Events

Whidbey Island Water Systems Association hosts quarterly Member Meetings which are open to the public. Typically the Member Meetings are held in March, June, September and December, with the December meeting designated as the Annual Meeting for budget approval, director elections and other formal business. Only WIWSA members are able to vote on motions at the quarterly and annual meetings.

Other upcoming events will be included here, both those sponsored by WIWSA or our partners, or other community events that might be of interest to WIWSA members.

Upcoming Events

PNWS-AWWA 2026 Section Conference; May 6-8 Tacoma, WA In-person

The Northwest’s largest conference and trade show for drinking water professionals. Online Registration is now closed. On Site Registration opens May 5 at 3pm.

Click Here Find Out More

RCAC: Developing a Wellhead Protection Program; May 13, 2026; 9 AM to 12 Noon PST ONLINE

Source water is the foundation of any drinking water utility. Are you struggling to know where to begin on a wellhead protection program, or didn’t realize your water system needed one? This free training will provide a walk-through of the Department of Health’s Wellhead Protection Program guidance and requirements.

There is no cost for this online program. Click here to REGISTER or for more information…

Q2/2026 Member Meeting; June 16, 2026; 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm IN-PERSON and ZOOM

The next member meeting is planned for Tuesday June 16th, from 5 pm to 7 pm at the Coupeville Library and on ZOOM. We hope to have an update on the franchise requirements discussed at the Q1 meeting followed by speakers presenting on water system reserves and rate structure. The agenda and meeting details will be emailed to the newsletter subscriber list near the end of May.

Recent Events

Reports from meetings or events that have been held recently. For less recent events, look further down under Meeting & Event Archives.

RECAP: Group B Meetup; April 16, 2026; 5:00 to 6:30 pm ZOOM Only

The first Group B meeting for 2026 was held on April 16, 2026 over Zoom with 13 Group B water systems represented and about 20 attendees all together. Michael Quintus, Whidbey Island Water Systems Association (WIWSA) board member led the meeting off with a review of the agenda and had attendees introduce themselves.

After Michael gave a brief recap of the previous three Group B Meetups in 2024 and 2025, Aneta Hupfauer and Tracy Hall spoke about Group B planning and introduced a streamlined template for Group B water systems to prepare a draft plan. There are links below to the presentation and the templates themselves.

Using the templates can serve as a basic water systems plan or as a draft of the basic information needed to start on a formal Small Water System Management Program (SWSMP). The Group B Water System Management Plan is accessible from the Island County Drinking Water webpage. It can be found in two places:

  1. https://www.islandcountywa.gov/1008/Public-Water-Systems [Drinking Water > Public Water Systems > Group B Public Water Systems (under Resources)]
  2. https://www.islandcountywa.gov/661/Documents-and-Forms [Drinking Water > Documents and Forms > Drinking Water Program (under Group B Water System Guide for Approval)]

Next, Michael presented a review of Cook Water Supply Operations, an 8-connection Group B system in North Whidbey that he manages for his community. It’s a nicely designed and well-maintained system which includes 2 source wells along with filtering systems for both manganese and arsenic. A link to the presentation is also included below.

An open forum followed with questions on SMAs, booster pumps and filtering systems among other topics.

You can view the recording below or view the presentations yourself. If you want to be notified of future Group B meetings, be sure to register your email for meeting notices by subscribing to the newsletter and specify that you are on a Group B system.

Recordings and Presentation Materials:

RECAP: Q1/2026 Member Meeting; March 19, 2026; 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm IN-PERSON and ZOOM

Thanks to everyone who attended the first 2026 Member’s Meeting which was held in person on Thursday, March 19, 2026 at the Coupeville Library and online over Zoom. There was a quorum present at the library with over 40 people attending and another 20+ people joining on Zoom. The meeting was a lively discussion over Island County’s new franchise requirements among the community members, county, state and industry representatives, followed by some general Q&A where members exchanged their expertise and experience. Thank you to Ed Sewester from Island County Public Works, and Joanne Skaar and the NW Natural team for participating in the Franchise discussion

WIWSA’s President Randi Perry opened the meeting with a short formal section covering the meeting’s agenda, the annual meeting minutes from January and hearing the Q1 Treasurer’s report before spending most of the 2 hours discussing the new Franchise Requirements.

