We are excited to welcome Kyle Dreyfuss-Wells, Chief Executive Officer of the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District, as our Keynote Speaker this year. Overseeing the operation of one of the largest clean-water agencies in Ohio treating more than 75 billion gallons of water every year and providing sanitary and stormwater management services to Cleveland and 62 suburban communities across 363 square miles of the Lake Erie watershed, Kyle has an enlightening perspective related to the challenges and opportunities of balancing infrastructure needs, regulation, customers, funding, climate change and resiliency in the clean-water cycle. Every utility has an origin story. A decision made, a problem faced, challenges perhaps unique to a region, but more common when seen through a wider lens. Kyle will connect Northeast Ohio’s clean-water history with the realities of the broader Midwest, exploring the intersection of land use and water quality, the importance of water infrastructure to sustainable built spaces, and how her utility’s renowned stormwater management and combined sewer overflow control efforts are accounting for the real impacts of wetter, warmer, wilder weather – all while engaging customers and a workforce for the long haul.
