April 1, 2019
Washington Update
WateReuse Association Adopts Alternative Water Supply Principles
WateReuse Plans Congressional Briefing During Water Week Fly in
EPA Prioritizes Water Reuse in WIFIA Funding Announcement
WateReuse Association Delivers FY20 Appropriations Requests
Upcoming Congressional Hearings Likely Spotlight Water Recycling
This week, the House of Representatives will hold two important hearings with relevance to water reuse. First, the House Interior-Environment Appropriations Subcommittee, which determines annual funding levels for EPA programs, will hear from EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler regarding the Presidents FY 2020 budget request. Second, the House Natural Resources Committee’s Water Subcommittee will hold a hearing on “The State of Western Water Infrastructure and Innovation.” Vicente Sarmiento, Board President of WateReuse Association member Orange County Water District, will be testifying at the hearing.
State Updates and Member Profiles
Arizona and Colorado Offer Student Scholarships to Support Water Reuse Focus
WateReuse Arizona and WateReuse Colorado both released award opportunities to encourage college students with a water reuse focus. Arizona will award two $2,500 scholarships to Arizona university and college students. WateReuse Coloarda is offering three $1,500 scholarships. The deadline to submit applications for both programs is June 15, 2019. To learn more about the WateReuse Arizona scholarships, click here. To learn more about the WateReuse Colorado scholarships, click here.
California: Pure Water Oceanside Construction Set to Begin this Year
WateReuse Association member the City of Oceanside is ready to begin construction on Pure Water Oceanside, a water purification system that will create 3 to 5 million gallons of drinking water daily. Construction will begin at the end of this year and will finish in 2021. Residents will start receiving the water from this new system in 2022. Oceanside is also expanding its nonpotable recycled water system as part of a plan to reduce the imported water rate from 89 to 44 percent. Read More.
California: WRCA Opposes SB 332 Unless Amended, Applauds AB 1180 Passage Out of Committee
On March 25, WateReuse California submitted a letter to State Senators Robert Hertzberg and Scott Wiener opposing SB 332 unless it is amended significantly to create a framework for achieving attainable goals for promoting water recycling in California, and reducing ocean and bay wastewater discharges. The legislation seeks to reduce wastewater discharge into the ocean. On March 26, AB 1180, a WateReuse California sponsored bill to update non-potable recycled water regulations, passed out of the Assembly Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials Committee. The bill makes updating California’s Title 22 regulations a higher priority. WateReuse California is asking members to submit letters of support. For more information, contact Jennifer West, Managing Director for WRCA.
Research Update
Winners to Share $80,000 Prize for Ideas to Improve Pathogen Monitoring for Potable Reuse
The Bureau of Reclamation has selected five submissions to share $80,000 in prizes in the Pathogen Monitoring Stage 1 Challenge to develop better pathogen detection and monitoring for potable reuse. WateReuse Association member Xylem, Inc. contributed half of the prize purse. The Water Research Foundation and the Environmental Protection Agency were also partners in the competition to seek ideas for the development of a rapid, accurate and preferably online/onsite monitoring techniques for various pathogens at advanced water treatment facilities. Read More.
Conferences and Events
Webcast: Selecting the Best Technology for Water Reuse: Overview of the MBR Process
Is membrane bioreactor (MBR) technology the right solution for your water reuse application? Offering a smaller footprint, smaller price tag, and high quality treatment, MBRs are a compelling solution for advanced water reuse applications. Please join us at April 10 at 2 pm eastern for a webcast that will provide an overview of the MBR process using flat plate MBR membranes. You will learn about the types of membranes and benefits of each, operations, maintenance, and screening. If you are considering an MBR system or maintaining an existing system, this presentation will provide you with a deeper understanding of the MBR process and the information you need to decide if MBR technology makes sense for your facility. Learn More.
Webcast: Bioanalytical Screening Tools for Recycled Water – An Emerging Technology to Assess Complex Mixtures in Aquatic Environments
What’s the next big thing in monitoring recycled water quality? Please join us May 15 at 2 p.m. eastern to learn how In vitro cell-based assays have shown promise as bioscreening tools to assess environmental mixtures and prioritize sites requiring further investigations. These assays are designed to respond to groups of chemicals. As such, they offer an integrative approach to complement conventional chemical and toxicity testing. Learn More.
