Mark Your Calendars for 2022 ACWA Events by Dave Eggerton Feb 18, 2022 Voices on Water Registration for the ACWA 2022 Virtual Legislative Symposium on March 10 recently opened and will launch us into another year of association events. Will this be the year we emerge from under the shadow of COVID-19 pandemic restrictions? We certainly hope so. This annual ACWA symposium engages water district directors, general managers, attorneys and water agency staff from across California with up-to-date information on critical water policy issues. For this event, we’ll get to the heart of what will drive state legislative action on water during 2022 with two expert panel discussions – “Drought and Resilience as a California Way of Life” and “State Budget Funding for Infrastructure, Drought and Healthy Forests.” If you’re serious about remaining, or becoming, the go-to expert on state water policy for your agency, the ACWA 2022 Legislative Symposium will put you at an advantage going into the new year. As a virtual event, this Legislative Symposium will allow attendees to conveniently access content from anywhere, and that’s great. But it could also become the last of two consecutive years of virtual programming, just as the ACWA 2020 Legislative Symposium in Sacramento, until recently, stood out as the last completely in-person ACWA event before the pandemic shutdown that year. Looking ahead, I’m excited to share our plans to hold a fully in-person ACWA 2022 Spring Conference & Exhibition in Sacramento May 3-5, with registration also now open. Sacramento’s Convention Center just reopened following a renovation that essentially saw it rebuilt into a larger and higher-quality venue. The health and safety of our members will always guide our event planning. Attendees will have to abide by Sacramento city and county health regulations, which currently include mask and proof of vaccination — or negative test result — requirements (visit www.acwa.com/events for more details). This will not be a hybrid event with simultaneous virtual streaming, although we will still record much of the programming for those who cannot attend in-person to watch online after the event. ACWA has also moved the annual Washington D.C. Conference from a winter to summer event. Planning is proceeding toward hosting an in-person event July 12-14. The national sister to the Legislative Symposium, ACWA DC2022 will give members a special opportunity to connect with fellow water agencies and show the importance of California water in the nation’s capital. Keep an eye on the ACWA website for information on when registration opens for ACWA DC2022. While the highly unpredictable nature of the pandemic will remain a wild card for some time, I’m thrilled by the prospect of continuing a cautious but steady return to in-person events. I had no idea how much I missed seeing the incredible people of our membership and associates until late last year, not only in Pasadena, but during the in-person San Joaquin Valley Water Forum hosted by Regions 6 and 7. It’s been a long two years. I’m looking forward to seeing each of you at spring conference as well as throughout the coming year. A return to any kind of business as usual has never felt so unusually exciting.
