Environmental Science & Engineering - www.esemag.com - November 2002
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WEFTEC 2002 sets new attendance record

By Steve Davey, Environmental Science & Engineering Magazine

Dr. Christine Whitman

WEFTEC 2002, the Water Environment Federation’s (WEF) 75th annual technical and educational conference, which was held in Chicago in October, attracted a record-breaking attendance of 18,704 and featured 793 exhibitors.

Designed to cover a wide spectrum of traditional and emerging water quality issues, a total of seventy technical sessions and 25 conference workshops brought innovative information about topics such as infrastructure security, utility management, watershed management, and biosolids/residuals management.

Conference highlights included a keynote address by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Christine Todd Whitman who discussed the release of EPA’s highly anticipated report, The Clean Water and Drinking Water Infrastructure Gap Analysis.

Ms. Whitman said that while the US has made huge strides in cleaning up rivers, streams and other waterways since the passage of the 1972 Clean Water Act, state and local governments face enormous challenges in maintaining and replacing deteriorating water treatment systems. “Much of America’s drinking and wastewater infrastructure is aging”, Ms. Whitman said, adding that “there are cities in America still using pipes that were laid when Lincoln was president.” She warned that demands for improved wastewater and drinking water treatment systems could outstrip current spending by $535 billion over the next two decades. However, she pointed out that, if municipal revenues were to increase by 3% each year, the funding gap would be reduced by 90%.

Ms. Whitman added that increased federal funding in not enough. Systems must become more efficient to build and operate and the participation and contribution of government at all levels, utilities and users are necessary.

The Opening General Session program also featured a presentation by Dr. Claire Parkinson (NASA) on the agency’s Aqua Satellite, which was launched in May 2002. It is the first satellite designed to study the world’s water in solid, liquid and gas states. It uses microwave technology that can penetrate cloud cover to view ground formations. The satellite orbits the globe longitudinally every 98 minutes, covering a 25- degree swath with each orbit.

Fournier Industries of Black Lake, Ontario, won this year’s WEF Innovative Technology Award in the solids handling/ disposal category, for its rotary press sludge dewatering equipment. These awards recognize products/services that use new ideas, methods, alterations or unique changes from existing systems in four categories: collection systems, instrumentation, process equipment and solids handling/disposal.

The Operations Challenge continued to be a big draw for attendees. The 15th annual “wastewater Olympics” honoured the skill and professionalism of over 200 wastewater professionals competing on thirty-six teams from across North America. Winners included: Division I: Virginia Water Environment Association Team HRSD Bio-Force (1st Place), California Water Environment Association L.A. Wrecking Crew (2nd Place), Water Environment Association of Texas TRA CRWSers (3rd Place); Division II: Nevada Water Environment Association Totally Chaotic (1st Place), Water Environment Association of Texas Austin Blues (2nd Place), and New England Water Environment Association Crustaceans (3rd Place).

WEFTEC 2003 will be held in Los Angeles, California, October 11-15, 2003.
For more information about the Federation, visit www.wef.org.

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