What
Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) will host the 2014 New England Water Innovation Network (NEWIN) Water Leadership Conference. Attendees will discuss the challenges and opportunities in municipal water resource management and focus on finding solutions and opportunities to collaborate across sectors to support local and regional water resources managers. In addition to the various conference sessions, the NEWIN Water Leadership Award will be presented.
Who
Speakers and panelists include the following:
- Earl Jones, chairman, NEWIN
- James Eldridge, Massachusetts state senator
- Chris McIntire, senior vice president and president, analytics and treatment, Xylem Inc.
- John Bergendahl, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering, WPI
- Michael Hornbrook, chief operating officer, Massachusetts Water Resources Authority
- Philip Guerin, director of environmental systems, Department of Public Works and Parks, City of Worcester
- Alan Cathcart, superintendent of the water and sewer division, Department of Public Works, Concord, Mass.
- Carolyn Dykema, representative, Massachusetts 8th Middlesex District
Rep. Dykema will discuss recent legislation to fund water infrastructure and to accelerate water technology development.
When
Wednesday, Nov. 19, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Rubin Campus Center, Odeum
Worcester Polytechnic Institute, 100 Institute Road, Worcester, Mass.
Why
Over the past 40 years of the Safe Drinking Water Act and Clean Water Act, the responsibility of providing potable water and improving the quality of our region's waters has resided with water and wastewater districts and municipalities. The phrase "doing more with less" grossly understates the challenges faced by our water resource managers.
With federal funding for water resources essentially a thing of the past, unfunded state and federal mandates combined with ever increasing operating costs and service demands leave water utilities with dwindling resources to meet their core functions. At the same time, municipalities face other demands for public monies that often take priority over aging wastewater infrastructure, drinking water resources, storm water discharges, and impacts from nutrients to our waterways.
