Water Buffalos-Convene on Philadelphia!

ACE17 is underway. Thousands of water professionals are in downtown Philadelphia, mingling with colleagues and learning about everything from infrastructure funding and affordability to lead management in drinking water, and much more. They’ve come from more than 1,000 utilities and all regions of the United States, as well as Mexico, Canada, and other parts of the world.

One of Water For People’s biggest supporters is the motorcycle group known as the Water Buffalos, who are sponsoring their fourth annual Indoor Poker Run & Raffle in booth# 633 during exhibit hall hours.

The Water Buffalos roared into ACE yesterday nearly 40 riders in all. For them, “gathering of the herd” is the Holy Grail of their conference experience. This year, some of the Buffalos gathered in northern Georgia and rode the entire length of the scenic Blue Ridge Parkway on their way to Philadelphia. Others came from the Northwest and various points across the United States. “Each individual Buffalo may start solo, then build a group, and then to a herd along the way, and that is what our effort is all about,” said Tim Wilson, #55, the group’s treasurer and director of water production at Marshalltown Water Works in Iowa. Group members ride on their own time and dime for the causes – Water For People and the Civil Engineering Corps. “Our members believe strongly in the work that both these organizations do to improve drinking water and sanitation services in communities in need, both foreign and domestic,” Wilson said. “This is our 12th year, and collectively the group has raised over a million dollars for those causes. Not bad for a bunch of bikers.”