On August 24 – 26, 2009, representatives of Kentucky’s public drinking water and wastewater utilities gathered for the Kentucky Rural Water Association’s (KRWA) 30th Annual Conference and Exhibition held in Lexington, Kentucky. Over 700 utility professionals gathered at the Hyatt Regency and Lexington Convention Center, to join KRWA in “Celebrating 30 Years” of service to Kentucky’s utilities and to hear presentations from industry experts, network with peers, and tour Kentucky’s largest exhibition of products and services available to public utilities.

Monday’s activities began with the KRWA Golf Scramble at the beautiful Kearney Hill Links golf course. Training sessions were also held at the Hyatt for water and wastewater operators and water district commissioners. The day concluded with the opening of the Exhibit Hall and the President’s Reception. A full exhibit hall of 108 booths displayed the latest in industry technology, products and services. The Best Display award was presented to ITT Water & Wastewater.

On Tuesday morning, ten drinking water and wastewater utilities were recognized and honored during the Member Appreciation Breakfast for their outstanding service during the past year. This year’s honorees included: Edmonson County Water District, Grayson Utilities Commission, Judy Water Association, Lyon County Water District, Monticello Utility Commission, City of New Haven, North Mercer Water District, Paintsville City Utilities, Southeastern Water Association, and Warren County Water District. From the ten utilities honored, one is selected annually as the “Wooden Bucket” award recipient. This award is presented to a drinking water and/or wastewater utility that has made substantial and lasting improvements in providing high levels of customer service and high quality drinking water and wastewater services in its community. The 2009 Wooden Bucket award recipient was Warren County Water District.

Representing Kentucky’s Sixth District in the United States House of Representatives, Congressman Ben Chandler was recognized by KRWA with the “Friend of Rural Water” award for his commitment, leadership and dedication to rural Kentucky. A true friend and partner with water and wastewater utilities in Kentucky, Congressman Chandler has been instrumental in helping to direct federal funds to numerous environmental projects, improving the public health and quality of life of rural Kentuckians.

Tuesday afternoon’s General Session began with a look back at KRWA’s thirty years of service to water and wastewater utilities, and the session continued with our colleagues’ providing their perspective for the future of Kentucky, including industry experts Jim Gardner, Vice Chairman, Kentucky Public Service Commission; Lieutenant Colonel Stephen Bales and Bill Byron, U. S. Army Corp of Engineers; Tony Wilder, Commissioner, Department for Local Government; Peter Goodmann, Acting Director, Kentucky Division of Water; and Scott Martin, Kentucky Association of Counties.

The Rural Water Extravaganza Reception and Banquet highlighted Tuesday evening’s festivities. Professional Humorist and Motivational Speaker, John Wagner, helped everyone find balance in their lives by learning to take themselves lightly and using humor as a positive public relations tool.

Three concurrent sessions continued on Wednesday morning. Session A included Joe Burns, KRWA, discussing the Utility Optimization Program and Ron Householder, Mapsync, on Electronic Data Management. David Shehee, Kentucky-American Water Company discussed Electronic Data Transfer while Dave Ross, Beckman Environmental Service, and John Collings, Mission Communications, presented information on Alarms and SCADA Systems. Session B included Kelley Dearing-Smith, Louisville Water Company addressing Customer and Public Relations and Julie Roney, Kentucky Division of Water, with information on Cross Connections. Session C included Andy Lange, KRWA, Going Green in the Bluegrass; Damon Talley, KRWA General Council, and Jerry Wuetcher, Kentucky Public Service Commission, From a Legal Point of View. The 30th KRWA Conference concluded with the annual Wooden Bucket Award Luncheon and door prizes.

KRWA also thanks all of the sponsors who made this event such a success! We especially appreciate special sponsors, HD Supply Waterworks; Badger Meter, Inc.; Morgan Keegan & Co.; Rubin and Hays; and C.I. Thornburg. We also thank all of the Bronze Sponsors: Bell Engineering; GSC, Inc. Water Division; Insurors of KY, Inc.; Kentucky Glass Lined Tank Systems, Inc.; Mueller Company; Nesbitt Engineering, Inc.; S & K Equipment Company; and The Crom Corporation.