*ASSISTANT DIRECTOR NAMED –The Board of Directors met during the Expo and approved the position of WRWA Assistant Director. Dave Lawrence, long time employee and one of the original Wisconsin Rural Water founders, was named to fill the Assistant Director position. Among other duties, Dave will coordinate the recently acquired state security contract.

*RURAL WATER JOB OPENING -Due to the awarding of a contract with the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) entitled, “Program; Enhancing Security and Emergency Preparedness at Wisconsin Municipal Water Systems Serving under 3301 People”, we are posting the position of Regional Circuit Rider until September 5, 2008. Please check this job posting at www.wrwa.org  for more information.

*FLUORIDE IN THE NEWS –“Fond du Lac voters could get to weigh in on the fluoride debate this November if the City Council decides to put the question on the ballot. If approved by the council, the question of whether or not to add fluoride to the city's water supply would go to voters in the form of an advisory referendum. The City Council wouldn't be bound by the outcome of the referendum. The fluoride debate has a long history in Fond du Lac. That history includes plenty of argument and debate but little action. Fluoride has been in the city's water since 1950.” SOURCE - http://www.fdlreporter.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080825/FON0101/808250346/1985/FONnews.

*CLEAN WATER CONFERENCE -“Wisconsin families just can't afford the consequences if the state fails to enact effective yet cost-effective regulations aimed at reducing the pollution that flows into our rivers and lakes, Mayor Kevin Crawford told a two-day clean water conference in his city… Local governments spend $15 billion a year on Great Lakes water quality protection, and new Department of Natural Resources rules could sink local finances in Wisconsin, Ann Beier, director of environmental sustainability for the City of Milwaukee, told the conference… Manitowoc's efforts to create a storm water utility were crushed by the Chamber of Commerce and other community leaders. Manitowoc is not alone in having a tough go at assigning the cost of storm water cleanup to the folks who create the problem. There are just 59 storm water utilities in Wisconsin…If the potential cost of cleaning up storm water pollution gives you indigestion in your local budget, you'd better stock up on Tums. Phosphorus removal from municipal sewage treatment plants could cost billions of dollars statewide, Jim Kleinschmidt, senior project manager at Strand Associates Inc., said after his breakout session at the conference.” SOURCE - http://www.wiscities.org/newsletter.pdf.

*A BIG FIX –“State regulators want Appleton’s water utility to make $3 million available to pay for potential fixes to the city’s drinking-water treatment plant. The request by the state Department of Natural Resources is on top of $11 million in work called for in a consultant’s report to address problems with producing drinking water in cold weather. If all future work to fix problems at the plant or meet changing DNR regulations is necessary, the $14 million in spending would boost the total cost of the water plant, including original construction, to at least $69 million.” SOURCE - http://www.postcrescent.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080827/APC0101/808270556/1979.

  QUOTE -    “The only way not to think about money is to have a great deal of it.”

Edith Wharton