WR3 Seminar in 2022 Shines Brightly in City of Plant City!—Kevin Carter

WR3 Seminar in 2022 Shines Brightly in City of Plant City!

Kevin Carter

On February 3 of this year the Water Resources, Reuse, and Resiliency Committee (WR3) hosted its annual seminar in the great City of Plant City’s new Sadye Gibbs Martin Community Center. Over 50 water-sector professionals gathered to share and learn from each other, as well as make connections at the first WR3 in-person event in over two years. As WR3 chair at the time, I had the honor to facilitate the event and it was great to see everyone in person again!

The day started with a nice surprise visit from Bill McDaniel, city manager, and Jack Holland, assistant city manager, with the City of Plant City. It was a privilege to have the city’s leadership greet and welcome us. Both gentlemen have served the city for their entire, impressive careers and their opening remarks certainly set a great tone for the day.

After finishing up some tasty morning snacks and filling our coffee cups, we sat down and began our comprehensive agenda for the event, which was titled, “One Water: Setting the Stage for a Sustainable Future.” With our committee’s name containing water resources, reuse, and resiliency, our seminars traditionally cover many interesting and diverse topics and we kept to that tradition well into 2022. Continued on page 44

A Packed Agenda

We started our program with Walt Woodard from InfoSense describing how his company’s technology can optimize sewer cleaning and reduce water consumption. A trio of excellent speakers—Pranjali Kumar and Mary Fickert with Carollo Engineers, and Nory Hancock from Pinellas County—shared their regional partnership success stories on water supply diversification. This panel also gave us a look into the “crystal ball of tomorrow,” when innovative water reuse (e.g., potable reuse) will be critical for future water supply planning.

We took a networking break, which is always one of the best reasons to attend a WR3 seminar. It’s enjoyable to start new conversations, as well as continue long-running ones, with our friends and colleagues from around the state.

Michael Cole with Nexom kicked off the second session by explaining how wastewater plants can intensify treatment and add nitrification capacity without adding to their footprint. A focus on technology continued with a presentation by Joe Tardio with Aqua-Aerobic on how to reduce life cycle costs for water reuse treatments utilizing aerobic granular sludge and cloth media filtration.

Our “hosts with the most,” Lynn Spivey and Pat (Murf) Murphy from the City of Plant City, then brought in for lunch some of the tastiest barbeque many of us had experienced. I will be back to visit the city just to find this deliciousness again on my plate, but would also stop to say hello to Lynn and Murf.

Well-nourished, we continued the dialogue into the afternoon with a focus on potable reuse. First up we had Matt Love and George Dick with Carollo who detailed residential and commercial water reuse projects in Sarasota County. Jo Ann Jackson with Black & Veatch and Ryan Popko from JEA then shared JEA’s next step in potable reuse—its H2O purification facility—that builds off of its successful pilot program.

We shifted gears for the presentation, “Florida Resilient Grant Program and Regulatory and Legislative Updates,” by Laura Donaldson, from Manson Bolves Donaldson Varn, and myself. Many bills were covered and we’ll certainly be ready for more resiliency funding in 2022 and beyond.

We closed out our day with a virtual visit from two colleagues from Minnesota, Chris Larson with HDR and Ali Elhassan from Met Council Twin Cities, who discussed their present

Seminar attendees.

Continued from page 43 and future water sustainability planning. While they would have liked to be present in person (as it was basically 0 degrees Fahrenheit where they were!), they continued another great WR3 tradition to learn from others around the country and the world.

Thanks to the Sponsors, Volunteers, and Attendees

As you may be aware, successful events like this don’t happen overnight. Ryan Messer with HDR, our WR3 vice chair and seminar chair, led our planning for the third straight year and helped to ensure our success. Thank you, Ryan, for your vision, leadership, and coordination to make a great day happen.

Thanks also go to Nita Naik from Wade Trim, our past chair, for her great work with seminar planning and logistics. Samantha Nehme, with Kimley-Horn and the WR3 secretary, also assisted with event coordination and onsite registration.

Thanks to Mike Knowles, with Peace River Manasota Regional Water Supply Authority and our treasurer, for also participating in the event planning, along with our WR3 communications lead, Elizabeth Thomas.

We also recognize Tonya Sonier who chairs the FWEA Seminars Committee, especially as we worked to plan and secure the continuing education certifications. We also thank the Florida Water Environment Association (FWEA) board of directors and Ronald Cavalieri, who’s

Attendees listen to one of the many presentations.

Thank you to our Sponsors

2022 WR3 One Water Seminar

with AECOM and the FWEA past president, for their leadership as they “set the table” for our committee’s successes throughout the year.

Some newer members helped us this year, including Diego Labarca with Black & Veatch, who assisted Ryan well with the call for abstracts process and also helped with other event planning, along with one of our newest members, Hai Vu from JEA.

Some veteran members, including Arturo Burbano at Black & Veatch, Kristiana Dragash with Carollo, Terri Lowery from Jones and Edmunds, and Lisa Wilson-Davis with City of Boca Raton, provided valuable input during the conference planning meetings.

I also want to thank Anthony Andrade from the Southwest Florida Water Management District (SWFWMD) for coordinating with SWFWMD’s Robyn Felix to bring the One Water Florida display booth and water bottles to our event.

The WR3 is also very appreciative and thankful for Karen Wallace, FWEA’s executive manager, who guides and assists us through the whole process while doing the same for the rest of the FWEA family. Thank you, Karen!

Major thanks go to all the participants who attended the event and asked interesting questions and contributed greatly to the day’s overall dialogue. Thanks also go to our many sponsors! We can’t hold these events without your support, and it’s truly appreciated.

Last, but definitely not least, many thanks again to Lynn, Murf, and the City of Plant City for hosting our great day. All the eventday logistics went well thanks to them and the excellent city parks staff. Lynn and Murf were also key contributors in the event planning and agenda development. And did I mention the great barbeque?

Lynn also does a great job as a past WR3 chair and current FWEA director at large. Thank you both for inviting us to your beautiful hometown for our annual seminar.

Future Events

We’re planning to host a 2023 in-person seminar along the southeast Florida coast, so please stay tuned to future Droplet editions and an upcoming revamped website for future event news.

I also encourage you to attend our monthly meetings, typically held the first Tuesday of the month, unless other events occur. Please email me at kcarter@broward.org if you want information on the meetings or anything else about WR3.

Kevin Carter is assistant to the director at the Broward County Water & Wastewater Services and immediate past chair of the Water Resources, Reuse, and Resiliency Committee. S