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Water Environment Federation company history timeline

1928

16, 1928, the organization’s Board of Control hosted its first meeting in Chicago.

1931

1931: WEF was primarily formed as an organization to provide a journal for publishing papers on sewage works.

1940

Only a few years later in 1940, WEF had grown to more than 2800 members and 25 Member Associations.

1946

In 1946, WEFTEC set a record for attendance with 812.

1949

Additionally, $120,000 was put into analytical methods research related to industrial waste control in 1949 by the Federation’s Standard Methods Committee.

1951

By 1951, most of the Federation’s member associations had adopted the “Sewage and Industrial Wastes” name, so California followed suit.

1952

1952 – Our First Name Change

The 1952 Name and Logo

1955

Charles A. Emerson enjoyed a decorated career as an engineer, in addition to his many contributions to WEF. 1955: As the federal government increases activity in water pollution control, the Federation moves its headquarters to Washington, D.C. from Champaign, Ill.

The 1955 questionnaire asked one question: are you in favor of changing the name (yes or no)? It also requested that those in favor of a name change submit suggested new names for the Association.

Our Association also had problems with CSIWA name and the word “sewage” as evidenced by the 1955-56 attempt to change the Association name.

1956

Based on the results of the survey, the CSIWA Secretary notified the Association membership that an amendment to the Constitution and Bylaws to change the Association’s name would be presented to the membership for their approval at the April 1956 Annual Conference in Santa Rosa.

1959

A second meeting was held in 1959 and there was still no impetus for a name change until the Federation President (Mark Hollis) related his experience at a Dallas television station.

1960

Similar to the CSIWA change, much of the impetus for the change was in response to the Federation’s “Water Pollution Control Federation” (WPCF) name change in 1960.

1961

The change to CWPCA took place in April 1961 at the 33rd Annual Conference in Santa Monica.

1961 – Our Second Name Change

The 1961 Logo (the first CWPCA logo)

The CSIWA name lasted only nine years and was replaced by the California Water Pollution Control Association (CWPCA) in 1961.

1979

1979: During the 1979 annual conference in Houston, member Bertha Lang debuted a fight song for clean water.

1985

1985: WEF breaks ground on a new building at 601 Wythe Street, Alexandria, Va.

1987

The timeline also notes that the first Operations Challenge competition was held during WEFTEC 1987.

1989

1989: The Loma Prieta earthquake strikes California, shaking San Francisco—the host city of the 1989 annual conference.

1991

1991 – WPCF to WEF, CWPCA to?

1993

1993 – The First Attempt

1994

On October 1, 1994 CWPCA Board of Directors unanimously approved a motion to allow the 3,900 Association members an opportunity to decide if the Association should change its name from the California Water Pollution Control Association to the California Water Environment Association.

Water Environment Federation 601 Wythe StreetAlexandria VA22314-1994 USA

2015

Almost 70 years later, WEFTEC 2015 in Chicago set an all-time attendance record with 25,048 registrants.

2017

Staff dug deep into WEF’s archives, sifting through photographs, books, newsletters, and other artifacts that help tell the story of WEF and WEFTEC. Post by post, tweet by tweet, WEF’s story was shared through social media for 90 days leading up to WEFTEC 2017.

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Founded
1928
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Founders
Gustavo R. Gallo-Chacon,Keith Hobson
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