I had the opportunity to congratulate the East Lansing Meridian Water & Sewer Authority (ELMWSA) on receiving a national award fi=or its new 2M gallon water storage tank serving East Lansing and Meridian Township.

The 2026 Paschen Prize for Public Progress, Civic Building Project of the Year, is a national award recognizing public projects that make a meaningful impact on the communities they serve — projects like this one, which helps strengthen the reliability, resiliency, and long-term future of our drinking water system.

And I have to brag on us a little bit here: East Lansing and Meridian Township are fortunate to have drinking water that is considered among the best in Michigan when it comes to quality and taste. That’s a distinction worth being proud of, and it doesn’t happen by accident.

The credit goes to the talented staff, board members, engineers, contractors, operators, tradespeople, and everyone else. Joel Martinez & the ELMWSA team put in a lot of work behind the scenes to maintain the quality and reliability we have come to expect when we turn on the faucet.

Behind that simple expectation is a lot of planning, investment, technical expertise, and people doing the work every day. I am privileged to serve as the EL City Council liaison to ELMWSA, which gives me an opportunity to sit alongside this board & see some of this work up close.