Water Council Meeting 10-29-09

Led by co-chairs Rich Meeusen and Paul Jones, the meeting featured committee updates, presentations and more. Here are some of the highlights:

- The University/Corporate Linkages Committee, reported on by co-chair Brian Thompson, has made progress with its NSF (National Science Foundation) Grant and the establishment of the I/U CRC (Industry/University Collaborative Research Center.) Brian noted the successful industry-university mixer held at Badger Meter last May and that the next event will take on November 17th at Marquette University.
Brian also reported on progress for the PhD track and Professional Masters track with UWM's School of Freshwater Sciences and invited industry members to write letters of support. They're also inviting members to provide input on web tool upgrades they would like to see for the Water Council website.

- The Education/Talent Committee, reported on by co-chair Elizabeth Thelen, now has 49 participants as they work to Build the Water Generation and connect talent. Internship placements have surpassed a baker's dozen, with the most recent placement happening at Pentair. There are currently 15 water-related education projects going on around the region members of the committee are working on. For mentorship programs, they are teaming up with BizStarts Milwaukee, and the Water Challenge team is focusing its short-term work on the upcoming STEMFest event at Discovery World. The Committee will benchmark their internship program again in February.

- The Global Communications Committee, reported on by co-chair Dean Amhaus, is working on the Water Council's branding, corporate identity and logo in conjunction with Kim Stoll of Badger Meter, Janet Slater of the Blood Center of Southeastern Wisconsin and Tracey Carson from Boelter + Lincoln. Ongoing projects continue with the United Nations Global Compact Cities Programme, and the Committee is working particularly on efforts to increase our "culture of water" through awareness. The Water Council will be noted in upcoming stories in the Wall Street Journal and a number of water-related conferences will be coming to Milwaukee in 2010. Secretary of Commerce Dick Leinenkugel will represent both Wisconsin and the Water Council on Monday in Naples, Florida, at an international conference.

NEW COMMITTEES
Rich Meeusen reported on results from the Board meeting, held prior to the member meeting. One major announcement is that three new committees were approved for the Water Council:

• The Investment Committee will look for ways to work with business start-up groups and look at ways to improve possibilities for investments in water companies.
• The Policy Committee will work on matters of policy and will take charge of situations where the Water Council is asked to take a position on a particular matter.
• The International Committee will work with international organizations that are looking for best practices, partnerships and other information.

If you're interested in working on any of these committees, let Dean Amhaus or Claus Dunkelberg know.

The Board also began work on future staffing needs, possible involvement in the Alliance for Water Stewardship, and content for Water Summit IV, which is scheduled to take place in Milwaukee on July 19, 2010.

Bernie Beemster presented on WWRC, the Wisconsin Water Research Corporation and Kim Stoll discussed results of their internship program at Badger Meter.