President's Message

Clean Water: Essential for Life and what our Profession Does Everyday

Just how important is our job and our profession?  If you are in the wastewater field you are extremely important.  The world revolves around water.  Life revolves around water.  If you think about the fact that 60% of our body weight is made up of water and in order to stay hydrated, we need a minimum of 9 to 12 cups of water per day, it shows that water is our life.  Life is water.

Approximately 3 percent of the earth’s water is freshwater.  Of that 3 percent, only 1.2 percent can be used as drinking water.  It is also a fact that clean, fresh water is not necessarily located where humans need it.  As the population of the world continues to increase, there is a steady increase in demand for water.  We all know there are other living things that rely on clean, fresh water as well. There have been predictions and warnings that soon approximately 25 percent of the world’s population will live in countries without enough access to clean water.  Ensuring that there is clean water available is a big reason why our profession is so important.

The job that we do each day is vital to the future of water.  To each of us, we go to work, we do our job, and we do not necessarily think about its importance.   Most individuals outside of our field do not have a solid understanding of the complexity of our profession.  That will change as people become more dependent on what we do.  Water reuse is going to become essential for the entire world.  What we do every day to protect our water supply is essential for life.  The role that we all play and the job we do is vital to the future of this planet.   Our role goes so much further than cleaning water.  We protect public health and produce valuable products that can be used such as biogas, biosolids, and clean water.  The job that we do is vital to life.  Gone are the days when individuals may have felt embarrassed to work in this field. 

There is potential that clean drinking water may someday be more valuable than gold.  It sounds bizarre and absurd to make that statement.  The reality is that someday war may be fought over access to clean, fresh water.  As our profession moves forward and as we continue to keep our water and our environment clean by the work we do, our profession will become more known, acknowledged and more in demand.

Keep up the great work everyone and thank you all for having me as your President this year.  I look forward to seeing you all in late October at the Kalahari for the 57^th Annual Conference!

Jeremy Cramer