By Wendy Wert, LABS President
On January 21, 2012, the Los Angeles Basin Section (LABS) of California Water Environment Association (CWEA) hosted the 2011 annual LABS awards from the Queen Elizabeth room aboard the Queen Mary. The event was a celebration of the contributions to the field of Environmental Engineering from the Past, Present, and Future.
The celebration began with an energized 1920’s themed social gathering of CWEA leaders, members, and award winners. LABS Outreach Coordinator Erika DeHollan provided a photo montage highlighting sponsors whose dedicated support during this economic recovery cycle has allowed LABS to provide training that enhances the education and effectiveness of California’s wastewater professionals.
In keeping with the historical theme, CWEA LABS Directors Basil Hewitt and Wendy Wert welcomed attendees with an interactive narrative on historical contributions from the era before sanitation through the 1920’s. Not only water professionals believe the advent of basic wastewater collection and treatment in the twentieth century resulted in direct benefits to public health in the United States and other developed countries. For example, in 2007, thousands of readers of the prestigious British Medical Journal picked sanitation as “the most important medical advance since 1840.” A reoccurring theme was that the most significant advances are always the result of collaborations involving engineers from multiple disciplines, scientists from multiple fields, academics from multiple global regions, and practitioners from multiple areas of expertise.
The PDF files are here:
www.labsofcwea.com/databases/presentations/?category=25
(Photos by Kent McKintosh, LACSD)
On Nov 10th 45 members of LABS participated in a unique, behind the scenes tour of the rapidly expanding Space X manufacturing facility in Hawthorne. The event was LABS’ annual Industrial Waste tour and arranged by members of the Los Angeles County Sanitations Districts’ Industrial Waste Section.
Founded just a few years ago by Elon Musk, the entrepeanuer behind PayPal and Tesla electric cars, Space X is working on designing and building the next generation of rockets that will take people and supplies to the international space station, whicle also cutting the cost of building, launching and recovering the rockets. The company is building new rockets in response to competitions created by NASA to fund the next generate of private rocket launching companies.
(PDF formats)
Photos by Kent McIntosh, LACSD
2011 LABS AWARDS NOMINATIONS ARE OPEN!
● All nominations must be received or postmarked by November 16, 2011 ●
Each year LABS, CWEA and WEF present awards to deserving professionals in the water pollution control field. These prestigious awards acknowledge personal achievement and dedication to the profession. Now is the time for you to nominate those deserving individuals with whom you work or associate.
There are so many deserving wastewater professionals – who will you nominate?
1) Download LABS / Hala Titus cover letter. Award submissions must be mailed to:
Black & Veatch Corporation
Attn: Hala Titus
800 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 600
Los Angeles, California 90017
2) Visit www.cwea.org/mlr_member_awards_forms to choose and download your award submission forms.
NOMINEES MAY SELF NOMINATE.
NOMINEES MUST BE MEMBERS OF LABS TO WIN AT THE LOCAL LEVEL.
For more information contact: Hala Titus.
(photos by Alec Mackie, JWCE)
Vander Lans AWTF
A new GapVax combo truck delivered to the City of Gardena by Plumbers Depot.
LABS welcomes our newest sponsor – Plumbers Depot Inc. From their website…
I would like to take the opportunity to welcome you to Plumbers Depot Inc. We are a family-oriented company serving cities, municipalities and plumbers nation-wide. My family name is well-known throughout the industry for the superior services we have given. My aim is to provide our customers with the best quality and quantity of services and supplies, offering competitive prices and discount for volume purchases; we can provide you with everything from cable repairs to relining systems.
In the years I have been in this industry I have gotten to know my clients not only on a business level, but on a personal level also, establishing great working relationships. My goal is to keep my customers happy and in order to succeed we strive to meet our customers’ needs and excel in customer service. We welcome you to review our prices and compare them to our competitors’ prices and feel free to give us a call for a free quote. Thank you for your interest in our company, we look forward to doing
business with you.
