2020 Education Events

2020 marks the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day - and who could have imagined what kind of world we are experiencing now?

We would like to acknowledge the generosity of the WWETT Show - (Water & Wastewater Equipment, Treatment & Transport) who underwite our 20-21 online platfrom. In April we have partnered with some amazing people and organizations who have given generously of their time and expertise to provide the following events at no cost to attendees. Bookmark this page as we are adding new events all the time. Our live attendance space is limited to 95 but we will be posting recordings here and in our WasteWater Education YouTube Channel

Blue~Black~Grey? What if it was all just water? Tuesday, November 10, 2020 (check local Time Zones on registering)

Luke Jackson. President. Co-founder Graytec USA
Would you be interested if you could conserve up to 60% of the water used within a home while also saving up to 80% off the energy used to heat water? Come meet the Graytec AB Blue Circle System.
Graytec Global is the banner representing the Graytec companies – Sweden’s Graytec AB and Graytec USA.
Graytec AB invented the Blue Circle System at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg as a response to increasing droughts and worsening quality of waters throughout the world.
The Blue Circle System conserves up to 60% of the water used within a home while also saving up to 80% off the energy used to heat waters used in bathrooms. This is done by piping greywater used in bathtubs, showers, and bathroom sinks into our onsite system that recycles greywater to potable quality before circulating that water into those same showers, bathtubs and bathroom sinks for direct reuse by its occupants.
Graytec AB was founded in Gothenburg, Sweden in 2016, where four of its five co-owners live.
Graytec AB’s successfully tested prototype was developed and launched at Chalmers University of Technology’s HSB Living Lab, which is also located in Gothenburg.
Graytec USA was founded in 2019 in Scottsdale, Arizona. The University of Arizona invited Graytec USA to join its incubator that same year. Luke Jackson is the sole American representing the Graytec companies.

Feedstock mixture design in anaerobic co-digestion to maximise resource recovery potential

Mike Meng Ph.D. Queensland Urban Utilities in Australia
Anaerobic co-digestion (AcoD) is an established technology typically applied to water and agricultural industries to redirect organic wastes away from landfill for beneficial reuse. In AcoD, designing co-digestion mixtures to ensure optimal digester performance and effectively manage co-digestion products is important.
In the presentation, Mike will share his PhD research outcomes and practical experience around co-digestion mixture design and operation at one of Australia’s largest sewage treatment plants (STPs).
Currently, in the Australian water industry, there is emerging and strong interest in co-digestion at sewage treatment plants (STPs), which redirects commercial trade wastes away from the landfill for beneficial reuse. AcoD is a biochemical engineering approach that simultaneously treats two or more waste streams in a centralized digestion facility for enhanced energy recovery and enables circular economy outcomes.
  Designing co-digestion mixtures for optimised digester performance was a knowledge gap in research as well as in practical application. This means selecting compatible feedstocks at the right volumes with optimal feeding strategies for digesters needs to be understood and incorporated into specific digester operating scenarios.
  Co-digestion of complex solid wastes such as fat, oil, grease and food waste with sewage sludge is a step change for many water utilities in Australia and hence requires a series of technical and organizational barriers to be overcome. Developing in-depth understanding of the co-digestion process, its associated downstream impacts, and meeting additional infrastructure requirements for co-digestion are important. In particular, organic waste characterization, co-digestion mixture design, and co-digestion product management are some key areas many water utilities’ waste-to-resources initiatives are currently focusing on. As part of the presentation, Mike will also give an overview of some of the resource recovery initiatives Queensland Urban Utilities are undertaking and how he is using research findings to assist the organisation in the resource recovery space.

How to avoid drowning in data: mobile friendly environmental data management systems.

