News Release
For immediate release
January 26, 2010

GCWW Director to Speak at International Water Forum

First Meeting of its Kind Held in U.S.

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Cincinnati, OH – Greater Cincinnati Water Works Director, David Rager, will welcome water experts from around the globe at the Climate Change Impacts on Water: An International Adaptation Forum to be held January 27-29, 2010 in Washington, DC. The forum is the first international water meeting of its kind ever held in the United States, drawing experts from Australia, France, Spain, Switzerland and Singapore among others.

Rager, as chair of the Water Research Foundation Board of Trustees, will give opening remarks and an overview of the meeting, setting the stage for the invitation only event.

“This forum is intended to bring exposure to the challenges water industry leaders face due to changes in our climate,” says Rager. “We need American policy makers to understand the significance of the challenges so we can collectively work together and devise strategies to protect the nation’s water supply.”

The water climate forum is intended to provide water utility managers in the United States an opportunity to network with and learn from their international colleagues, understand the state of the science on climate adaptation tools and foster applied research.

“This event will bring together the best and brightest minds from around the world and we hope it will spark conversations, new ideas and partnerships that will serve as a catalyst for the creation of new advances in the water industry,” adds Rager.

The forum’s closing session will include a declaration of adaptation principles for utilities to consider in moving forward to address climate change within their water systems. 

The Climate Change Impacts on Water: An International Adaptation Forum is organized by the Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies, the Water Research Foundation, the International Water Association, the Water Utility Climate Alliance and the American Water Works Association.  For more information on the forum, visit www.waterclimateforum.org.

Rager has served as director of Greater Cincinnati Water Works since 1993. He is on the Board of Directors, and was a past president, of the Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies and is a board member of the American Water Works Association Manufacturers/Associates Council and the Water Utility Council.

Greater Cincinnati Water Works provides water over 800 square miles to more than 1.2 million people in Hamilton, Butler, Warren and Clermont counties in Ohio and Boone County, Kentucky.

Contact:

Michele Todd Ralston, Greater Cincinnati Water Works

(513) 591-7972 or Michele.ralston@gcww.cincinnati-oh.gov