2022 Will be Another Successful Year for ACWA Members by Pamela Tobin Jan 21, 2022 Voices on Water I couldn’t be more excited and humbled to be your President for this new term. It is a privilege to lead ACWA statewide and truly the honor of a lifetime. And, as we enter this new year, Vice President Cathy Green and I are eager to take on the responsibilities of leading ACWA through 2023. We share with you the deep commitments we have to you so that our members are able to continue to deliver safe, reliable water supplies to communities they serve and to farms throughout the entire state. With the 10 Region Boards, 13 Committee Chairs and Vice Chairs and the members of all the working committees, I respect the size of the job before all of us as 2022 gets underway. I feel a tremendous amount of pride and confidence, and that includes the pride and confidence I have working with Board members, committees and staff. If the best way to predict the future is to create it, the ACWA community can look forward to another productive and rewarding new year. The momentum carried over from a 2021, filled with goals achieved and challenges met, already puts us at an advantage. Advocacy, cooperation and collaboration wins in water infrastructure investment at the state and federal level will give our members the tools necessary to match innovation against the impacts of climate change, in particular the ongoing drought. That work ethic and spirit will continue as a leading priority. It is absolutely essential that we improve the infrastructure that we have and explore every possible way to maximize the quality, reliability, and diversification of our water supply. Ultimately, our success in advocacy and collaboration originates with our members’ willingness to engage with their communities, elected officials and each other. We’re proud of ACWA’s ability to provide the platform through which this engagement takes place. Through our Communications Committee, work has begun in the development of a large-scale, statewide education campaign. This effort is still in the planning stage, but will eventually increase awareness among Californians about the importance and positive benefits of investing in water infrastructure. It’s a tricky task, given that so many people take their water for granted while rarely seeing – let alone understanding – the vast amount of work behind what comes out of their tap. But that’s all the more reason to tackle this project and make its success a reality. Carrying over another success story from the past year, ACWA will also continue Leadership to Leadership listening sessions between association executives, Board officers and our counterparts and colleagues at member agencies throughout the state. This initiative has proven effective in gathering valuable feedback from member agencies while generating new ideas on how ACWA can continue expanding its value to the professionals we serve. As we enter a new year with abundant potential, we do so with new Board members and officers, as well as new Region Boards and committee chairs. We are all fortunate to have a very well-thought-out Five-Year Strategic Plan to guide us, which we will soon consider refreshing in order to further strengthen our work for association members. Dedication, foresight and hard work among so many people contributed to the optimism Cathy and I share about 2022 and beyond. Together, our locally-based water community consistently delivers a reliable water supply under extraordinarily challenging circumstances. What we do creates and makes possible California’s future, and I predict another great year for the ACWA community.
