It was something old and many things new at the 30th annual Pumper & Cleaner Environ-mental Expo International, which wrapped up Feb. 27 in Louisville, Ky.

First the old: Robert “Pepi’’ Murrell, owner of Pepi Sewage Disposal in Port Severn, Ontario, Canada, displayed a T-shirt he purchased at the first Expo in Nashville, Tenn., in 1981, then called the Liquid Waste Haulers Equipment & Trade Show. Murrell showed off the shirt in the Vacutrux booth, then walked the show floor wearing a new 30-year anniversary shirt bought at the 2010 Expo.

Like Murrell, I met other attendees and exhibitors who remembered going to that first show in Nashville, or at least most of the Expos since. Looking back, they marveled at how that first little show blossomed into a major event with some 500 exhibitors spread out in the Kentucky Exposition Center, one of the biggest tradeshow spaces in the country.

FORWARD THINKING

If anecdotal evidence from the show floor means anything, many attendees signaled that the worst of the economic tsunami that hit in November 2008 has passed and service companies are starting to gear up for a brighter future. Many contractors were looking to add new equipment or upgrade existing machines that are starting to show wear and tear. And exhibitors reported a constant stream of customers with questions about ordering new products for the 2010 busy season.

Staffing the COLE Publishing editors booth and roaming the aisles to learn about new technologies, I spoke to dozens of contractors from across the country, and far beyond in Australia, Brazil and other far-flung locales. Most voiced optimism for a busier year ahead. Many were looking for new trucks to prevent service hiccups this summer, and a good number were seeking equipment to help diversify their core businesses.

I came away with a few observations about dynamic directions we can expect traditional septic pumpers will be heading. In many cases, they’re looking to step out into other areas, and said customer trends are showing them the way to diversification.

CARRYING WATER

It’s boom times for some contractors in Pennsylvania, who have found a dynamic, new market for their traditional septic-pumping trucks and their trained technicians: natural gas extraction.

If you don’t live in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and parts of Ohio and New York, huge stores of natural gas in the Marcellus Shale might be news to you. But geologists say that deep below the Earth’s surface in this Appalachian region is a huge supply of natural gas that — up until now — energy companies had no effective way to tap.

Now technology exists to drill mile-deep horizontal gas wells with exacting accuracy, and energy companies are just starting to go after supplies that might provide enough gas to meet U.S. needs for decades. Luckily for pumpers in these regions, the drilling and fracturing techniques used to tap these resources requires water transported to rural areas where the boring is starting.

I spoke with one contractor at the Expo who is buying new vacuum trucks in multiples to serve these energy company customers with water for the drilling process. And I heard about other pumping contractors doing the same, finding big-time revenue enhancement at a time when pumpers in some other areas are in a holding pattern.

This development bears watching and its impact may reverberate throughout the industry. Will a growing demand for vacuum trucks in the Marcellus Shale region affect truck availability for other pumpers who might want vehicles as the economy recovers? What will happen to the used-truck market if the demand for these water-haulers is higher than present lofty expectations? Will a natural gas extraction niche extend beyond this targeted region as energy companies look to tap other hard-to-reach stores in other parts of the country?

This is an exciting development for pumpers in the region, but it’s also interesting to watch if tremendous stores of energy can be tapped in America to hold down energy costs and reduce our reliance on imported petroleum. Later this year, we’ll delve into this issue further and talk to a pumper who’s benefiting from this new energy boom.

GREASE IS THE WORD

Restaurant and other institutional grease trap service opportunities were driving contractors to look at portable drum vacuum units and trucks designed specifically to maneuver in high-density urban settings and convey the sludge that actually might have a monetary value. The message is clear: As traditional septic service matures as an industry, pumpers are looking to other areas for expansion.

It may be a good play for business because municipalities are more often regulating how restaurants handle their grease. The interest may be triggered by a growing number of grease traps to service based on our convenience-crazed society. Who among us has seen a drawdown on the number of fast-food restaurants, even with a slugging economy?

Biofuel might also be a factor. While fuel prices have ebbed off of their extreme highs a few years ago, most observers think it’s only a matter of time before prices at the pump and for home heating fuel are going to rise again. And if that happens, the market for biofuel — and the recycled materials to make it — will heat up again. The Expo didn’t feature exhibitors showing small-scale biofuel processing plants, as it did a few years ago, but how high would prices have to spike before we see the market for those products expand again?

NAWT AWARD WINNERS

At its annual breakfast meeting at the Expo, the National Association of Wastewater Transporters Inc. installed a new president and handed out several annual awards. New president Roger Winter of K. Winter Sanitation Inc., Innisfil, Ontario, Canada, addressed the group. Ralph Macchio and COLE Publishing co-founder Bob Kendall presented the Ralph Macchio Lifetime Achievement Award to Tom Ferrero, NAWT’s executive director.

Outgoing NAWT President Tom Frank was given a plaque to honor his service. And Frank’s son Todd Frank, a sophomore at Ashland University in Ohio, received the annual Wm. H. Hapchuk Scholarship. The trade group decided not to give the Excellence in Service Award for 2010 and will bring back that award next year.

Ferrero was honored for playing a key role in the growth of NAWT over 20 years and for his work on behalf of the Pennsylvania Septage Management Association years before that. Ferrero was a longtime owner of a family pumping business in Pennsylvania, Ferrero Wastewater Management, and currently operates Elkhart Environmental Processing Corp. in Indiana, in addition to his half-time position with NAWT.

“Tom has always been a champion for our industry,’’ Macchio said of Ferrero. “The (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency) respects our industry because of his representation.’’ Macchio said Ferrero is among a number of NAWT members who have fought to bring greater reputation for professionalism to the industry, particularly in the eyes of government regulators.

Ferraro became NAWT’s director five years ago, and has helped spearhead a Memorandum of Understanding working with several entities and has ramped up industry training opportunities.

“I will tell you five or six years ago, the EPA was ready to throw this industry away. They figured it was going to be utilities doing everything and (they could) manage a few utilities way better than a whole bunch of these pumper guys,’’ Ferrero said. “We’ve got them turned around on that, and they believe we have an industry that can step up to the plate and get the job done.’’

Frank works with his father, Tim Frank, in Ohio, and during his two years as president, he had to overcome a personal challenge when his family’s disposal plant burned down. He is proud of the education initiatives NAWT instituted among service providers nationwide.

“We made some strides, and it’s a tough push for our industry,’’ Frank said. “We just keep pushing and plugging away and maybe eventually we’ll get to the top of the hill some day.’’