The National Onsite Wastewater Recycling Association’s 21st Annual Technical and Education Conference will focus on issues affecting wastewater management in New England, the Northeast and the Mid-Atlantic (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regions 1, 2 and 3).
Co-hosted by the Yankee Onsite Wastewater Association and held at the Biltmore Hotel in Providence, R.I., April 2-5, the conference will highlight innovative technologies and stormwater best management practices that are part of the onsite wastewater recycling world.
Educational sessions include the 4th Northeast Onsite Short Course featuring NOWRA’s A to Z course, a technology track and a track focusing on New England issues.
“Attendees will find the challenges similar to those faced by many policymakers and professionals in wastewater management across the country,” says NOWRA executive director Eric Casey. “For example, the issue surrounding Cape Cod is how small communities will deal with failing onsite systems and the cost of replacing them.
“In Connecticut, the issue is regulators disputing with contractors over how to install onsite systems. The Rhode Island legislature banned cesspools, but the issue there is the unwillingness of authorities to enforce it.”
More than 30 vendors will showcase their offerings in the Trade Hall. An additional attraction will be the Onsite Jeopardy game show. Attendees will be given clues to questions asked during the game and must find the answers by visiting vendors.
A tour of commercial systems in Connecticut includes a SoilAir system from Geomatrix Systems rejuvenating sand filters serving a hotel, condominium complex and marina with flows of 15,000 gpd, and a SoilAir unit rejuvenating a healthcare facility system. Attendees will inspect the Shoreline Sanitation Septage processing plant and explore alternative media as field inspectors use cameras to troubleshoot absorption systems and look at the geometry of advanced high sidewall surface area/low storage volume and geotextile products.
George Heufelder, Barnstable County health director, will lead a tour of the Massachusetts Alternative Septic System Test Center, launched in 1999 to test innovative onsite technologies. He will discuss each technology being tested, then show nutrient removal and drainfield rejuvenation technologies and discuss his findings on pharmaceutical degradation in various treatment systems.
