Water Quality Superintendent Elected NEWEA President
Robert (Bob) Fischer, South Burlington Water Quality Superintendent, was elected as the New England Water Environment Association (NEWEA) www.newea.org/ President during the NEWEA Annual Conference in Boston. Bob’s one year term started in late January 2023 at the Annual Conference in Boston, MA. Bob is only the second individual from Vermont to serve as the NEWEA President since its establishment in 1929.
NEWEA is an organization of over 2,100 highly qualified water and wastewater professionals, including engineers, scientists, operators, vendors, educators and state and national regulators, located throughout the six New England States. They volunteer their time, energy, and expertise in order to preserve, protect, and manage one of our most precious resources here in New England, our water environment.
Bob, has been the Water Quality Superintendent for South Burlington since 2015, having previously served in the same capacity for the City of Montpelier. He has degrees in Biology and History and has received numerous honors including the American Public Works Association (APWA) National Professional Manager of the Year in Water Resources (2022), NEWEA Operator Award (2019) and Alfred E. Peloquin Award (2014), Vermont Governor’s Award for Environmental Excellence (2015) and Efficiency Vermont Energy Management Award (2014), amongst others.
Bob is grateful to the outstanding Water Quality staff of seven whom operate and maintain two advanced wastewater treatment facilities and thirty-two pumpstations, with the two Chief Operators each having over 40 years of experience. In 2022, the facilities received 83,169 pounds of phosphorus and discharged 319 pounds.
Bob is most proud of his four children, with two UVM graduates, a third whom is currently in his third year at the UVM Larner College of Medicine and his youngest whom currently attends the University of York in England. For the last 22 years Bob has also been a weekend freestyle ski coach for the Killington Mountain School having trained many athletes who have gone on to World Cup starts including two of the four United States female athletes in moguls at the 2022 Olympics. 