Russell Schindler CEO, Founder SampleServ
Environmental decisions are based on environmental sampling data. But how much is toomuch?!
Having the ability to quickly and clearly understand the data is important to quality decision-making.
Using web and mobile platforms facilitates the management, collection, labeling, and reporting of both environmental field data and laboratory data. SampleServe facilitates planning, sampling and the reporting for a wide range of environmental professionals and service personnel.
Come find out how.

Flying In[formation] : Compatible asset management done right!

Michael Thompson, Vice President T4 Spatial

What kept you awake at night a year ago has now changed - for ever.

Communities of any size, from 250 to 250K, are facing the new reality of reduced revenue, ongoing repair costs, and wildly fluctuating use patterns.
If you have an asset management system, or are wondering if now might be the time to figure out how this might work for you, come see how Los Angeles County does this in real time.
In any community, there are many employees, departments, contractors, inspectors and service personnel who all need to work together and have equal access to any piece of the data that impacts them - on demand.
Asset management is not just a data base, not just a catalog of parts and activities. At its best it mirrors the system and allows everyone, at any time, to see what's happening - and what might be ABOUT to happen!
Hosted by t4Spatial, where the mission is simple. To get more value from your pipeline inspection data and CCTV video. That means storing, indexing, and sharing your videos in the cloud and visualizing your inspection data via embedded links so it’s more accessible, usable, and valuable. Can you to find the information you need, when you need it, and from any device, while tethering your resources together to maximize workflows?

Come find out how.

Irrigation of Agricultural crops with Recycled Water. Regulations that Protect the Public Health
BAHMAN SHEIKH, PhD, PE.Visiting Assistant Professor, University of California, Davis
It is with great sadness that we report that Bahman passed away peacefully shortly after recording this event. Our thoughts are with his family.
This event focuses on the experience gained in the field in California and other regions over the past several decades regarding use of recycled water for irrigation of agricultural crops.
Regulations governing use of recycled water for agriculture will be discussed comparing their stringency and effectiveness with special emphasis on microbial risks.
Chemical risks from use of recycled water for irrigation will also be discussed summarizing research findings of recent years, particularly with regard to constituents of emerging concerns, also called microconstituents.
The main conclusion to be drawn is that existing regulations are adequately protective of the health and safety of farm workers and consumers of agricultural crops grown with recycled water. The extremely low concentrations of microconstituents detected in recycled water are placed in perspective with calculated numbers of years of exposure necessary to accrue one safe daily dose of each of the constituents of concern.
Presented by Ben Kele, Arris Water, and WasteWater Education 501(c)3. See: https://www.arris.com.au/water/

A Recording may be watched HERE

Innovation in potable reuse in Sweden.
From 2014 to 2019 Peter Asteberg was the project manager for the planning, design and construction of three new drinking water plants on Öland, a Swedish island in the Baltic Sea with extensive water shortage. In 2016 he was assigned to manage the development of a combined desalination and water reuse plant in Mörbylånga on the southeast coast of Öland. The Mörbylånga Drinking Water Plant, which was partly commissioned in 2019, is the first full-scale facility ever in Sweden for direct potable reuse of water. Therefore, the plant has received both national and international attention.
Co-Presenter is Tommy Lindström, BSc Construction Engineering and Energy. As a former island energy strategist, he has collaborated with islands across Europe and have great knowledge and experience on the island perspective. After being the regional energy coordinator for the county administrative board he is now back in international projects as project manager for the regional energy agency for southeast of Sweden. Working with resilience, sustainable tourism, renewable energy, energy efficiency and smart transports. As a volunteer he supports the Swedish Eco-municipality Association with international collaboration with South America and is also the Energy and Waste management coordinator at Engineers without borders- Sweden.