After summarizing WIWSA’s December letter on the franchise topic (presented at January’s 2025 Annual Meeting), Randi introduced Ed Sewester (Island County Public Works). Ed reviewed the current Franchise program status along with the objectives of the new requirements that had been announced in a letter sent by the county to Franchise holders last September. He said that maintaining road integrity and limiting repair and maintenance costs is a large factor in developing the new requirements.

Ed was followed by Joanne Skaar (NW Natural Water Services) and members of the NW Natural team who gave the water operator perspective on the impact these requirements would have on the water system operations and expenses. They made a case that compliance requires more than running a few tests. The preparation, communications and coordination demand personnel and time to execute, all of which detracts from the 24/7 operations effort that is on-going.

Many audience members asked questions and provided feedback to Ed which he indicated would be shared with the County Commissioners. Some particular requests are that the new franchise requirements must recognize that the Satellite Management Agencies, who currently manage the water systems, are the best qualified to provide any certification required, and that the county should be working with the fire districts directly in establishing any fire hydrant inspection and testing requirements.

We’ll add a link below to the meeting minutes after the board approves them in April, but you can watch the recording already linked below to get more details about the information discussed. As Ed mentioned in his talk there’ll be further discussion at the Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) work session as early as April, where he would be passing along the feedback from this WIWSA Member Meeting. Look for that Board agenda on the work session agenda page here to monitor that discussion.

You are encouraged to make a Public Comment if you have input for the County Commissioners at either the BOCC formal meeting or work session meeting. You can make a public comment at any BOCC meeting whether the Franchise item is on the agenda or not.

Recordings and Presentation Materials:

DOH/Office of Drinking Water Advisory Group (DWAG) Quarterly Meeting—March 2, 2026; 9:00 a.m.—12:00 p.m ONLINE (TEAMS) ONLY

The most recent Quarterly Drinking Water Advisory Group (DWAG) meeting was held on March 2, 2026. See the DWAG page here for the agenda and some of the presentions. The scheduled topics included Water System Consolidation/Regionalization, Draft EPA Perchlorate Rule, PFAS Monitoring and more. You can sign up anytime for email notifications for all DWAG notices here.

RECAP: Small Water System Management Program (SWSMP) Workshop—October 25, 2025  IN-PERSON onl

October 25, 2025 from 8:30 am to 5:00 pm at Pacific Rim Institute for Environmental Stewardship, 180 Parker Road, Coupeville, Washington 98239

Whidbey Island Water Systems Association sponsored an all-day workshop on the Small Water Systems Management Program (SWSMP) in Coupeville on October 25, 2025 as announced at the Q3 Member Meeting. The workshop was led by Samuel Rodriguez of Rural Community Assistance Corporation (RCAC) supported by the RCAC team and the Washington Department of Health staff members Sarah Spotts and Jocelyne Gray. Over 35 Group A and B water systems were represented with 45 participants. The workshop was well received by all and we are grateful to the RCAC and DOH staff for taking their Saturday to lead the workshop for us.

Sam’s presentation along with supporting materials can be found at the links below through the end of December. If you need them at a later date please contact Sam by email:

Meeting & Event Archives

Browse the meeting archives which include all meeting agendas, minutes and reports along with some presentations that were included in those meetings.

All Member Meetings (2015-present) — All quarterly, special and annual member meetings since 2015.

Group B Meetups (2024-present) — New meetings with Group B water system board members and residential water users.

Community Events (2015-present) — Other events or meetings hosted by WIWSA, our partners or other community members.