BALTIMORE, MD – Department of Public Works Director Rudolph S. Chow, P.E., announced today that Baltimore City will be celebrating Drinking Water Week this year by hosting the 57th American Public Works Association’s (APWA) Mid-Atlantic Annual Conference and Equipment Show. This year's theme is: Public Works: Protecting and Improving Communities.
 
This regional conference will bring together public works professionals from the District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia. These public and private professionals meet for educational seminars and classes and to exchange ideas, information and insights. The event will take place May 6 – May 8 at the Baltimore Convention Center.
 
At this year’s event, participants will have the opportunity to explore in depth these twin commitments to protect and improve the communities we serve. There will be technical sessions revolving around this year’s themes, and the exhibit hall area will provide the opportunity to see the latest products, materials, services and systems for a variety of public works tasks and activities. An equipment “Road-E-O” will also demonstrate the capabilities of various pieces of heavy equipment in action.
 
For more than 35 years the American Water Works Association (AWWA) has celebrated Drinking Water Week with its members. In 1988, AWWA brought the event to the attention of the US government and formed a coalition along with the League of Women Voters, the Association of State Drinking Water Administrators and the US Environmental Protection Agency. A week-long observance was declared in a Joint Congressional Resolution and signed by then-President Ronald Reagan.
 
Baltimore will continue to celebrate Public Works on Saturday, May 23 with Big Truck Day at the Baltimore Museum of Industry, and on Saturday, September 19 with the 100th Anniversary Celebration of the Montebello Filtration Plant at Lake Montebello. Both of these events are free and open to the public.