Drinking Water and Wastewater Professionals Appreciation Day is June 30

House Joint Resolution No. 88 designates June 30, 2016 as Drinking Water and Wastewater Professionals Appreciation Day in Virginia.

Excerpts from the resolution:

Before the implementation of reliable drinking water and wastewater treatment, thousands of people in the United States died of waterborne diseases like cholera, dysentery, typhoid, polio, and hepatitis each year. The World Health Organization estimates that unsafe water supplies in developing nations still cause approximately 1.8 million deaths annually.

Technological advances by water and wastewater professionals have improved the treatment of both drinking water and wastewater in the Commonwealth, the United States, and the world. Access to clean drinking water is crucial to the health and safety of more than 8.3 million Virginians.

Treatment of the Commonwealth's average of more than 620 million gallons of wastewater each day plays a critical role in reducing toxic chemicals and nutrient buildup in Virginia's surface waters, such as the Potomac, the James, and the Chesapeake Bay. Much of the drinking water and wastewater infrastructure in the United States is located underground in millions of miles of pipes, unseen by the public.

Thousands of water and wastewater industry professionals in the Commonwealth dedicate their careers to keeping drinking water and treated wastewater clean and free of disease-carrying organisms that can harm both humans and the environment. The Virginia Section of the American Water Works Association and the Virginia Water Environment Association, as well as the Washington Metropolitan Council of Governments, the Northern Virginia Regional Commission, and the Virginia Rural Water Association, support the creation of Drinking Water and Wastewater Professionals Appreciation Day.

Wastewater Plant