WEF, AWWA and ASCE are hosting a free seminar on water/wastewater infrastructure security. The conference is on Sept. 9th at the Hilton Los Angeles Airport Hotel near LAX and is free for industry professionals. From ASCE:
In its effort to make these guidelines more widely available to water and wastewater industry professionals, ASCE is sponsoring a set of training workshops based on the WISE guidelines. The instructors of the workshops will be CH2M HILL staff which helped develop these guidelines.
WEF’s infrastructure security page here.
It’s interesting to watch emergency preparedness plans swing into action at water and wastewater treatment plants along the Gulf Coast. The plans were put in place after Hurricane Katrina devastated many facilities. WaterISAC is the water security network made up of a dozen water and wastewater associations, including WEF.
Their email alert this afternoon:
WaterISAC is tracking Tropical Storm Gustav as it moves toward the Gulf of Mexico. NOAA’s National Hurricane Center is predicting that Gustav will become a major hurricane. FEMA officials have indicated Gustav has potential to become the most severe hurricane to reach the U.S. mainland since Katrina.
Drinking water and wastewater systems near the Gulf of Mexico are encouraged to take appropriate precautions, including contacting their local WARN coordinators, reviewing their emergency management plans and coordinating with local emergency managers.
The alert goes on for several pages. Many of these systems were put in place after reviews by WEF and others of water and wastewater treatment plants impacted by Hurricane Katrina.
Jim Clark of Black & Veatch presented several findings from a WEF task force on Katrina at a LABS meeting – view Jim’s story here.
[flv]http://www.waterandwastewater.com/videos/flvideo/804.flv[/flv]
The Liquid Assets documentary is about America’s crumbling water and wastewater infrastructure and is due out in October. Penn State is asking for help to convince local PBS stations to run the program.
A friendly reminder to your local station can help to ensure broadcast of Liquid Assets. When you contact the station, mention that you are calling about a documentary that they may be interested in airing. You might ask them to view the preview on this Liquid Assets Web site, and tell them that the PBS stations will be receiving information about the documentary directly from Penn State Public Broadcasting at www.liquidassets.psu.edu.
Our local PBS station is KCET: viewerservices@kcet.org
I don’t see Liquid Assets on their schedule yet.
New research ongoing at Virginia Tech University is looking at plant growth when biosolids are used as a soil amendment. According to Chris Peot, a member of Virginia Biosolids Council which is underwriting the research, writes:
“The research shows that microorganisms in biosolids, when breaking down the organic matter, release naturally occurring essential plant growth hormones, allowing the crops to resist stressful conditions such as drought.”
(Hat tip: WEF)
Palos Verdes Peninsula High School student Joyce Chai is the U.S. winner of the 2008 Stockholm Junior Water Prize and will go on to the global competition in Stockholm this August. She will compete with students from 30 countries for the top prize and even gets to meet the Crown Princess of Sweden.
This is the second Stockholm Water Prize win for Southern California – OC’s Groundwater Replenishment System won the Stockholm Water Prize earlier this month.
Joyce will also present her paper ““Modeling the Toxic Effects of Silver Nanoparticles” at this year’s WEFTEC convention in Chicago.
Three cheers for Joyce! Press release here.
In November the Water Environment Federation and FEMA will present a two day training course in San Francisco on water sector interdependencies. Under the National Infrastructure Protection Plan (NIPP), the water sector is one of 18 federally identified critical infrastructures… essential to public health… and commercial viability.
Eligible participants include water and wastewater (water sector) utility executives and managers, as well as key lead representatives from other key sectors. The training will be provided at no-cost to participants.
The Water Environment Federation (WEF) filed an amicus curiae brief today in the Kern County biosolids litigation. Three SoCal cities are defending the use of biosolids as a beneficial, land applied agricultural fertilizer. Money quote from WEF:
The WEF brief documents the scientific, technical, and regulatory foundation for the safety of land application… WEF has a long-standing position in support of biosolids recycling, including support for land application as one of several management options available to public agencies under the EPA’s Part 503 regulation.
WEF believes the California decision could have wide ranging impact on biosolids recycling nationwide.
