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THE KANSAS LIFELINE

July 2018

2018 KRWA Annual Conference

Review

he Kansas Rural Water Association's Annual

Conference and Exhibition is the Midwest’s largest;

it's a highly respected event as witnessed by the

attendance and record number of exhibitors. It was held

March 27 - 29 at the Century II Convention Center in

Wichita. The total registration was 2,280 people. 

The KRWA conference provides something for everyone,

non-stop. And that keeps attendees interested. That’s one of

the main reasons that the KRWA conference has the

reputation as being one of the best water and wastewater

conferences in America. In 2018, attendees came from 309

cities and 189 rural water districts. There were registrants

from 28 additional states aside from Kansas. 

The 2018 conference was the 51st annual. On Tuesday,

March 27, there were eight full-day pre-conference sessions

for water and wastewater utilities, as well as the Attorneys'

Forum and USDA Engineering Forum. The conference

featured a total of 58 training sessions which involved 81

different presenters. Read more about the various events on

the following pages.  

Operator certification exams 

An additional bonus for the conference is that it provides

an opportunity for operators to take the certification exams.

KRWA appreciates the operator certification department at

KDHE for making the exams available. There were 207

water and wastewater operators who took the operator

certification exam on Thursday, March 29. Tuesday, March

27, was a full day of training for water operators from Small

System through Class IV as exam refresher preparation.

KRWA appreciates the staff at KDHE for their extra efforts

in helping provide special training for wastewater operators

on Thursday morning, March 29 as preparation courses to

the exam.

Who attended?

In 2018, registrants came from 309 cities and 189 rural

water districts or other public water or wastewater systems.

The attendance breakdown is as follows: 

u

Operators: 1,076

u

Administrative Staff: 130

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Board/Council Members: 134

u

Industry: 886

u

Agency: 54

There 2018 conference involved 190 different exhibitors,

filling all 365 available booth spaces in EXPO

Hall.While this issue summarizes the 2018

conference, initial plans are already underway

for 2019. As of June 1, nearly 180 booth spaces

have already been reserved. And all sleeping

rooms at the Hyatt sold out on April 15 in just a

little more than 30 minutes after the block

opened at 8 a.m. A review of the conference

continues on the next pages. 

Mark your calendars for the 2019 KRWA

Conference at the Century II Convention Center

in Wichita. The dates are March 26-28. 

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