A changing climate, rise in smart technologies and evolving compliance challenges are impacting each of us in our mission to be stewards and champions of our most precious resource: water. The inaugural AQUALIS Sustainable Water Compliance Summit will provide a forum for discussing these issues and learning from experts and peers. Join Erin Zaske to kick off this exciting inaugural event with insights into how the water, wastewater and stormwater industries are undergoing unprecedented transformation.

Join Dr. Washington as she discusses Troubled Waters:  Resilience and Adaptation Strategies for Waste/StormWater Management during Climate Change. 

Changes in climate in conjunction with pre-existing and future land development changes will affect the amount, timing, and intensity of rain events. These changes in combination will alter the amount of stormwater runoff that needs to be managed as well as pollution levels in their respective geographies.  Engineers and architects and green professionals can poise themselves to be proactive in mitigating these changes to the built environment proactively by transforming grey into green infrastructures using green building strategies that would transform not just natural but also environmental health for consumers and workers but also regional public health.  The goal of this presentation is to elucidate the environmental, engineering, and public health impacts and benefits of green infrastructures that optimize water use and management.

Affecting many parts of the world, especially coastal areas, flooding is becoming more epidemic as time goes on. As we watch weather forecasts showing continuous 100-year flood events being reached each year, there is an increasingly urgent need to take preparation measures that can reduce the impacts of these damaging floods..

Areas of concern for flooding include power control stations, water pumping stations, and other infrastructure that is critical for a healthy and thriving society. Namely, highways as well as access roads to islands, peninsulas, and other coastal wetland areas are often impeded by rising sea levels and then eventually breached by catastrophic flooding. Targeting these areas with regular budgetary installations of flood prevention barriers can assist with reducing damage from these events.

This course will discuss

• Learn how sourcing materials locally can keep costs down
• Identify useful equipment that is available in all areas of the country from most rental centers
• Explore how the use of common items, like sandbags, in conjunction with efficient filling equipment speeds up preparation for impending weather events
• Discuss long-term strategies, such as permanent plantings, that act as dikes/berms for diverting water during surge storm events

The COVID-19 (CV19) pandemic brought historic disruption to our lives and work. While at the onset, wastewater collection systems operations faced exceptional maintenance and safety challenges, new insights and opportunities for change became apparent at a handful of forward-looking utilities.

Attempting to limit person-to-person contact, many utilities implemented staff rotations. Yet, these measures reduced maintenance capacity, affecting essential routines such as cleaning. Adding more stress, sewer-unfriendly objects started to rapidly appear in collection systems including “flushable wipes”, face masks and latex gloves. As a result, there was a significant increase of build-up and blockages leading to SSOs and fouled pumps.

Where the pandemic created O&M resource limitations, it also illuminated an opportunity to  transform  decades-old cleaning practices through the adoption of IoT technology  to fill those resource O&M gaps.  The end result is that utilities can gain greater efficiency and concurrently lower organizational stress.

Learning Objectives

1. Review the national impact of COVID-19 from a collection systems operations perspective
2. Examine and understand how technology is being applied to assist in times of need
3. Learn how to leverage existing technology in collection systems to leverage greater  efficiencies and lower organizational stress.

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Listen in as water resource management leaders provide their insight into best practices and challenges in implementing stormwater and wastewater management programs in their municipality or business. Featuring water regulators from around the country, environmental compliance leaders from the commercial and retail sectors, and academia perspective, this experienced group will provide anecdotes and applications to guide attendees in improving their water management programs.   

One of the things that has been of great assistance to those pursuing GSI programs is a deep understanding of the foundations of GSI; a look behind the curtain. What is it and, more importantly, what isn’t it? What is volume-based stormwater, and how does it work? What makes GSI “tricky?” Is it the answer to flooding and resiliency (what?!)? Why do some not like GSI, and what can I do about that?

This course will discuss

• Frame exactly what GSI is (and what it’s not)
• What is driving local GSI programs
• How this information can help modify your local program
• Ways to jumpstart and fund a successful GSI program.

New certification systems attempt to define—and often place different parameters around—what is "sustainable." Many of these requirements are finding their way from voluntary to mandatory as they are incorporated into various infrastructure projects, regulations, planning codes, and design requirements. These "green" concepts can establish new mandatory baselines for environmental performance and project goals, which are fundamentally different from the objectives of traditional design.

However, "green" design still being in its infancy can mean uncharted design issues and risk management complications. At the forefront are engineers, municipal officials, architects, contractors, construction managers, and other building professionals who must implement a new methodology without the benefit of trusted design standards, years of practical application, or established court rulings.

Join us for this educational webinar as speaker Jean Terry (Partner at Gordon & Rees) reviews roles and responsibilities in this new environment and the potential impact on the design standard of care and liability implications. 

This course will discuss

• Understand how green building can cause liability for building professionals
• Discuss current statutes and regulations that impact green liability
• Learn how to safeguard against that liability
• Explore how our current system of construction will be forced to change in order to accommodate green building principles

Explorer, Social Entrepreneur & Environmental Advocate; Grandson of Captain Jacques-Yves Cousteau

Inspired by the legacy of his grandfather Jacques Cousteau, Philippe is TV host and producer with multiple Emmy nominations, as well as an author, speaker, and social entrepreneur.

His conservation efforts are focused on solving global social and environmental problems. In 2005, he founded EarthEcho International, a leading environmental education organization dedicated to inspiring youth to take action for a sustainable planet.

Philippe will discuss his experiences in tackling the water crisis, how we need a new focus on renewal and restoration and how he sees hope everyday in his work with communities around the world who are leading the way to a thriving future.