Project WET President and CEO Dennis Nelson this week participated in the 34th Annual WateReuse Symposium in San Diego, California. To bring attention to a new partnership between Project WET and the WateReuse Association, he presented on a concurrent session panel and addressed the session at which the draft National Water Reuse Action Plan was released.

Project WET and the WateReuse Association are working together to develop water reuse education materials for educators and youth. A new children’s booklet as well as an educator activity will be developed through the partnership, which also brings together the networks of both Project WET and the WateReuse Association.

Dennis presented about the partnership during “A Medley of Communications Case Studies,” a concurrent session held on September 9th. Joining Dennis on the panel were Melissa Meeker, the Water Innovation Center director for Gwinnett County in Georgia, and Stephen Groner, founder of S. Groner Associates, Inc., a communications firm that develops community outreach campaigns focused on local issues for clients.

Tweet showing Dennis Nelson at the podium at the 2019 WateReuse Association Symposium The next day, Dennis gave a two-minute overview of the water reuse education project and partnership to all conference participants at the National Water Reuse Action Plan Announcement & Roundtable Discussion session. The EPA coordinated with the water sector and other federal agencies to facilitate the development of the National Water Reuse Action Plan to ensure the effective use of the nation’s water. Water engineering firm Carollo, who sponsored the session, donated their speaking time before the announcement to the Project WET Foundation.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Assistant Administrator for the Office of Water, Dave Ross, presented the keynote address. The roundtable panel was moderated by Aubrey Bettencourt, Senior Advisor to the Assistant Secretary for Water and Science at the Department of the Interior, also featured representatives from the White House Council on Environmental Quality, Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. Department of Energy.

The Bureau of Reclamation at the Department of the Interior provided the seed funding for Project WET during the 1990s.