View the Recording HERE

Small on-site domestic wastewater treatment systems – an Australian perspective.
Dr Michael Short. University of South Australia.
While much of the developed world has high rates of population connectedness to centralised sewerage and wastewater treatment, the need to deliver effective on-site sanitation via small domestic wastewater treatment systems remains essential for public and environmental health protection.
This webinar will begin with an introduction to decentralised wastewater treatment, followed by a survey of the landscape of standards/regulations governing on-site wastewater systems performance certification internationally, with a focus on the relevant Australian context.
It will then provide an overview of an Australian on-site wastewater treatment systems performance accreditation testing facility currently operating in South Australia, including an account of the facility’s operation, a description of some of the treatment systems being tested and their performance, and will give some stories of problems encountered and lessons learnt along the way.
Presented by Ben Kele, Arris Water, and WasteWater Education 501(c)3. See: https://www.arris.com.au/water/ This is the fourth in a series of events from Australia we are hosting in May and June.

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Watch the Recording HERE

Let it rain! Reuse for urban watersheds and drinking? Is it safe? Professor Ted Gardner
Rainwater tanks have been a feature of urban society since the days of ancient civilizations in Persia, Greece & Jordon.
With the wide spread 20th century advent of piped water in cities, they largely fell out of favour .
However with extended drought conditions in Australian water catchments in the early 21st century, rainwater harvesting gained new interest as a supplementary source of potable (drinking) water. This acceptance was reinforced with the emergence of the Integrated Urban Water Management (IUWM) paradigm where all parts of the urban water cycle (after suitable treatment) are considered to be legitimate contributors of the urban water supply.
However when rainwater is formally incorporated into urban water supply planning, empirical knowledge of supply and safety need to converted into quantitative knowledge. This requirement lead to an extensive research program in Queensland which examined issues of supply , reliability, chemical & microbiological quality, maintenance, community acceptance , economics and regulatory/policy procedures as well as implications to stormwater management.
This webinar will touch lightly on most of these topics, with particular emphasis on assessing human health aspects of its use for drinking & non drinking end uses.
Presented by Ben Kele, Arris Water, and WasteWater Education 501(c)3. See: https://www.arris.com.au/water/ This is the third in a series of events from Australia we are hosting in May and June.

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Watch the Recording HERE

Wastewater-based epidemiology – how measuring biomarkers in wastewater can reveal information about chemical consumption and population health
Dr Jake O’Brien, University of Queensland
Systematic sampling and analysis of biomarkers in wastewater is an increasingly used tool to complement more traditional techniques for assessing consumption of both licit and illicit chemical substances in the population.
This approach contributes to a broader field that is referred to as wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE). Both spatial and temporal analysis can be conducted quantitatively, quickly and cost effectively using this approach.
However, recently a similar approach has been used to evaluate both viruses and antimicrobial resistance at the population level. In this seminar, I will present the concept of wastewater-based epidemiology and demonstrate how it has been used to provide both spatial and temporal comparisons of illicit drugs and drugs of abuse potential.
Dr Jake O’Brien will discuss how wastewater-based epidemiology could be used to assist with virus and antimicrobial resistance surveillance. Presented by Ben Kele, Arris Water, and WasteWater Education 501(c)3. See: https://www.arris.com.au/water/ This is the first in a series of events from Australia we are hosting in May and June.

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Watch the Recording HERE

The Woodford site hosts the largest music festival in the Southern Hemisphere.
In 2019, a natural 3 million gallon swimming lagoon was installed. With no disinfection chemicals, water is filtered by up-flow rock filters and beneficial microorganisms. The Lake is stocked with fish, reptiles, birds, eels, and mollusc’s. 6000 people can swim in the lagoon per day, 500 per hour.
Lake Gkula honours the region’s traditional owners, the Jinibara people, naming it after one of their principal spokespersons, Uncle Noel Blair, a much-loved and influential figure in the Woodfordian community; Noel’s indigenous name is Gkula, which translated, means Koala. 
Watch a video on Lake Gkula - Interview with the designer and project manager, Patrick Handley
In this presentation Ben Kele, current WasteWater Education Board member will discuss the design and monitoring of the lake filtration and treatment system. The risk assessment determined that Smart Water monitoring was required. Ben is Director and co-founder of Arris Water, based in Rockhampton Australia. The company specializes in decentralised water treatment and recycling systems. Ben is a researcher in Zeolites and other volcanic filter media.
Ben Kele holds two innovation patents for wastewater treatment technologies. He is a Co-developer and lecturer in the ICEWaRM Post Graduate course the Engineered Water Cycle and a Co-developer and co-lecturer in the IWES Decentralised Wastewater Treatment Systems course. Contact details:Ben Kele Arris Water

