As 2014 comes to an end, we look back at, what I think, was a pretty good year!  The investments we made in 2013 toward new software and banking systems has really paid off – supporting better management and decision-making. This has demanded some retraining and rethinking by staff and by our contractors, but we are all working smarter now. We thank all of our vendors and you, our members, for your support through this transition.  We have also seen our electronic e-Bulletin really take-off from barely 1,000 subscribers to now over 3,000 readers and we are pushing for 5,000!

Our membership has held solid through 2014 and we will be launching a fuller recruitment plan in 2015. We may be asking for your support to spread the word about the benefits of a CWWA membership.

2014 was a busy year for national events! We started in March with our Canadian Wastewater Management Conference in Niagara-on-the-Lake in conjunction with the Canadian Association for Water Quality (CAWQ). In September we hosted another International Workshop in conjunction with the ISO. This event was focused on Biosolids and brought international experts to Burlington, Ontario for a great learning session. In October, we partnered with Health Canada and the Canadian Drinking Water Committee (CDW) to host the National Drinking Water Conference in Gatineau, Quebec. As always, this was a well-attended event bringing together our utility members with academics and regulators. We also raised significant funds for our charity partners at REACH-Haiti. Finally, we wrapped up our event year in November with our annual Window on Ottawa. This is our premier event offering a unique learning and sharing environment. 

If you found that last paragraph exhausting...you should live it as a member of our staff! This is one of the big reasons behind our shift to a consolidated conference in 2015.  ONE, ANNUAL, NATIONAL CONFERENCE starting in Whistler, BC, October 25-28.

Meanwhile, there was a lot of committee work underway all year with comments being provided, on your behalf, to the federal government and its agencies. We commenced a major project around public safety and security, completed a national report on Public Attitudes, and conducted a baseline survey on infrastructure leading into a major project for 2015.

Of course, none of this can be done without the hard work of the CWWA staff. These are very dedicated supporters of the CWWA mission. Thank you all for your support this year!

Support to Security Committee, Climate Change Committee and Window on Ottawa

Contracts coordinator and technical team leader

Kara Parisien Communications Manager

Support to Drinking Water Committee,  Wastewater Committee and both conferences

Editor of the e-Bulletin and CWWA magazine

Support to Biosolids Committee and Energy & Water Efficiency Committee

Translation services and support for the e-Bulletin

Logistics for all events and trade shows

Private sector memberships and sponsorships

Membership database, invoicing and recruitment

Accounts Receivable and support to finance operations

I also want to thank our partners at the OTUS Group for their financial services and management consulting.  Thank you Patricia and Richard!