Sincerely,
Jose Martin
President
The Plumbers Depot website is: www.plumbersdepotinc.com
The GapVax website is: www.gapvax.com
The biggest conference and exhibition in the wastewater and stormwater world is coming to Los Angeles Oct 15-19. WEF has kindly compiled a list of the California presenters (wow over 100 people !) – how many CWEA members can you spot?
Click here for a list of California speakers and session numbers (Excel) >
Click here to access My WEFTEC Planner >
CWEA headquarters put out this blast announcement for members…
“Wednesday October 19th is packed with forty powerful technical sessions on the hottest topics for Southern Californians, everything from emerging contaminants to bioenergy and my session, Green LA Stormwater! If members in the Southern Region of CWEA only go to one day of WEFTEC in Los Angeles – this is it! Registration is open at www.weftec.org – What’s in store on Wednesday?
- For treatment people the talks cover fixed film, foaming, air emissions, clarifiers and modeling.
- Recycled water proponents will discuss emerging contaminants, industrial conservation and reuse.
- Sustainability strategies, climate resilience, renewable energy and bioenergy are important now.
- Membranes, brine, nutrients and microconstituents round out the advanced treatment needs.
- In today’s economy, the sessions on CIPs, elected officials future forecasts and revenue structures will help us “do more with less”.
- Making the most in existing collection systems, new technology and modelling protects our buried assets.
- Urban runoff, wet weather treatment and green infrastructure are the big challenge as the rainy season begins.
- Industry has specialized biological, anaerobic and reuse treatment technologies.
- Scientists will discuss advances with nitrous oxide,microconstituents, algae, pathogensand disinfection.
Let’s bring out the locals — See you downtown at the convention center!”
Water for People is having two fun and exciting fundraising events at WEFTEC. Help support the great folks at Water for People and have some fun too!
Monday night will be their big fundraising party at the The Conga Room at LA Live.
You can purchase tickets directly from Water for People:
- Sun – Oct 16th – Water for People Bike ride Fundraiser
When: Sunday, October 16, 2011
Time: 8:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
Where: Bikes and Hikes U.S.A.
Cost: $75 for riders with bike & helmet / $100 for riders renting a bike & helmet
http://www.waterforpeople.org/get-involved/special-events/weftec-2011/weftec-bike-ride.html
Email contact: georgepatrickatl@bellsouth.net - Mon – Oct 17th – Water for People’s Party With a Purpose
Time: 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Where: The Conga Room at L.A. Live
Tickets: $45 in advance, $50 at the door
Click here to purchase tickets on their webstore
Photos by Kent McIntosh, LACSD and Miluska Propersi, RMC Water & Environment
Photos by Kent McIntosh, LACSD
WET Designs Party
On Friday June 24th Sun Valley based fountain company WET Designs hosted a party and booksigning for author Charles Fishman who just released The Big Thirst. Proceeds from books sold at the event were donated to Water for People Los Angeles and the vent raised nearly $600.
WET was featured in one of the chapters of Charles’ new book where he talks about our strong emotional bonds to water – the joy of jumping into a swimming pool or playing on a slip-n-slide or watching a water fall. WET’s fountains make water playful, fun and interactive.
Started in 1983 by designer Mark Fuller, WET designs is now an internationally acclaimed designer of fountains and water features including several famous ones here in Los Angeles: the dancing fountains at The Grove; the fountain you can walk through in the Music Center Courtyard; the water feature at the California Center; the wave fountain at Fashion Island in Newport Beach; the Gas Co. Tower’s lobby and more.
One of WET’s first signature designs is the laminar stream – a perfect arc of glassy water that looks like it is suspended in mid-air. The technology behind the arc was Mark’s university thesis – axisymmetric laminar flow.
The facility in Sun Valley includes the factory, administrative offices, engineering offices and a large “playground” where WET designers pulled out several interactive fountains for the partygoers to experience. Over 200 people work in the complex of offices. From their catalog:
How do you know it’s WET? The signature WET experience is a powerful social attractor, a magnetic north for anyone searching for a genuine human connection. In an increasingly urban and digital work. WET shapes lifescapes where the community gather, where children play and where a sense of wonder envelops all.
