Water is everywhere, and while we are all connected by the natural world, the water industry connects us even more. For context, while water systems are bound to both natural and engineered processes, they are also guided by the various social, economic, regulatory, and other systems that define a community and its local environment. The responsibilities of a single water system are far broader than most people appreciate, and sometimes it takes breaking them down into individual components to truly understand them.

This month's Journal AWWA touches on a few of the topics that today's water professionals must be fluent in, not just familiar with. For example, the cover story explores how the City of Hamilton, Ont., addresses a host of issues using its proactive leak detection program. The city was determined to reduce its nonrevenue water, so it explored several advanced technologies to improve its leak detection efforts. The city worked to advance beyond using a reactionary approach to nonrevenue water, and by focusing on water conservation, it's able to address issues before they become emergencies.

Another article focuses on source water protection and how a leading-edge utility (Loveland Water and Power, Colo.) has developed and uses a comprehensive plan for source water quality monitoring. Utilities can use similar long-term monitoring programs to better detect and respond to water quality problems, and through these efforts, gain a detailed understanding of their specific water quality challenges and potential solutions.

Water professionals should be knowledgeable in disaster response, and another article this month discusses the threat water systems face during earthquakes. The industry's critical infrastructure must be able to withstand seismic hazards—especially where earthquakes are expected—but designing buried infrastructure to withstand these disasters is challenging. And it's after this kind of disaster that communities need safe water more than ever to support public health, sanitation, and firefighting, so these critical systems must be able to operate under the most extreme conditions.

As a last example, a feature article provides guidance for utilities treating cyanotoxins with powdered activated carbon (PAC). Harmful algal blooms in drinking water sources sometimes have toxic strains of cyanobacteria, but applying PAC has been shown to effectively treat these issues and restore water quality. To help other utilities facing these challenges, the authors conducted a series of experiments to develop a decision tree that balances treatment costs with toxin removal efficacy.

Even though the articles in this issue cover a broad swath of topics, it is only a small sample of the challenges facing the industry. Water professionals must stay current, and Journal AWWA is a resource that can help. Please consider writing an article to share your water industry solutions by contacting me at journaleditor@awwa.org.

水无处不在，虽然我们都被自然世界联系在一起，但水工业将我们联系得更紧密。就背景而言，虽然水系统与自然和工程过程密切相关，但它们也受到定义社区及其当地环境的各种社会、经济、监管和其他系统的指导。单一水系统的职责比大多数人想象的要广泛得多，有时需要将它们分解成单独的组成部分才能真正理解它们。

本月的《AWWA》杂志涉及当今水务专业人士必须熟悉而不仅仅是熟悉的一些主题。例如，封面故事探讨了安大略省汉密尔顿市如何利用其主动泄漏检测计划解决一系列问题。该市决心减少无收益水，因此探索了多种先进技术来改进泄漏检测工作。该市致力于超越对无收益水使用保守的方法，并通过关注水资源保护，能够在问题变成紧急情况之前解决它们。

另一篇文章重点介绍了水源水保护以及领先的公用事业公司（科罗拉多州拉夫兰水电公司）如何开发和使用水源水质监测综合计划。公用事业公司可以使用类似的长期监测计划来更好地检测和应对水质问题，并通过这些努力，详细了解其具体的水质挑战和潜在的解决方案。

水务专业人员应该具备灾害应对方面的知识，本月的另一篇文章讨论了地震期间水系统面临的威胁。该行业的关键基础设施必须能够抵御地震灾害，尤其是在预计发生地震的地方，但设计地下基础设施来抵御这些灾害具有挑战性。正是在这种灾难之后，社区比以往任何时候都更需要安全用水来支持公共卫生、卫生和消防，因此这些关键系统必须能够在最极端的条件下运行。

作为最后一个例子，一篇专题文章为公用事业公司使用粉末活性炭 (PAC) 处理蓝藻毒素提供了指导。饮用水源中的有害藻华有时会产生有毒的蓝藻菌株，但应用 PAC 已被证明可以有效解决这些问题并恢复水质。为了帮助其他面临这些挑战的公用事业公司，作者进行了一系列实验来开发一个决策树，该决策树可以平衡处理成本与毒素去除功效。

尽管本期文章涵盖了广泛的主题，但这只是该行业面临的挑战的一小部分。水务专业人士必须跟上潮流，《AWWA》杂志是一个可以提供帮助的资源。请考虑写一篇文章来分享您的水行业解决方案，请通过journaleditor@awwa.org与我联系。