WaterSmart Innovations 

Workshops & tours provide in-depth, hands-on comprehensive learning opportunities. Registration and additional fee are required to attend the workshops or tours, these items are not included in the full conference registration.

PCW01 – Empowering Water Management: Modular Tools for Creative Reuse & Planning
Full-day 8:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m. | $180.00 | Workshop is limited to 48ppl
This interactive workshop explores innovative modular tools designed to enhance creativity, efficiency, and decision-making in water reuse and water resources planning. Attendees will gain practical, hands-on strategies for developing, applying, and evaluating custom tools to solve real-world water management challenges. Participants will learn how to architect modular solutions for common water issues, assess vendor-provided custom tools, and better understand practical applications that can be immediately implemented in their own organizations. Ideal for professionals looking to strengthen problem-solving capabilities, this session provides valuable insights into creating more adaptable and effective approaches to modern water management.

PCW02 – Water Conservation Programs 101
Half-day 8:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. | $90.00
Designed for early career professionals, this interactive workshop provides foundational knowledge, practical tools, and inspiring real-world case studies to help attendees build successful water conservation plans and programs. Participants will explore conservation planning fundamentals, program design strategies, water use evaluation metrics, and customer engagement techniques while gaining access to valuable resources that support program creation, adoption, and long-term success. Through expert-led panel presentations, peer discussions, and networking opportunities, attendees will also learn how to identify key partners, leverage innovative technologies, and apply proven strategies from successful conservation programs already making an impact in the field.

PCW03 – Water Trivia, Scavenger Hunts, and more: Using game elements to up your outreach and educational programming
Half-day 1:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m. | $90.00 | Workshop is limited to 40ppl
This interactive workshop explores how gamification—the use of game elements in non-game settings—can transform water outreach, education, and events into more engaging, memorable, and impactful experiences for both end users and staff. Attendees will learn the fundamentals of gamification, discover how game-based strategies already influence everyday behavior, and explore practical ways to create fun, competitive environments that improve information sharing and audience participation. Through hands-on activities and real-world examples, participants will test core gamification concepts, develop creative strategies, and leave with actionable ideas and tools they can immediately implement to make their own outreach and education efforts more dynamic and effective.

PCW04 – Commercial Cooling Tower Water Conservation
Half-day 8:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. | $90.00
This comprehensive pre-show workshop provides attendees with practical, in-depth knowledge of cooling towers and evaporative condensers, with a strong focus on identifying water-saving opportunities and supporting commercial customer needs. Participants will learn how cooling towers function, which building types commonly use them, and how water moves through building cooling systems. The session will also cover essential topics including water treatment programs, cycles of concentration, nominal tonnage calculations, metering, aerial identification of cooling towers, and methods for calculating potential water savings from system upgrades. Attendees will leave better equipped to answer customer questions, evaluate savings opportunities, and even develop their own Cooling Tower rebate programs to support water conservation initiatives.

PCW05 – Benefit-Cost Analysis: Budget Showdown
Half-day 1:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m. | $90.00
In today’s competitive resource environment, every project must prove its value—and this workshop is designed to help attendees do exactly that. Focused on water conservation but applicable to virtually any initiative, this engaging session teaches participants how to assess, prioritize, and design cost-effective programs that maximize benefits while justifying investment. Attendees will learn practical frameworks for evaluating conservation measures, identifying, and quantifying the full range of potential benefits from reduced water use, and incorporating benefit-cost analysis into strategic decision-making. The workshop also introduces useful software tools and foundational techniques that help water professionals build strong financial cases for projects from the ground up, making it easier to secure funding and allocate limited resources more effectively.

PCW06 – Accelerated Introduction to Scenario and Adaptive Planning
Half-day 8:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. | $90.00
This immersive, fast-paced workshop introduces attendees to Scenario and Adaptive Planning—powerful strategic approaches that help water utilities make resilient, future-ready decisions in the face of uncertainty. Drawing from peer case studies, including Portland and other utilities, participants will explore best practices, practical frameworks, and flexible planning tools designed for organizations of varying sizes and resource levels. Through hands-on learning, attendees will discover how to identify and prioritize emerging risks such as climate change, infrastructure challenges, regulatory shifts, financial uncertainty, and evolving technologies while balancing urgent short-term demands with long-term planning needs. The workshop also provides actionable guidance on developing performance metrics, monitoring strategies, and adaptive resource plans that support smarter capital investments and stronger organizational resilience in an increasingly unpredictable future.

