The importance of standards

摘要

Since the establishment of AWWA 125 years ago, developing consensus has been a common undertaking on literally hundreds of topics within the auspices of the water profession. Consensus, commonly defined as "the judgment arrived at by most of those concerned," is the overriding principle of each of the 138 standards now published by AWWA. In the March 1881 proceedings of AWWA's first annual meeting, newly elected president Col. J.T. Foster of Chicago is credited with calling for "an interchange of views on the subject of waterworks." Further noted in the proceedings is the acknowledgment, "These institutions differed so much that all had something to learn and something to impart."