Speakers
Robert Brou
Robert Brou is the Director for the St. Charles Parish Department of Waterworks. He has been employed by St. Charles Parish for twenty years and began working for the Waterworks Department fifteen years ago as the department's Meter Reading Superintendent. A promotion to the department's top position of Director came five years later in January 2000 and he has held the Director's position for ten years now. The responsibilities of the Director include the Operations and Maintenance of St. Charles Waterworks Districts No. 1 and No. 2, including Treatment Plants, Distribution, Meter Reading, Billing and Customer Service, and the daily supervision of 50 employees. The Department of Waterworks provides services to over 20,000 customers including two oil refineries, several major chemical industrial facilities, three steam and one nuclear electric generation plants. It maintains approximately 400 miles of distribution piping, 2800 valves and 2500 fire hydrants, and last year the department sold over 3,038,600,000 gallons of water to its customers. Under Mr. Brou's tenure the department has garnered numerous awards and recognitions on the local, state and regional level. For the last two years a water sample from St. Charles Parish was named the Best Tasting Water in the Southwest Section of the AWWA, which includes the states of Louisiana, Arkansas and Oklahoma. In June of 2010 St. Charles Waterworks District No. 1 will complete for the 2nd consecutive year in the AWWA's "Best of the Best Water Taste Test." The winner of the contest will have the honor of being named the Best Tasting Water in North America.
Mr. Brou holds Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals – Office of Public Health – Engineering Services Class IV certifications in Water Treatment, Water Distribution and Water Production; the highest level of certification offered by the state. He is a member of the national American Water Works Association (AWWA) since September of 1997; a member of the Southwest Section of the AWWA; a member of the South Central Region of the Louisiana Conference on Water Supply, Sewerage and Industrial Wastes; and a member of the Louisiana Rural Water Association. From July 2008 until June 2009 Mr. Brou served as President of The Rotary Club of St. Charles Parish where he has been a member since August of 2001.