By Kris Polly

In this month’s cover story, we interview the impressive Cheryl Porter, who serves both as the chief operating officer for water and field services of the Great Lakes Water Authority (GLWA), which serves the Detroit metro area, and as the current president of the American Water Works Association (AWWA). We learn about GLWA’s priorities, including reinvestment and workforce development, and about AWWA’s strategic plans for the future. 

Next, we interview Bill Carr, the utility systems manager for the Brushy Creek Municipal Utility District, a water, wastewater, and storm water agency north of Austin, Texas. We hear about the district’s services and its recent installation of a copper ion generation system for the control of zebra mussels. 

Then, we speak with Alex Buehler, an experienced business professional who currently serves as the president and CEO of Integrated Water Services. The company focuses on the rapid delivery of packaged, modular water treatment solutions, particularly for the underserved middle market. It has considerable experience serving municipalities, including in heavily regulated states such as California, and has also deployed units to respond to natural disasters, such as hurricanes. 

LEC Inc. is an industrial automation controls and engineering firm that is offering affordable, easy-to-install solutions for water utilities. Brian Rosema, the vice president of Internet of Things, explains that its versatile iQ2 platform can gather data from all sorts of sensors and enable remote monitoring and operation—and is helping one customer save 18 million gallons of water a day. 

After that, we speak with Shane McFadden, the CEO of Engineering and Construction Innovations, a Minnesota-based construction company that focuses on technically challenging projects, including trenchless pipeline repair projects for water utilities. 

We finish out this month’s issue with a conversation with Steve Hernandez, the owner and instructor of the water operator education company WaterWisePro. Since starting the company as an Instagram page in 2016, Mr. Hernandez has trained more than 14,500 operators and launched a conference series and an app. 

Excellence in service, technology, and engineering is apparent across the stories in this month’s magazine. The hard work of the professionals in our field mean that the future of municipal water is bright. 

Kris Polly is the editor-in-chief of Municipal Water Leader magazine and the president and CEO 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 can be contacted at kris.polly@waterstrategies.com.