Tours:

T1 – Portland Water Bureau – Tour of Bull Run Watershed:
Full-day 8:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. | $180.00 | Tour is limited to 28ppl
Protected by the foothills of Mt. Hood, the Bull Run Watershed sits just 26 miles east of downtown Portland and provides a majority of the city’s drinking water. This tour offers a unique chance to see firsthand how Portland’s drinking water travels from forest to faucet. Portland Water Bureau will guide attendees through Bull Run, starting with a short visit to the city’s groundwater source, the Columbia South Shore Well Field. During the tour, a professional natural resources educator will discuss the watershed’s unique qualities, as well as the management of Portland’s drinking water sources, infrastructure systems, surrounding habitats, and more.

Attire & Preparation:

• Tour location is remote, without access to cellular service (Water Bureau staff will have radios) or frequent bathroom stops—please plan accordingly
• Be sure to pack any required medication with you
• Lunch will be provided
• Closed-toe shoes and long pants are required
• Please dress for the weather
• Please bring a valid ID and signed waiver for the tour
• Recommended: bring a reusable water bottle, camera, and backpack for your convenience
• Additional logistics will be shared with registrants in late September

T2 – Clackamas River Water Providers – Treatment Plant & Restoration Projects Tour:
Half-day 8:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. | $90.00 | Tour is limited to 20ppl
Discover the hidden jewel of the Portland metro area located less than an hour of Downtown Portland. Through source water protection programs and partnerships with local agencies, the Clackamas River Water Providers are working to protect the Clackamas River, drinking water source to more than 350,000 people and habitat to many animals and fish including salmon found on the endangered species list. This tour will include one of the 5 drinking water treatment plants located on the river and visit restoration projects helping to protect and enhance the water quality of the river.

Attire & Preparation:

• Please wear comfortable walking shoes, and dress for the weather
• Please bring a valid ID for the tour
• Recommended: bring a reusable water bottle, camera, and backpack for your convenience
• Additional logistics will be shared with registrants in late September

T3 – Willamette Water Supply System Tour:
Half-day 1:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m. | $90.00 | Tour is limited to 24ppl
Attendees will tour the Willamette Water Supply System, a new regional water supply for Tualatin Valley Water District, City of Hillsboro, and City of Beaverton water customers. The system has taken nearly 30 years of planning and 10 years of construction and is preparing for operations in 2026. Guests will learn about regional collaboration, the importance of seismic resiliency for the areas water supply, tour a shared river intake and pump station at the Willamette River Water Treatment Plant, and tour the state-of-the-art, 60 million gallons of water per day Willamette Water Supply System Water Treatment Plant that features ozonation and ultraviolet light in addition to other traditional filtration.

Attire & Preparation:

• Sturdy work or hiking boots, long pants, and shirts with 3-inch or longer sleeves are required
• Open-toed shoes and sneakers are not permitted on the construction site
• Safety gear (hard hat, safety glasses, and high-visibility vest) will be provided if you do not have your own
• Please dress appropriately for the weather for your comfort
• Please bring a valid ID for all tours
• Additional logistics will be shared with registrants in late September

Each year, the WaterSmart Innovations Conference features special programming and activities for young professional and student attendees. Check back for 2026 details.

Interested in submitting a student poster? Student posters must be submitted to the conference Call for Abstracts (CFA) by selecting “Submit an Abstract” and then choosing “Poster” as the Preferred Presentation Format. Students whose submissions are accepted as posters will automatically be entered into the Student Poster Competition.

AWWA will provide Certificates of Completion for sessions and workshops. Use the conference mobile app to track your session attendance by entering check-in and check-out codes at the beginning and conclusion of each session.

• How to Download Your Certificates of Completion
• Mobile App Instructions
• Mobile App Tutorial Video

AWWA will apply to nearby states for operator CEUs, please check back.

Important Note: All approvals are at the discretion of your licensing agency, and a Certificate of Completion does not guarantee that your agency will award you credit. It is the individual’s responsibility to contact the licensing agency to confirm that the education program is acceptable for continuing education credit. Visit awwa.org/credits to learn more.

Please allow 30 days for certificate processing time. For login assistance, call 800.926.7337 or email service@awwa.org. For certificate discrepancies or continuing education questions, email EducationServices@awwa.org.

Learn More about continuing education at AWWA

Mobile App Tutorial Video

In September, download the app “AWWA Events” from your app store.

Login to the app using your last name and the number under your barcode on registration confirmation email and onsite badge. See additional tips and tutorials at the link below!