Drinking Water Week

displays showcase city employees in action

For this year’s Drinking Water Week, Yuma invites residents to meet some of the people who help provide a service that is available 24 hours a day.

The week of May 1-7 is Drinking Water Week, with the theme “There When You Need It.” The city joins the American Water Works Association in recognizing the vital role tap water plays in daily life, the infrastructure that is required to carry it to and from homes and businesses, and the critical work that water professionals accomplish around the clock.

Displays this week, both at City Hall and on the city’s various social media channels, celebrate some of the professionals who produce and deliver clean, safe water to our residents and visitors.

“Whether it’s an engineer designing a capital project, an operator ensuring the safety and quality of drinking water or a member of a pipe crew maintaining the infrastructure in our community, the city’s professionals work around the clock to ensure tap water is there when customers need it,” said Jeremy McCall, director of utilities.

“Tap water plays an integral role in meeting our daily health, hygiene and hydration needs,” said David LaFrance, CEO of the American Water Works

Association. “Water sector professionals, the infrastructure they work to design, create and maintain and the treatment process all work in harmony to ensure safe tap water is ‘there when you need it.’”

City Hall will feature the following staff members “in the act” of providing water service:

• Leah Dennis, laboratory supervisor

• Brad Kuhn, senior water plant operator III

• Connie Edwards, utility rates program coordinator

• Danny Leyva, water treatment plant operator II

• Diego Arciniega, instrumentation and control technician

• Deborah Glogoff, water/wastewater asset management technician

Additionally, three team members of the Utilities Department spoke about their jobs on videos that the city will share on social media during Drinking Water Week. Those three include Glogoff; Juan Morales, water/wastewater systems technician; and Ashleigh Woodard, lab analyst.

For several decades, AWWA and its members have celebrated Drinking Water Week, a unique opportunity for both water professionals and the communities they serve to join together in recognizing the vital role water plays in daily lives.