American Water Summit – New conference, new magazine, new directions for the USA water market

Oct. 15, 2010 - PRLog -- Right now the US is short of three things: money, energy and water, but the first two have squeezed the third issue out of the public eye. This is set to change on November 3rd and 4th when the American Water Summit* convenes in DC. It will focus on key questions such as:
•   Are our public finances too broke to fix our water infrastructure?
•   Can we meet our energy needs without despoiling our natural water resources?
•   What are the options when the West runs out of water?  

Robert Kennedy Jr, currently serving as Chief Prosecuting Attorney for the Hudson Riverkeeper and President of the Waterkeeper Alliance, will deliver the keynote speech.  Dick Heckmann of the Heckmann Corporation, Greg Ballard, the Mayor of Indianapolis, and Anne Castle, Assistant Administrator of Science at the US Department of the Interior are just a few of the key figures who will join CEOs from major water companies such as Veolia, GE and American Water in this broad cross-section of top ranking speakers at this event.

The USA water industry is beset by a creaking infrastructure and an un-stoppable demand for more energy and water - difficulties compounded by the current stringent curbs on financial expenditure. Searching for new initiatives for the ailing American industry will be leading water specialists drawn from academia, water companies and suppliers, regulatory authorities, and municipal and federal government. The sessions will include the Water and Energy Nexus, New Funding Models, the Industry Leaders Panel and the highly-effective round table networking session.

Major themes will include the desalination & reuse opportunities in shale gas, water scarcity strategies in the South-West and the new technologies stepping up to meet these challenges. In line with the highly participatory nature of GWI conference sessions, the ‘winner’ of the Water Investment Idol, showcasing a selection of new technologies, will be determined by a vote from the audience.

Christopher Gasson, CEO of Global Water Intelligence, commented “Many conferences are rather dull and inconclusive because you never really get a response from the audience. An interactive style means we can ask questions like ‘When do you think the first major desal plant in California will go on line?’ or ‘How big will the market be for desalting produced water from the oil and gas industry in ten years’ time?’ and get the answer from a group of people who just happen to be the most important people in the industry. This kind of high-level crowd-sourcing should make the event a whole lot more effective for everyone who attends.”

The American Water Summit also hosts the launch of American Water Intelligence (AWI) (see http://www.americanwaterintel.com/?awsprlog), a new monthly magazine, following the highly acclaimed format of GWI’s Global water Intelligence magazine, providing financial and business intelligence for all participants in the US water and associated industries. In addition to regular features regarding water finance and water in industry the magazine provides comment and analysis, the US water industry news round-up, key figure profiles and a water stocks update.  The last few pages are devoted to AWI’s new monitoring service – the water project tracker - charting the progress of major water, wastewater treatment, desalination and public-private partnerships across the US. Edited by Emily Pickrell**, AWI magazine is available by subscription, and as a new free supplement to Global Water Intelligence (GWI) magazine. Contact Nicole Forbes, Sales & Marketing Manager, to subscribe: nf[at]globalwaterintel.com.

A limited number of journalists are invited to cover the American Water Summit. Contact: Ruth Newcombe, rn[at]globalwaterintel.com.

*See http://www.americanwatersummit.com/?prlogaws.

**Emily Pickrell, recently appointed Editor of the new American Water Intelligence (AWI) magazine, brings to the table a potpourri of journalism and public policy experience, and a keen eye for financial stories.

Emily formerly worked as a journalist for Thomson Reuters where she chased stories on accounting issues related to the financial crisis, including the convoluted rules related to the valuation of sub-prime mortgage bonds. She has also worked as a public policy auditor at the United States Government Accountability Office, reporting on issues for Congress such as port security risk management, nuclear waste clean-up contracting and disabled veterans’ job programs.  Her experience also includes work as an auditor for CARE ( the leading humanitarian organization fighting global poverty) as a micro-finance specialist, where she was able to visit a range of water projects in Ethiopia.  

Emily has a master’s degree in investigative journalism from Columbia University and wrote her master’s thesis on how the government planned to oversee its $8 billion dollar a year military supplies contract in Iraq.  She also has a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) accreditation, a master’s degree in Russian and East European Studies from George Washington University and has spent several years in the Czech Republic. She speaks Czech, German and Spanish.

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Global Water Intelligence publishes high-value business information for the water industry worldwide: GWI and American Water Intelligence monthly magazines; several desalination publications; major market reports by water type, country and world region.