Register for the 8th Annual Water Reuse in Texas Conference
WateReuse Texas, Water Environment Association of Texas, and Texas American Water Works Association will host the 8th Annual Water Reuse in Texas Conference, May 23-24, in McAllen, Texas. The program will present the latest on operations, financing, planning, and water quality. Pat Sinicropi, Executive Director of WateReuse Association, will provide a keynote discussion on the future of water reuse, Texas’ role as a reuse pioneer, and EPA’s upcoming Water Reuse Action Plan. Learn More.
Save the Date: 34th Annual WateReuse Symposium in San Diego, California
Mark your calendar for the 34th Annual WateReuse Symposium is in San Diego, California on September 8-11, 2019. This year’s theme is “Collaborate to Innovate.” The Symposium will showcase recycled water collaborations among utilities, farmers, and industry; regulators working together at both the state and federal level; sustainability; public/private partnerships; and, for the first time, the latest in reuse research led by the Water Research Foundation. Learn More.
Upcoming Events
Launching June 24 -25
Don’t Miss the FIRST EVER WateReuse California virtual conference!
Join us for an easy to navigate, virtual conference experience.This is MORE than just a Replacement Event for the March 2020 Conference, this is an opportunity for our community to stand TOGETHER in these unprecedented times to recognize the good work we do and share ideas for the future.
The WateReuse California virtual conference will be available online until July 31, 2020.
Join Us!
11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Pacific | 2:00 – 3:30 pm Eastern
WateReuse Members: Free
Others: $49
PDHs: 1
With many communities facing wastewater discharge limits for nutrients or temperature in Pacific Northwest waterways, reuse offers a water quality compliance strategy that can create wastewater, habitat and watershed benefits. This webcast will showcase two examples of how water reuse is being examined to address nutrient and thermal loading in marine and river water sources.
We will learn how water reuse is being looked at by the Bay Area Clean Water Agencies (BACWA) in the San Francisco Bay area to reduce nutrient loading to the estuary through a coordinated multi-utility assessment. With many parallels to Puget Sound in Washington State, BACWA’s planning can provide some ideas for how reuse might be part of the nutrient reduction plan for Puget Sound and other nutrient impaired waterways.
We will then shift attention to Western Oregon to hear from Clean Water Services in the Portland region. Clean Water Services has a long track-record of investing in innovative solutions to TMDLs. We will learn reuse is being examined to help their utility comply with thermal discharge limits.
Presenters
- Dave Clark, Senior Vice President, Wastewater Market Sector Director, HDR Engineering
- Jared Kinnear, Reuse Manager, Clean Water Services
- Susan Schlangen, Engineer, Water Systems Consulting
Join Us!
2:00 – 3:15 pm Eastern | 11:00 a.m. – 12:15 p.m. Pacific
WateReuse Members: Free
Others: $49
PDHs: 1
Lake Lanier is a major source of water supply to the North Georgia region. Many communities surrounding Lake Lanier rely on it for both discharge of effluent as well as their sourcewater for drinking purposes. This practice, known as indirect potable reuse or surface water augmentation, provides a sustainable water supply solution for the region’s growing population. Specifically, in Gwinnett County, Georgia, the majority of the county’s 56 MGD of treated wastewater is discharged to the Lake, which is also the primary drinking water source. This transformation of wastewater into a valuable supply of sourcewater requires careful planning, monitoring, and protection of Lake Lanier.
While there have been various water research projects and planning efforts implemented throughout the Lake Lanier Watershed in the past, there does not exist a centralized coordinated plan that documents, facilitates, and coordinates an approach to developing the ideation, planning, prioritization, management, resourcing, and funding of applied water research projects.
