| Letter from the PEAC chair – an active start to 2015
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Letter from the PEAC chair – an active start to 2015

It’s difficult to believe that the first quarter of 2015 is complete!  Historically, the start of a new year coincides with the receipt of many new Partnership for Safe Water self-assessment completion reports and award applications – and 2015 is proving to follow suit.  Since the beginning of the year, the Partnership’s dedicated PEAC review team has been busy evaluating:

•    Four Phase III Self-Assessment Completion Reports, including one treatment assessment and three distribution system assessments.
•    Two Presidents Award for Water Treatment applications
•    Two Presidents Award for Distribution System applications, which is a new level of Partnership for Safe Water recognition
•    Two Phase IV Excellence in Water Treatment Award applications

That is a total of 10 applications undergoing the Partnership’s peer-review process during the first quarter of the year.  If this is compared with the graph of historical report submissions below, it is evident that the 10 award applications received during the first two months of 2015 exceeds the total number of reports and award applications received in many previous years.  

It is encouraging to see so many utilities engaged in the Partnership program and committed to completing the treatment plant and distribution system self-assessment process.  It is also great to see so many utilities achieving the higher level of performance required for Presidents and Excellence Award recognition.

The Partnership’s growing group of PEAC volunteers is committed to providing subscriber utilities with timely and constructive feedback to their report submissions.  In addition to the Review Team Leader Training completed at the end of 2014, a Distribution System PEAC Training Webinar was recently held, adding 3 new volunteers qualified to participate in the review of distribution system self-assessment completion reports.  Additional PEAC training is planned for the October 2014, in conjunction with the Water System Optimization Conference, which should allow for further addition of new PEAC volunteers.  The fall training will incorporate elements of the Partnership’s new Self-Assessment Guide for Water Treatment Plant Optimization, which is due for release at ACE15.  This exciting new resource updates the program’s self-assessment guidance for the first time in over 15 years and should help to increase the relevancy of the process for water treatment plants utilizing a variety of treatment processes and configurations – including membrane filtration.

We hope that you will be joining us at ACE15 in Anaheim, California.  The PEAC will be holding its annual in-person meeting on Sunday, June 7 from 3:00-5:00pm and many events are planned to celebrate the Partnership’s 20th Anniversary.  Additionally, the Partnership’s Annual Awards Luncheon will recognize the achievements of Partnership subscriber utilities as well as the contributions of the PEAC volunteers that are such a vital component of the program.  

Feel free to contact me at mikeb@cwd-h2o.org if you have questions or are interested in being a part of the PEAC team.  As a committed volunteer for the past 20 years, I am happy to discuss the value of program participation.

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