Birthdays, retirements, and milestone events—every kind of celebration calls for cake. And for parties in the workplace, if you want to feed a large group of sugar‐starved employees, a regular, round, double‐layer cake won't do. Instead, you need a sheet cake—a large, rectangular, single‐layer slab of chocolate or vanilla sponge frosted with happy tidings and maybe a few balloons. Sometimes there's ice cream and sometimes there's a gluten‐free alternative, but before the pandemic, it wasn't a proper office party without sheet cake.

I learned this from Paul Olson, AWWA's senior manager of standards, who is an avowed fan of sheet cake. When I started at AWWA, I worked for Paul as part of AWWA's team developing the water industry's standards. Paul is a quiet, steady guy—the perfect kind of leader to oversee standards development (including Standard Methods), and he instilled in me a healthy respect for the role standards play in making things work. It was also Paul who pointed out how much sheet cake we ate at company events. He explained that he loved the consistency of sheet cake, how reliable it was, how it at least met the minimum requirements to be called cake. Often not great, but pretty good during an afternoon break.

2020 was the 100‐year anniversary of the AWWA Standards Council, but because of the COVID‐19 pandemic, there wasn't a safe opportunity to get together to celebrate this event with sheet cake. It was especially disappointing to miss out on celebrating in person at ACE. Unfortunately, even though the end of the pandemic may be in sight, ACE21 is again a virtual‐only event, so once again we miss out on sheet cake.

But entering year 101, AWWA needs a really big sheet cake to celebrate its standards. Some readers may think of standards as the equivalent of sheet cake, but I assure you, they are hard‐fought recipes for success developed by nearly 1,600 volunteer subject matter experts (i.e., chefs) serving on committees. AWWA standards include treatment chemicals, pipes, valves, hydrants, meters, pumps, storage tanks, and wells, and services such as disinfection of pipe and facilities, pipe installation, and pipeline rehabilitation and repair. AWWA standards are the foundation of the water industry in North America and many countries around the world. We need a very big sheet cake indeed.

Maybe by the end of the summer, most of us will be back in the office (at least part‐time), and we can resume some of our normal routines. I'm looking forward to eating sheet cake with Paul again, but for now I raise an empty fork to all those invested in developing and using AWWA standards.

This month's Journal AWWA features a range of topics that are affected by AWWA standards, including PFAS removal, utility financial and cyber–physical resilience, and water reuse. Please consider sharing your perspectives and experiences to improve the water industry by writing to me at journaleditor@awwa.org.

生日，退休和里程碑事件-各种庆祝活动都需要蛋糕。对于工作场所中的聚会，如果您想养活一大群缺糖的员工，那么常规的圆形双层蛋糕就行不通了。取而代之的是，您需要一块蛋糕—一个大的矩形单层巧克力或香草海绵单板，上面铺满快乐的消息，也许还放着几个气球。有时有冰淇淋，有时有无麸质食品，但在大流行之前，没有薄饼就不是合适的办公室聚会。

我从AWWA标准高级经理Paul Olson中学到了这一点，他是薄饼的忠实拥护者。当我进入AWWA时，我在Paul的工作中是AWWA开发水行业标准的团队的一部分。保罗是一个安静，稳定的人，是监督标准制定（包括“标准方法”）的完美领导人，他向我灌输了对标准在使事情正常运行中所扮演的角色的健康尊重。保罗还指出了我们在公司活动中吃了多少薄饼。他解释说，他喜欢饼状蛋糕的稠度，可靠性，至少满足被称为蛋糕的最低要求。通常不是很好，但是下午休息的时候还不错。

2020年是AWWA标准理事会成立100周年，但是由于COVID-19大流行，没有安全的机会聚在一起用薄饼庆祝这一事件。错过亲自参加ACE的庆祝活动尤其令人失望。不幸的是，即使大流行的尽头可能已经到来，ACE21仍然只是一次虚拟活动，因此我们再一次错过了蛋糕。

但是进入101年，AWWA需要一个很大的蛋糕来庆祝其标准。有些读者可能会认为标准等同​​于蛋糕，但我向您保证，它们是成功工作的秘诀，而成功秘诀是由服务于委员会的1600名志愿者主题专家（即厨师）开发的。AWWA标准包括处理化学品，管道，阀门，消火栓，仪表，泵，储罐和井，以及服务，例如管道和设施的消毒，管道安装以及管道的修复和维修。AWWA标准是北美和世界许多国家/地区水行业的基础。我们确实需要一个很大的蛋糕。

也许到夏天结束时，我们大多数人都将回到办公室（至少是兼职），并且我们可以恢复一些日常工作。我期待再次与Paul一起吃薄饼，但现在我向所有投资于开发和使用AWWA标准的人员举手空白。

本月的《 AWWA杂志》的主题涉及受AWWA标准影响的一系列主题，包括PFAS去除，公用事业财务和网络物理弹性以及水的再利用。请给我们发电子邮件至journaleditor@awwa.org，以分享您的观点和经验，以改善水行业。