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In his final Confluence column as AWWA Executive Director, Gary Zimmerman says good‐bye after serving in this position for 14 months. He states that his reasons for leaving are entirely personal, and that he leaves with thanks, admiration, and a sense of pride and optimism. He sincerely believes that his vision of bringing Fortune 500 business disciplines and technology to bear for the benefit of AWWA's mission is under way, and that the benefit will be meaningful and long‐lasting.

In his column, AWWA Executive Director Gary Zimmerman stresses the importance of communication, and provides examples of AWWA communicating with U.S. regulatory agencies to develop regulations that benefit and protect public health. He also urges readers to visit AWWA's Government Affairs website to stay informed about the latest developments in Washington, D.C., and mentions the downloadable videos that are regularly updated to help viewers stay current with water issues. The AWWA headquarters website has been updated, and Zimmerman discusses several of the changes including: one login, one checkout; update your own profile information; personalize your communication preferences; and, an upgraded eLearning platform.

In his column, AWWA Executive Director Gary Zimmerman provides examples of AWWA programs and services designed to assist its membership, including the following: WaterISAC, a private, not‐for‐profit organization established by water utilities with the fundamental purpose of providing information to support utility actions that ensure continuous operation in the face of all hazards; AWWA eLearning, an upgrade of AWWA's former Online Institute to a new eLearning platform that offers more content and functionality for its training, professional development and continuing education units (CEUs) via the Internet; AWWA.org, with enhancements to AWWA's information systems, will launch upgrades to its single sign‐on and shopping cart and multimedia content delivery; and, AWWA Business Operations has installed updated procurement procedures.

In his column, AWWA Executive Director Gary Zimmerman contrasts the use of chlorine for both good and bad reasons. The example he uses for chlorine put to good use is the wide‐scale use of it to disinfect drinking water; the bad use example is the use of chlorine in truck bombs in Baghdad during the Iraq War. He provides two examples of how AWWA has responded in important and impressive ways to deal with the potentially devastating effects that evil‐doers can produce from a good thing, including the AWWA Water Security Congress held on April 8‐10, 2009 in Washington, D.C., and the Water Infrastructure Security Enhancement (WISE) program, developed by AWWA in partnership with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Water Environment Federation, and the American Society of Civil Engineers.

In his column, AWWA Executive Director Gary Zimmerman discusses some of AWWA's upcoming 2009 initiatives, including the following: the Membership Benefits and Services’ goal of improving the membership structure to be more responsive to members’ needs; the 5‐year plan to upgrade the information technology and e‐commerce platform; 2009 Annual Conference and Exposition; Government and Public Affairs; and, Publications, specifically combining Mainstream and WaterWeek into one publication called Streamlines.

In his column, AWWA Director Gary Zimmerman correlates Moore's law to the rapid advancement of detection methodologies for trace amounts of pharmaceuticals in some U.S. drinking water supplies. However, Zimmerman points out there is no scientific evidence that shows an impact on human health at these trace levels. He goes on to state that if Moore's law has created a gap between detection and known public health effects, AWWA will continue to be an advocate for research to ensure that regulations and public perception are properly grounded in science.

In his column, AWWA Executive Director Gary Zimmerman celebrates the 100th anniversary of the first large‐scale use of chlorination as a disinfection technology at the Boonton Reservoir of the Jersey City Water Works in 1908. He mentions other topics presented in this month's Journal, including disinfection practices, the results of AWWA's Disinfection Systems Committee survey, and the 2008 State of the Industry Report.

In his column, AWWA Executive Director Gary Zimmerman describes a recent trip he took to Wisconsin, that included meeting with the Wisconsin Section Board of Trustees and its Administrative Director, Jill Duchniak, and attending the ribbon‐cutting ceremony for the new microfiltration facility at Manitowoc, WI. He relates his own personal family roots in Manitowoc, and correlates his grandmother's folksy wisdom with the subject matter of this month's Journal on source water.

In his column, AWWA Executive Director Gary Zimmerman discusses the importance of connecting to the younger generations in order to attract new jobseekers. He points out that the water industry has identified its challenges early, and are already working to favorably position the industry to jobseekers.

In his column, AWWA Executive Director Gary Zimmerman recounts a recent episode of airplane travel delays, missing connecting flights, and lost luggage. He uses this example to illustrate how any one of a multitude of variables has the capacity to disrupt water distribution at any given moment. He provides a brief introduction of the distribution issues presented in this month's JOURNAL.