WWEMA: A MEMBER-DRIVEN ORGANIZATION

A Member-Driven Organization

The success of any non-profit association is determined in large part by the willingness and commitment of its member volunteers to take part in the day-to-day operations of the organization. The Water and Wastewater Equipment Manufacturers Association can attribute its century-long history of service to the water and wastewater industry to the exemplary efforts of its members who take an active role in the Association’s committees and councils.

While WWEMA is governed by an 18-member Board of Directors, it is the responsibility of its committees and councils to determine what issues are of paramount importance to the membership – and the industry at large - that need to be acted upon in compliance with WWEMA’s mission.

WWEMA’s mission is straightforward: To benefit members by informing, educating and providing leadership on the issues that shape the future of the water and wastewater industry. To carry out its mission, WWEMA has identified five strategic objectives that will guide its committee and council work. They are to:

These strategic objectives are reflected in WWEMA’s Committee / Council Work Plan. Highlights from the Work Plan represent a microcosm of the issues that challenge the industry today and occupy the attention of water and wastewater equipment manufacturers as a community.

Water Security

Securing our nation’s water supplies from acts of terrorism has taken center stage for the water utility industry. WWEMA promotes the use of federal resources to help utilities purchase high-priority security systems, develop contaminant detection technologies, and research the cause-and-effect relationships between the presence of threat agents and changes in drinking water chemistry and hydrology.

(Return to the top of the page)


Infrastructure Financing

Debate on Capitol Hill is on-going on how to remedy the nation’s decaying water and wastewater infrastructure. With estimates in the hundreds of billions, Congress is attempting to determine what role the federal government should play in restoring the physical integrity of this critical infrastructure. WWEMA, through its involvement in the H2O Coalition, has been a vocal proponent for striking a reasonable balance between federal responsibility and sound fiscal policy.

WWEMA’s regulatory committees have been championing the call for preserving and adequately capitalizing the state revolving fund (SRF) programs; encouraging self-sustainability on the part of utilities through rational rate structures and sound asset management practices; assisting disadvantaged consumers through rate subsidies; and encouraging use of value-based procurement methods as a means to obtain the best products at the lowest total cost of ownership to the end user.

(Return to the top of the page)


Regulatory Rulemaking

WWEMA’s Drinking Water Regulatory Committee is actively engaged in monitoring and commenting on regulatory proposals affecting the water treatment market. WWEMA served on the EPA Federal Advisory Committee responsible for developing regulations governing microbial pathogens and disinfection byproducts in drinking water. Priority issues in 2007 include strengthened enforcement, increased infrastructure funding, revisions to the total coliform rule (distribution systems), establishing a national perchlorate standard, and conservation subsidies in the reauthorized Farm Bill.

WWEMA’s Wastewater Regulatory Committee identified enforcement and infrastructure financing as its two priority issues in 2007, particularly with regard to the removal of state caps on tax-exempt private activity bonds of water and wastewater facilities and the use of value-based procurement procedures on projects receiving federal and state assistance. The Committee is also focusing its efforts in 2007 on obtaining passage of ballast water management legislation and cleanup of inactive or abandoned mines.

(Return to the top of the page)


Global Competitiveness

WWEMA's Global Competitiveness Comittee works to identify opportunities for WWEMA members to provide their product offerings to engineering and construction industry interests, worldwide, and to foster strategic alliances. Through its member involvement on the Environmental Technologies Trade Advisory Committee (ETTAC), WWEMA continues to advise 19 federal departments and agencies on U.S. trade policy and promotion programs to enhance its members’ competitiveness in its export markets.

(Return to the top of the page)


Value-Based Procurement

WWEMA published a document, in partnership with the National Association of Clean Water Agencies (formerly the Association of Metropolitan Sewerage Agencies), titled “Optimizing Public Agency Purchasing Power.” [LINK to download brochure] Through the efforts of its Manufacturers Representatives Committee, WWEMA has and will continue to promote use of this document by municipalities and consulting engineers as a way to obtain quality equipment at the lowest total cost of ownership through value-based procurement practices. This Committee is constantly investigating and challenging any federal or state policy which encumbers the ability of public officials from choosing the best procurement strategy for their needs.

(Return to the top of the page)


Professional Development

The water and wastewater industry is unique, as are the skills of the professionals who serve it. WWEMA offers an extensive and valuable executive development program for its member companies through its Council structure. These Councils provide a unique forum for networking, benchmarking, and professional development. Members with similar job responsibilities from CEO’s to contract administrators, meet, share information, discuss problems unique to their positions, and seek solutions to the challenges they confront on a day-to-day basis.

(Return to the top of the page)


Market Intelligence

To succeed in today’s competitive business environment, companies need intelligence about where their industry and key markets are headed. WWEMA conducts two annual events which offer members an opportunity to obtain this critical insight and interact with a broad range of participants in the industry. WWEMA hosts its Washington Forum in early spring to explore domestic policies and international trade initiatives impacting the market for water and wastewater products and services. WWEMA’s Annual Meeting in November offers members an opportunity to network with their peers and share insights into today’s challenges and tomorrow’s opportunities for water and wastewater equipment manufacturers.

This is but a sampling of the breath of issues and scope of activities that WWEMA is engaged in on behalf of its member firms. The Association has stood the test of time through a century of change in the industry. As it enters its second century of service, WWEMA will continue to articulate the views of its members and help steer the industry through the seas of change.

(Return to the top of the page)