WWEMA Window: Different Times…
By Carl Janson
As I write this article, we are approaching six months of the COVID-19 pandemic and we all have experienced changes that we never would have anticipated in doing business as a manufacturer’s representative or even business in general. All the regional and state water and wastewater association meetings and conferences have been canceled. Our visits to water and wastewater treatment facilities require us to wear masks and practice safe distancing practices. Many of us are arranging or participating in Zoom or Microsoft Teams meetings as the new norm. Almost all the consulting engineers we do business with are either in lockdown with no visitors allowed or have their staff working from home. We are now conducting our business by texting, FaceTime, email, Zoom, or cellphone calls, with little or no direct face-to-face time. If there are pre-bid meetings, they are held outside with safe distancing and masks. There are no longer formal “open” bid openings. Some of our clients are postponing projects with concerns over funding and loss of revenues due to COVID-19. We seen some of our fellow professionals pass from COVID-19 and are keeping their families and friends in our thoughts and prayers in these challenging times.
We have now also seen the 2020 AWWA ACE Conference cancelled and the 2020 WEFTEC Conference converted into a virtual conference. I am chairing a technical session for WEFTEC 2020 – Session 426 Engineered Equipment with Procurement Options to Ensure Quality Procurement AND Optimum Value. The session speakers will all be recording their presentations with “virtual attendance” to our session. I have now attended 47 WEFTECs in a row and was looking forward to seeing so many of my fellow professionals and close friends at this year’s WEFTEC — the last before I officially retire from Riordan Materials Corporation at the end of this year.
As “essential workers”, we continue to serve the public in assuring that the water treatment and wastewater treatment facilities continue to operate and produce the quality water and effluent that is required to protect both the environment and the public. Times have changed, and as we all adjust, I encourage each of you to stay safe and healthy. Hopefully, we will soon see the COVID-19 pandemic under control and, more importantly, a successful vaccine in early 2021.
Carl Janson is a Sales Associate for Riordan Materials Corp., a WEF Fellow, and a long-time member of the Water and Wastewater Equipment Manufacturers Association (WWEMA) where he led the Manufacturers Representative Council for many years and sits on the WWEMA Board of Directors. WWEMA is a non-profit trade association formed in 1908 to represent water and wastewater technology manufacturers and related service providers. WWEMA is made up of many of the most prominent and influential companies in the industry who are working together to shape the future of water and wastewater technology in the U.S. and around the world. For more information about WWEMA, go to www.wwema.org. Interested in becoming a WWEMA member? Contact WWEMA Executive Director, Vanessa Leiby at vanessa@wwema.org.