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Watch the Recording HERE

Sensileau - Post Covid 19 optimization strategies and tools for Municipal Systems: Coming to terms with the new reality.
Covid 19 has forced a new reality on all managers of municipal water and wastewater infrastructure - how to use modelling and data management will be critical going forward.
To be covered:

• Water Challenges Addressed by Sensors
• Water Treatment Case Study
• Wastewater Treatment Case Study
• Sensileau's Approach and Platform

For an overview here is a link to our introduction to Sensileau YouTube video

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Thursday April 23: Covid 19 OSHA and CDC Guidance for essential water and waster employers

FOR PUBLIC VIEWING CLICK HERE

FOR CEU or PDH Credit email us for an access key please

Travis W. Vance is National Workplace Safety Practice Group Co-Leader/Partner at Fisher Phillips specializing in OSHA/MSHA/Employment Litigation. Specific response to the current emergency will be discused and can be viewed here. Now that health organizations have identified many cases of coronavirus throughout the United States, employers need to prepare now to reduce risk to their employees and customers.

This event is presented by the WWETT Show - (Water & Wastewater Equipment, Treatment & Transport) as a public service and thank you to all the hard working professionals affected by the current Covid 19 emergency.
Image courtesy of PixabayDiamond in the glass Image by cocoparisienne

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Tuesday April 14 at 2 PM ET - watch the Recording HERE

Catherine Flowers, a past WasteWater Education Board member, is a Franklin Center for the Humanities Practitioner in Residence.
Based in Montgomery, Alabama, she is a fierce advocate for the underserved and largely ignored working poor.
See Center For Earth Ethics
In this lecture, as part of our Earth Month series of public outreach events, Catherine reflected on the disparity of progress made in the past 50 years of the environmental movement. Catherine is also an internationally recognized advocate for the human right to water and sanitation as expressed in the UN Sustainable Development Agenda.
In 2019 she testified before the US House Committee.
She is a Professor of Practice at Duke University.
Image courtesy of Pixabay la Fundación Hugo Zárate

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Greg Mayfield operates a septic service and installation company in Tampa Florida.
In this seminar Greg discussed how to decrease the size and height of an above ground mound treatment system.
There are TWO options to watch - for general interest use THIS LINK
If you would like to receive a Certificate of Completion to submit for possible CEU/PDH Credit please use this link
This article shows what this online seminar discussed in much greater detail.
Greg will discuss GeoMat leaching system by GeoMatrix and Wasteflow PC drip irrigation by Geoflow. See: linkedin.com/in/greg-mayfield-7431b217 Master Septic Tank Contractor, Hydrogeologist, Registered Sanitarian, Certified Environmental Health Professional Specialties: Technical Sales, Project Management, Budgeting and Planning
This event is presented by the WWETT Show - (Water & Wastewater Equipment, Treatment & Transport) as a public service and thank you to all the hard working professionals affected by the current Covid 19 emergency.

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And if your interest was piqued by the WWETT2020 Smart Water Track, take a look at WIPAC Webinar No.3 – Serious Gaming in the Water Industry held Wednesday 4 March 2020

Independent. Impartial. We provide access to information to empower sustainable, local, wastewater decision making.
Our Purpose
To provide education which increases public awareness of the link between clean drinking water, safe recreational waters, environmentally sustainable surface and groundwater with watershed based, best management practices related to appropriate wastewater systems, technology, treatment and management.