Section Chair’s Message Dan Seaver Section Chair I am honored to serve as chair of NYSAWWA as we reflect on and celebrate the first 100 years of this amazing organization. Serving on the board for the past four years has been an educational and rewarding experience, the highpoint of which was working with such a competent, dedicated group of people. Our staff works tirelessly to keep the Section running smoothly and my fellow board members have graciously volunteered countless hours to ensure the Section is meeting the needs of its members. We’re hoping to move the majority of our speeches and award presentations to other time slots during the event, as our goal for the celebration is to encourage social interaction. Attendees will enjoy food, drink, and live entertainment as we build valuable relationships and celebrate 100 years of New York State’s drinking water professionals working together. The planning is well underway, our key note speaker is locked in, we’re bringing back the spouse program, and we anticipate this will be a memorable event for all! There are a couple of technology related projects I am hoping to implement in the coming year. I am investigating activating a members only forum on the NY Section’s website, on which our members could ask job-related questions of one another. Just as all of you are the organization’s most important asset, so too can you be valuable assets to one another. I would also like to use GIS to map the locations of all licensed Water Operators and Professional Engineers in New York State. This would allow us to track conference and training attendance, helping us make decisions regarding future training opportunities that would best serve our current and prospective members. With our 100th Anniversary upon us, we have two exciting changes to our conference events in the upcoming year. On September 18th and 19th, the New York Section AWWA and NYWEA will be hosting a joint conference entitled “The New York City Watershed/Tifft Science and Technical Symposium” at The Hotel Thayer in West Point. The opportunity for our organizations to collaborate and network will be beneficial, as we share similar challenges related to regulations, aging infrastructure and emerging contaminants. Our Spring 2014 conference will be held May 13-15 in Rochester, to coincide with the Lilac Festival, and will include our 100th ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION! You may or may not have heard about my “striptease” at the annual banquet in April. To the relief of many (and the dismay of some), I stopped at my t-shirt, revealing the section’s first unofficial drinking shirt (shown in photo). We raised $350 for Water for People, and the looks on your faces were priceless! Thanks to all who contributed. On the topic of volunteerism, I realize that many of you who will be reading this are our most active members. Instead of asking you to do more, I would like to ask you to open the door for someone else... whether it be someone new to the organization or someone who is already a member, but hasn’t yet served on a committee. Invite them to attend a conference. Bring them to a committee meeting. Tell them about your own experiences, what the organization has meant to you, and what we have to offer. As far as what the organization has meant to me, I think it can best be summed up with a quote from comedian Amy Poehler, “As you navigate through the rest of your life, be open to collaboration. Other people’s ideas are often better than your own. Find a group of people who challenge and inspire you, spend a lot of time with them, and it will change your life.” I look forward to a successful, productive year, working with this group of people who challenge and inspire me. Thank you all for the opportunity. - Dan Seaver, Section Chair 4 SPRING/SUMMER 2013 AqUARIUS