For details on WET Designs visit: www.wetdesigns.com
For info on The Big Thirst visit: www.thebigthirst.com
LABS, SARBS and others are organizing several talks by best-selling author Charles Fishman. His new book ’The Big Thirst‘ is a deep dive into the wonderful world of water and filled with amazing stories about the people and projects providing clean, safe water in America and around the world.
The book asks blunt questions about America’s relationship with water and how we care for it. In a country with an abundance of clean water, available 24/7 and for less than a penny a gallon, are we missing a bigger picture? What happens when the water runs out.
- Tuesday, June 21st - 5:00-7:00PM – SARBS SYP at HDR Irvine – RSVP to meganyoo@gmail.com
- Wednesday, June 22nd - 10:30AM – Noon – LA Chamber, LABS, WFP-LA and LASGRWC at the LA Chamber - RSVP link
- Wednesday night, June 22nd - 6:00-8:00PM - UCLA-ASCE – RSVP to kendrarusinek@gmail.com
- SOLD OUT - Thursday, June 23rd - Noon – West Basin Municipal Water District
If you’re interested in speaking with Charles about a speaking engagement, site visit or have a media interview suggestion please contact LABS VP Alec Mackie at 714-428-4614 or alecm@jwce.com.
About the author: Charles Fishman is the author of The Wal-Mart Effect, a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller. Fishman is a former metro and national reporter for The Washington Post. Since 1996, he has worked for the business magazine Fast Company. He has won numerous awards, including twice winning UCLA’s Gerald Loeb Award for outstanding business writing, the most prestigious award in business journalism. His story about bottled water, “Message in a Bottle,” was a finalist for the 2008 Gerald Loeb Award for magazine writing.
From the LA Times "City Manager Jim Thorsen walks along the path flanked by hydro seed at the new Legacy Park in Malibu which is the centerpiece of its efforts to clean Malibu Creek and Lagoon. (Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times)"
On July 28th CWEA Tri-Counties and LABS members will travel to Malibu for an informative look at the cities innovative new stormwater treatment system and surrounding park. Join LABS and tour this amazing new park. The tour is followed by a dinner meeting presentation by Malibu’s Public Works Director Bob Brager. The parks design engineers from RMC Water & Environment will also speak.
Click here for event info and to RSVP.
The park was profiled in an Oct. 2, 2010 LA Times article…
Less obvious, however, will be the park’s reason for being: reducing water pollution. Buried beneath visitors’ feet is a sophisticated network of pipes and filters engineered to remove bacteria, metals and trash from the storm-water runoff that has long contaminated Malibu Creek, Malibu Lagoon and the point break at Surfrider Beach.
The $38-million Malibu Legacy Park is considered to be the centerpiece of the city’s commitment to clean water, a commitment that coastal activists say is welcome, if long overdue.
On Saturday May 14th about 100 high school students participated in the Tech Day outreach fair hosted by the Los Angeles African American Engineers and Professional Employees Association. The event was held inside the beautiful new Galen Center at USC.
LABS helped sponsor the event and hosted a table with mock demonstrations of the wastewater treatment process. LABS Director Basil Hewitt, President Wendy Wert and VP Alec Mackie described the wastewater treatment process to students, the importance of taking care of water and all the great careers available in the wastewater industry.
The students showed they knew their stuff. Some asked about the UV disinfection process – a newer technology in the water and wastewater industry. Several already knew 75% of the Earth’s surface is water andless than 1% is available for drinking water, so it’s important to use water wisely. Others were facsinated by the microscope and watching the microorganisms turn pollution into cleaner water.
The wastewater industry will need plenty of new treatment plant operators, engineers and managers in the coming years. A great resource for students and young professionals interested in a water/wastewater career is WEF’s new website www.WorkForWater.org.
Thanks to Los Angeles African American Engineers and Professional Employees Association for organizing yet another fantastic tech day (they’ve been hosting these events for over 10 years) and LABS looks forward to next year’s student outreach event.
