What do conferences in the water sector teach us? We expend great deals of time and money to get there, to register, and to find accommodations. We hear from our peers at sessions, roam exhibit halls, work our booths, and eat piles of junk food set up at tables throughout the day.

What’s the biggest takeaway?

Yes, you walk away from these experiences with new ideas and a swag bag full of new contact’s business cards. When the whirlwind is over and you’re back at your desk on Monday, what really matters most is the people. It really is going to take a village to create a world where a situation like Flint never happens again. It’s going to take leadership from associations such as the Association of State Drinking Water Administrators (ASDWA), legislators in Washington DC, regulators, technology innovators, utility staff, and advocates from communities all working together around the table to find mutually beneficial solutions for lead and copper compliance.

On October 22-25, we’ll be at the ASDWA annual conference and our CEO, Megan Glover, will be discussing how technology and data management plays a role in lead and copper compliance. We’re proud to be a part of the conversation and to be a resource for utilities as they try to find ways to do more with limited resources. We understand that lead and copper compliance is just one of the many items on your to-do list. Our goal is to streamline the process and help show the best ways to use the data you get during the process to make changes down the road.

We hope to see you there or at another drinking water conference but, most importantly, we hope you join the conversation. The tasks at hand can cause us to keep our heads down as we grind away at the day-to-day. Conferences have a way of taking us outside our comfort zones to look around at the amazing people across the industry working together to make an impact. We need you around the table with us.

When milestones are achieved, outsiders only see the tip of the iceberg. They see the end result and not the amount of time, effort, and people it took beneath the surface to make it happen. In a lead-free future, when the next generation only sees the end result of that milestone, will you be one of the voices that were in the conversation hidden beneath the surface?