I hope everyone had a happy holiday season and had the opportunity to get out to visit safely. Here in the east central part of the state there is very little snow on the ground so the deer and turkeys haven’t had to visit the crabapple trees in the backyard looking for something to eat. I know it’s still there, but it seems like even the wildlife is staying as close to their own homes as possible.

Many of the WWOA training events are following a similar path. The Midwest Water and Wastewater Operators Expo was not held this year. The Expo committee will meet in a couple of months to begin planning for February 8+9, 2022. Mark your calendars. The Expo is set up to be two one day events rather than a two-day event. This makes it a great opportunity for communities to send more of their operators for a day of learning. Government Affairs Seminar and Spring Biosolids are being held virtually so that the training and credits are available while staying close to home.

Jeremy Cramer has been working on the technical program for the 55th Annual Conference to be held October 5-8 in LaCrosse. The technical committee is scheduled to meet virtually on Feb 24th to select presentations for the conference. Jeremy has provided the committee with titles and brief summaries of the abstracts submitted for review and possible session placement prior to the meeting. Session grouping and placement involves a lot of discussion. It is often a challenge under the best of circumstances. Jeremy has received an amazing 68 abstracts for consideration, the Technical Program has space for 41 presentations and two Pre-conference workshops. Many thanks to everyone that submitted an abstract, your participation is what makes the Conference the educational opportunity that it is for attendees.

This Presidents message seems to focus on opportunity. Even if things are different than we would like, let’s not miss out on opportunities that present themselves and encourage others to do the same, whether that be at work or in our personal lives. Most of all, during this winter season, take every opportunity to get out and enjoy the resources that we water professionals work so hard to protect.

Take care everyone. Looking forward to seeing you.

Don Lintner