The committee, chaired by Pranjali Kumar, P.E. with Carollo Engineers, and Kerry Kates, P.E. with Florida Fruit & Vegetable Association, with incoming president Mike Sweeney, Ph.D., with Toho Water Authority serving as vice-chair, meets monthly and hosts presentations by both members and invited guests. Selections brought to the NTIC for discussion are innovative projects or research initiatives relevant to water reuse that have potential value for the membership and are deemed technologically implementable, commercially viable, and economically feasible within the Florida market. Recent NTIC presentations include “Membrane Bioreactors in Potable Reuse” by invited guests Andrew Gilmore, P.E., and Amos Branch, P.E., both with Carollo Engineers, and the timely “PFAS Destruction Using Plasma in Water Matrices” by invited speaker Selman Mujovic with the University of Michigan. Anticipated presentations that the committee is eagerly looking forward to in the upcoming months include “Virus Monitoring Using Field qPCR” by Anna Ness, P.E., with CDM Smith, and “Infrastructure Leak Detection” by Jason Mickel and his staff at the Pasco County Utility Department. Over the course of the past few months, however, the undisputed highlight for the committee was the Innovation and Technology Workshop held on March 31st in Kissimmee, immediately following the March WateReuse Florida membership meeting. Coordinated by the NTIC, invited guest Alice Fulmer, the regional liaison with the Water Research Foundation (WRF), along with some of her esteemed colleagues, graciously provided a comprehensive and overall excellent update on some of the cutting edge, water-reuse related research with which the foundation is currently engaged. For those that are unfamiliar with the foundation, WRF is a member-supported, international, nonprofit organization that sponsors research to enable water utilities, public health agencies, and other professionals to provide safe and affordable drinking water to consumers. The workshop began with an overview of the foundation’s reuse-related research efforts as provided by Julie Minton, Research Unit Leader with WRF, and Lyndsey Bloxom, WRF’s Research Program Manager. Next, Erin Partlan, WRF’s Innovation Program Manager, provided an update on recent initiatives pertaining to water-quality monitoring for potable reuse. See the presentations here. This was quickly followed by Anne Thebo with the Pacific Institute and her presentation on the challenges and opportunities of water reuse for irrigation within the agricultural sector. See the presentation here. Afterwards, Gaya Ram Mohan with the Gwinnett County Department of Water Resources provided an informative overview of advances in biologically active filtration for potable water reuse. See the presentation here. For the remainder of the workshop, Alice took center stage and dove straight into a presentation focusing on current research regarding the use of ultraviolet (UV) light and the UV advanced oxidation process (AOP) for treatment of reuse water. See the presentation here. She closed out the workshop with a beneficial interactive session by soliciting feedback from WateReuse Florida members regarding their current research needs. Issues brought up by the members included concerns regarding the compliance requirements of last year’s reclaimed water bill, SB 64, and its mandated elimination of non-beneficial surface water discharges, requests for updated research examining residual nutrient levels within reclaimed water, and concerns regarding the required advanced wastewater treatment (AWT) limits of 5/5/3/1 mg/l (BOD5/TSS/TN/TP) for wastewater facilities within the context of potable reuse. The NTIC and the WateReuse Florida leadership greatly appreciates the efforts of Alice and her team and extends their thanks for an excellent and informative workshop. For those members that would like to provide their input to WRF regarding research needs and projects, please click here. The NTIC will continue to meet monthly and looks forward to bringing additional technologies and innovative initiatives to the WateReuse Board and the membership. For more information on how you can get involved with the NTIC or participate in future meetings, please reach out to Kerry Kates and Pranjali Kumar. |
