Water 2050: Our Responsibility as YPs

Abstract

Most recently, the Last Drop column has focused on how AWWA's Water 2050 initiative is charting the course of water to the year 2050. A critical part of the initiative is making sure many voicesespecially the voices of water's current young professionals (YPs)-are framing this forward-looking strategy. When I talk to water's YPs, I am left with confidence about the future. They are bold, smart, and visionary, and 10 of them have paired up and are initiating a Last Drop Takeover. What this means is, for the next five Last Drop columns, you will hear directly from them about their thoughts of the future. In this inaugural Last Drop Takeover, Progga Chirontoni and Eric Kong paint a clear vision of what needs to be done and, importantly, why. Progga is a water/wastewater engineer with HDR Engineering. She has a master's degree in environmental and water resources engineering and a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering and mathematics. Eric is a project engineer with Freese and Nichols Inc., with more than six years of experience in the design and construction of water production and water resource recovery facilities. Here is what they have to say about the future of water.