Water Haller: Budget...Window...Wipes...Travel Time

Budget - We are all still analyzing the budget. Working with our partners at FCM, APWA, CNAM and others, we are trying to confirm the process and the requirements for accessing the federal funds. Meanwhile, FCM is rolling out programs, with funding, to support asset management and climate change efforts.  We will keep you posted.

Window - Perhaps the best way to get information is directly from the source. That is the true concept of the Window on Ottawa. Policy leaders from Infrastructure Canada and FCM will be there to discuss both Phase 1 and Phase 2 of the federal infrastructure plan. I encourage you to attend and ask questions of our anel.  Check out the full schedule at http://www.cwwa.ca/windowonottawa_e.asp 

Wipes - We have an agreement! Unfortunately, this bulletin is a week before the official press release, but I can tell you that we (CWWA, WEF, NACWA, APWA), as the wastewater sector, have come to a significant agreement with the wipes manufacturers’ association (INDA) concerning labelling of bathroom products.  While we still don’t endorse any products as "flushable" yet, the manufacturers have agreed to a far better labelling protocol in their soon-to-be-adopted Code of Practice. Primarily, this protocol addresses the labelling of any wipes products that are likely to be used in the bathroom or come into contact with human feces. We will tell you more next month, but this agreement will lead to far more visible and prominent labels on such consumer products.

Meanwhile, we, as the wastewater sector, continue to develop an industry accepted definition of "flushable." Then we will need your help to turn that into an enforceable standard in Canada. Developing, enacting and implementing a standard is not that simple, nor is it free to do. So we will soon be asking for your financial support to address this quarter-billion-dollar-per-year problem.  

Travel – Appearing at a conference near you! Conference season (Part 1) has begun. I have already enjoyed the WEAO Conference right here in Ottawa this month and look forward to the OWWA Conference in Niagara Falls. I’ll be at the WEFMAX event and Canadian Affairs Council meeting in Winnipeg then honoured to speak at CWN’s Blue Cities conference in Toronto. I finish the month of May in Victoria for BCWWA’s conference getting back just in time for our Window on Ottawa June 5-6. I then travel to Philadelphia for the AWWA-ACE event and Canadian Affairs Committee and wrap up with a speaking assignment at the Canadian Water Summit (see related story in this bulletin).  Links to all these events are available on our national calendar at www.cwwa.ca .