Environmental Compliance '98 will take place at the Toronto Congress Centre.Environmental Science & Engineering magazine will be sponsoring this conference for the 6th consecutive year.

Some 450 registrants attended last year's Environmental Compliance Conference, representing a broad cross section of industries and municipalities.

Environmental Compliance topics will include:

• ISO: Practical steps towards implementing ISO 14001.
• Environmental regulation & compliance - the new reforms.
• Contaminated site assessment and remediation.
• 'Brownfields' and Ontario's decommissioning guidelines.
• Environmental Health & Safety Auditing - The Complete Course.
• Spill Management: Planning, reporting and response.
• Due Diligence in EH&S Management: Environmental Due Diligence.
• Due Diligence in EH&S Management: Health & Safety Due Diligence.
• The training and certification of environmental professionals.
• Storage tanks in Ontario: A practical guide to compliance.
• Non-regulatory initiatives: Memorandums of understanding.
• Solid waste management/recycling.

If you are interested in presenting a paper on these or any other related topics, please contact Lawrence Earl, at (905) 873-7309, Fax: (905) 873-6424,by October 20, 1997.

For information on the tradeshow taking place in conjunction with Environmental Compliance '98 please contact: Great West Expo, Inc., #201, 279 Midpark Way SE, Calgary, Alberta,T2X 1M2, Phone (403)254-9222, Fax: (403) 256-849, E-mail: exhibit@gwexpo.com.

Yarra River, Melbourne, looking west; Southbank development is on the left.

The Australian water and wastewater community has undergone major changes in the last few years. Most major utilities have been "commercialized" or "corporatized". Contracting out, public private partnerships, and finance/design/build/operate activities are now the normal and accepted way of doing things. Interestingly, most utilities remain under public ownership albeit through a completely different governing structure than is currently the norm in Canada (independent Board of Directors vs. a political entity).

There was considerable discussion at the Convention of the lessons to be learned from what is now a solid experience base in industry organizational models and the newer extensions to those models that include the establishment of industry centres and export bases as part of the outsourcing package

The Australian scene also includes technical innovation and research that is setting trends around the world. These areas include nutrient removal, wastewater effluent reuse, innovative water treatment processes and coagulants, in addition to the pioneering management changes discussed above. Australia's technical leadership was exemplified by the awarding last year of the Stockholm Water Prize to Dr. Jorg Imberger of the University of Western Australia. The award was based on his development of a computerized model correlating water motion with biochemical activity.

A cost-effective procedure for analysis of chemical oxygen demand (COD) is available from the CH2M Gore & Storrie Research Centre and Process Operations Assistance team. Typical applications on industrial and municipal wastewater include supplementing BOD5 analysis for plant operations after developing a BOD5/COD ratio, and characterizing wastewater and effluents for computer modeling. It can also be used for treatability and bench or pilot-scale studies.

Since COD and BOD5 are related, COD analysis can be done frequently and the ratio used to make assumptions on BOD5 levels. Being inexpensive and providing quick results, COD analysis allows monitoring frequency to be increased to fine-tune plant operations. While this is a common practice in industrial research and design, only recently has its value been recognized for monitoring of municipal wastewater treatment plants.

The new CG&S procedure allows users of the Closed Reflux Colorimetric Method (as described in Standard Methods 18th Edition, APHA, 1992), to analyze samples at a chemical cost of $0.25 per test. (In comparison, pre-packaged proprietary tests can cost up to $2.00 each). Low- and mid-range COD procedures are available, covering a COD range from 5 to 1,200 mg/L.

For more information, phone (416) 499-0090, Ext. 370.