New England Water Environment Association

Water For People Committee

Who Are We?

We are the New England Water Environment Association Water For People (WFP) Committee.

Water For People is an international nonprofit development organization committed to increasing access to safe drinking water and improved sanitation. Our vision is of a world where all people have access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation; a world where no child suffers or dies from a water-related disease.

To help realize the WFP vision, the NEWEA WFP committee has three primary goals:

1) Raise money to help WFP meet its vision through its work in developing countries;

2) Increase public awareness of WFP and the drinking water and sanitary needs of much of the world’s population;

3) Give NEWEA members opportunities to work on projects in various countries.

For more information about Water For People, please visit http://www.waterforpeople.org/.

Interested in becoming a part of our committee? Please contact us!

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Upcoming Events

Next meeting will be Wednesday, October 24th at 3:30 pm. Email Erin if you’re not on the listserv and would like to join us!

Technical Seminar ‘Maintaining Treatment Operations during a Pandemic’ April 2007 - Chelmsford, MA. How managers and operators can improve preparations for maintaining wastewater treatment operations during a flu pandemic or other natural disasters. Continuing education credits will be offered! More info coming soon….

2008 NEWEA/NEWWA Gala – Stay tuned for details! Next year’s Gala might be at FENWAY PARK!

volunteer opportunities in 2008. Water For People is planning / recruiting now for in-country and US based volunteer positions! You can find details on some of the assignments on the WFP web site. From the main page top menu select "Get Involved" and "Volunteer" and follow the link on that page to the World Water Corps page. There are links to the task descriptions for the assignments that have been already developed.

Please contact Erin or Dave if you’d like to help out or if you have other ideas for new events!

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Recent Committee News

Our Second Annual Softball Tournament was on October 6^th! We had four awesome teams and everyone had a blast! Results and short report attached.

FUN RUN / WALK! - The fun run/ walk at this year’s Spring conference was a success! See the flyer here. We had a 2-mile cross country loop run/walk around Pudding Pond Nature Conservancy, adjacent to the Red Jacket Mountain View Resort & Spa. Proceeds from the event went towards WFP projects in Malawi, NEWEA’s adopted country - Thanks to Sean Osborne for organizing! More info to be added soon!

Great news! The final numbers for the World Water Day Benefit (March 22, 2007) at Jimmy Tingle's for Water For People are in and it looks like we've cleared approximately $2,000 ! Click here to see the poster that was displayed at the event. Many thanks to the committee members for all the help and support. In particular: Sean Osborne, Dave Favazza, Dave Vanhoven, Deby Elenter, Mary White, Mushtaque Mirza, Charlie Tyler, Michele Eisenstein, Hugh Tozer, Huajing Wen and Brian Loux. Also many thanks to Elizabeth Cutone, Janice Moran and Linda Austin at the NEWEA office for supporting us in putting this together on relatively short notice.

The 2007 NEWEA Annual Conference & Exhibit was held January 21-24, 2007 in Boston. The WFP Committee sponsored an informational booth and had a great lineup of speakers!

SESSION 26 (Wednesday) SMALL-SCALE WATER AND SANITATION SOLUTIONS IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

Moderator: Erin Margolius, CDM Constructors, Assistant Moderator: Sean Osborne, Haley & Ward

2:00 pm Design and Construction of an On-Site Wastewater Treatment System by NEWEA and Rotary Club Volunteers - Peter J. Chandonait, Aggregate Industries

2:30 pm Ecological Sanitation as a Poverty Stabilizer - Brian Robinson, CDM

3:00 pm Establishing Viable Water and Wastewater Utilities in Kenya - David Favazza, Coler and Colantonio, Inc.

3:30 pm Challenges to Supplying Water to an Urban Hospital in Haiti - Hugh Tozer, Woodard & Curran

2006 NEWS

2006 was a great year for the NEWEA WFP Committee! The 2006 Gala was a special highlight – Read the writeup on AWWA’s national website!

The 2006 Water For People Golf Tournament was a SUCCESS!!! The event was held on Thursday May 11, 2006, again at the Glen Ellen Country Club in Millis, MA to benefit water related programs in developing countries worldwide. Read more and see photos here!

The second annual New England Water for People Gala took place at the Museum of Science in Boston on May 6, 2006 and was a great success. The Gala is a joint NEWWA and NEWEA WFP Committee event. The first Gala was held October 16, 2004 at the JFK Library. Some vital stats from this year’s gala:

· Estimated 185 attendees

· Gross estimated revenue $70,000

· Net estimated revenue $55,000

· Net will be split 25-25-50 to Malawi country fund, Honduras country fund, and the WFP general fund

See photos here

Many thanks to Mary White, Charlie Tyler and Deby Elenter for their help with the event!

‘The Watershed Management Toolbox’ Full Day Specialty Seminar was held December 1, 2005 at EPA New England Laboratory, N. Chelmsford, MA. 49 conference participants exchanged information on both emerging and innovatively-applied conventional tools for watershed management from both a domestic and international perspective. The Keynote Address was by David Webster of EPA Region 1, followed by a series of most interesting speakers on a variety of watershed preservation, restoration, and enhancement topics from around the corner to around the world. See some selected photos here. See the full presentations here..

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Recent Meeting Minutes

Water For People is planning/recruiting for volunteer opportunities in 2008. You can find details on some of the assignments on the WFP web site, waterforpeople.org. From the main page top menu select "Get Involved" and "Volunteer" and follow the link on that page to the World Water Corps page. There are links to the task descriptions for the assignments that have been already developed.

Ghana - 'Watershed Management as a Form of Primary Prevention: Reducing the Incidence of Schistosomiasis in the Awusu Watershed in eastern Ghana'. See ‘Papers and Presentations’ section below for additional information.

Malawi - The NEWEA WFP Committee has adopted Malawi (a small country bordering on Zambia, Mozambique and Tanzania) as our developing country of choice for contributions; learn more about the programs in Malawi at: http://www.waterforpeople.org/africaMalawi.html

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Papers and Presentations

‘The Watershed Management Toolbox’ Full Day Specialty Seminar Presentations

December 1, 2005

EPA New England Laboratory, N. Chelmsford, Massachusetts

Implementing Jordan’s First Source Water Protection Plan Bernadette Kolb
Watershed Management for Schistosomiasis Control in Rural Ghana David M. Gute, John Durant, Charline Han
Using LID to Meet New Stormwater Design Criteria Eileen Pannetier
Smart Water Conservation: An Integrated Approach Kathy Baskin
Decision-Support Tools for Better Managed Urban Growth: A story of living in an Alluvial Flood Plain Lisa A. Pierce
Implementing the European Union Water Framework Directive (WFD) in Ireland Myron Rosenberg
LID Application, Policy and Case Study Richard A. Claytor, Jr., P.E.
Stormwater Retrofit of Long Lake, Littleton, MA. Constructed Wetlands and Low Impact Development Approaches Savas Danos
Integrating Microbial Source Tracking with Traditional Assessment Techniques for Watershed Management Sharon C. Long

New England Water Environment Association

Water For People Committee

Next meeting will be Wednesday, October 24th at 3:30 pm. Email Erin if you’re not on the listserv and would like to join us!

Other Presentations