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Louisville is known to have some of the best-tasting water, Louisville Pure Tap®, making it the perfect meeting place for water quality experts. This week, we took advantage of the prime location and hosted not one, but two national water events.
The Partnership for Safe Water (PFSW) is a voluntary cooperative effort between the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the American Water Works Association, five other safe drinking water organizations, and more than 200 water utilities across the U.S. and Canada dedicated to going above and beyond regulatory standards for safe drinking water.
“It’s the group that doesn’t just want to meet those regulations, but the group that wants to, like, surpass those basic regulations and be the best of the best,” said April Nabors. Nabors is with Birmingham Water and is the Distribution Program Chair for the Partnership. “Most people who are involved in Partnership are very passionate about the water industry and what we do.”
Every five years, PFSW hosts a summit for members to gather, learn, and connect with one another. This year’s event in Louisville celebrates the 30th anniversary of the Partnership.
“The Partnership is really just a commitment to excellence,” said Chris Bobay, Manager of Water Quality and Compliance at Louisville Water and the current Partnership for Safe Water Treatment Chair. “And so, we have several resources that we make available for water utilities to help them move along the timelines of optimization and continuing to evolve their processes and get better and better.
Louisville Water was a founding member in 1995 when the Partnership for Safe Water began.
In 2010 and 2015, both of Louisville Water’s treatment plants were awarded the highest level of excellence by the Partnership for Safe Water.
An honor only 19 utilities in the country hold. The distribution system that helps deliver the drinking water also has the highest distinction.
The conference kicked off with a familiarization tour of Louisville Water Company for about 50 attendees who arrived early. They started their day at the Crescent Hill Treatment Plant learning about the history and infrastructure that makes our high-quality water possible.
Guests wandered through the filter gallery and research labs, witnessing the 200 daily tests required to produce Louisville Pure Tap®. Then, traced the river to faucet story back to the beginning.
The tour group arrived at Louisville Water Tower and the original Pumping Station to learn about Louisville Water’s 165-year history as a National Historic Landmark.
“Today was really special to get to put my eyes on things that I’ve heard about for over a decade,” said Nabors. “Today was really special to get to see it and, like, kind of put your hands on it and experience it in person.”
The Partnership for Safe Water Summit provides a platform for discussing critical topics such as water reuse, disinfection byproducts, and regulatory compliance. The pre-conference activities were no different.
Sam Dinkins, Executive Director at the Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission (ORSANCO), spoke to the group about the collaboration required to monitor one of busiest river arteries in the country. And Bobay, along with two communications leaders at Louisville Water, Kelley Dearing Smith and Channa Newman, presented on how strategic partnerships can help build trust in a critical brand like a water utility.
It wouldn’t be a true day in Louisville without a bourbon and water tasting. Louisville Water invited Angel’s Envy to lead guests in a sampling of some of their innovative spirits.
“We got to talk about how we strive daily to ensure the quality of our product just like the bourbon industry does,” said Bobay.
The other conference that kicked off Dec. 2-4 in Bourbon City or should we say, “Water City,” was the North American Water Loss Conference (NAWL). This conference looks at how utilities can minimize the amount of water that’s “lost” through leaks and older infrastructure.
Louisville Water’s David Mulloy, Manager of Infrastructure Planning, presented on the innovative ways the company uses artificial intelligence to identify major leaks in our distribution system. “The most valuable aspect of these conferences is the collaboration with other utilities,” said Mulloy. “Every utility is different but I’ve found that we all face very similar challenges. It’s likely that you will run into someone that has previously faced a challenge you are dealing with and may have a solution you can quickly implement.”
Louisville Water is proud to be a leader for quality and innovation in the water sector. Hosting the two events in our “water city” celebrates the pride in every glass of Louisville Pure Tap®.