In response to this identified need, The Water Tower, the new global innovation hub in Gwinnett County, Georgia, is leading the effort to create a forum through which stakeholders and researchers will work together to develop a Lake Lanier Watershed Research Master Plan. The Plan will provide a multi-year research roadmap of project concepts to address critical needs in the Lake Lanier Watershed. Funding for prioritized projects will be crowdsourced among the stakeholders and the be the focus of nonprofit, public and private grant applications. The research projects will be competitively bid, with regional and international third party technical expert oversight, and managed by The Water Tower, a 501c3 focused on research and innovation.
Presenters
- Kristan VandenHeuvel, Strategic Director of Research and Engagement, The Water Tower
- Steve Leo, Client Service Manager, Constantine Engineering
- Jeff Mosher, Principal Technologist, Carollo Engineers
WateReuse Arizona Section Meeting & Webinar
10 am PDT | 10 am MST | 1 pm EDT
WateReuse Members: Free
Others: $49
PDHs: 2
Arizona’s water managers and policy makers have long touted the practice of using treated wastewater in many areas of the state and putting it to beneficial use. However, every community uses effluent differently depending on their community’s needs, history, and make-up the other sources of their water resources portfolio. Differences range from the size and locations of their reclaimed purple pipe system, to recharge facilities for Long Term Storage Credits, to exchange agreements, and the next horizon of DPR. What kind of investments are communities making to secure their water future using effluent? How and why are there differences and similarities between these communities. This panel discussion aims at asking how communities from Northern to Southern Arizona, and from East to West Valley use treated effluent as a component of their water resources portfolio.
Panel Members
- Brian Biesemeyer, City of Scottsdale
- Eric Braun, Town of Gilbert
- Barbara Chappell, City of Goodyear
- Kathryn Sorensen, City of Phoenix
- Tim Thomure, City of Tucson
- Erin Young, City of Flagstaff
Moderators
- Troy Walker
- Gretchen Baumgardner
Panel Outline
| START TIME | END TIME | DURATION | TOTAL | Description |
| 10:00 AM | 10:05 AM | 0:05 | 0:05 | Moderator Introduction to Webinar and panelist |
| 10:05 AM | 11:05 AM | 1:00 | 1:05 | Each Panelist gives a brief (10 min) presentation on their effluent uses and how that equates to their water resources portfolio |
| 11:05 AM | 11:25 AM | 0:20 | 1:25 | Q&A |
| 11:25 AM | 11:40 AM | 0:15 | 1:40 | Audience Q&A |
| 11:40 AM | 11:50 AM | 0:10 | 1:50 | Panelist each give a closing remark |
| 11:50 AM | 11:55 AM | 0:05 | 1:55 | Moderator closes panel discussion |
Questions
- Are there plans to build additional infrastructure to increase or change the way your organization uses its effluent?
- What hurdles to you see do drive that infrastructure investment, if any?
- How important do you see effluent as being a portion of your water resources portfolio? Does it play a significant role in planning for the future?
- What role has getting public buy-in to developing reuse projects?
- Regarding buy-in from your organization’s leadership as well.
- In looking back over your organization’s history, and hindsight is always 20/20, but can you talk about lessons learned or are there things about how the way your organization uses its effluent you would change if you could go back, knowing what you know now?
- Are there currently any regulatory hurdles that are preventing greater use of recycled water?
- In 2019 the prohibition for Direct Potable Reuse was lifted. What are your thoughts about the viability of this for your organization?
Join Us!
11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Pacific | 2:00 – 3:30 pm Eastern
WateReuse Members: Free
Others: $49
PDHs: 1.5
Join us as we learn how water reuse is being reimagined and employed in different ways and scales. We will hear from the Portland Water Bureau regarding decentralized on-site non-potable water reuse to address water resource challenges for the City of Portland. Chris Wanner is a commissioner of the National Blue Ribbon Commission on On-site Non-Potable Reuse and will discuss how Portland’s efforts fit into the Commission’s work on advancing on-site non-potable water reuse. We will then shift attention to a smaller community in the Pacific Northwest, the City of Hagerman, Idaho, to learn how they transitioned from discharging to the river to recycling their water and putting it to good use.
Presenters
- Chris Wanner, Portland Water Bureau
- Dan Ayers, JUB Engineers
- Justin Hulme, Public Works Superintendent, City of Hagerman, ID