , Oregon (May 23-24, 2007) and Honolulu , HI (December 12-13, 2007) and our next annual conference in Las Vegas (July 23-26, 2007) entitled “Why Gamble With Your Future? Go Membranes!”

See you soon,

David L. Brown