The National Association of Wastewater Technicians will host the seventh Waste Treatment System Symposium this fall.

Because of the widespread need, the NAWT Board of Directors is working to make this symposium the most comprehensive yet. It is your opportunity to spend two days devoted to determining if you should invest in a facility of your own and what it takes from start to finish.

For those currently operating facilities, there is an opportunity to see several different dewatering options in operation. There will be a special track to explore other potential avenues for facilities.

Has this happened to you?

If one of the following scenarios describes something that has gone on with your business in the past year, you need to attend this year’s Waste Treatment Symposium. Over the past year since the last symposium the NAWT office has received information and questions about each of the scenarios listed below. These are problems that occur in all parts of the country.

1. You have had a longstanding relationship with the local municipal sewage treatment authority; they will accept your loads of septage as long as you utilize one of the designated dump sites at an agreed upon price which has been factored into the business plan. Now the price is going up due to necessary upgrades at the sewage plant.
2. Your business has grown faster than you anticipated and you are buying additional trucks and hiring technicians to keep up. When you look at the bottom line of your disposal costs, the number has gone beyond $300,000 per year and you see that if you can reduce those costs your business can expand further; but those costs are holding you back.
3. Because of growth in your area, the local treatment plant is near capacity and officials put you on notice that in the near future you will not be allowed to deliver septage to the plant but will have to take it to a different facility that adds 50 miles round trip to each of your trucks. The cost of fuel will put a huge dent in your profits.
4. Two farmers who have been accepting your septage tell you they are selling out to developers, resulting in the loss of your land application sites.

What you can expect

The symposium is the only place you can go to meet with more than 100 business owners grappling with the same problems and situations you’re encountering. It is the opportunity to see state-of-the-art dewatering technologies in operation and talk with people who have used and are using them to process septage.

For two days you will meet with experienced, knowledgeable people and discuss how to plan a facility, evaluate your neighborhood and resources, approach financial institutions and be able to look at the operation of the facility itself from intake and screening, use of dewatering technology, how to deal with polymers and what to do with the final products. At this symposium you will network with people from across the country that you can draw on for assistance as you develop your facility.

Symposium structure

The symposium will be structured similarly to those in the past with classroom discussions and plenty of hands-on time with equipment. Additionally, equipment manufacturers and suppliers will be on hand so you can weigh the pros and cons of different technologies and see equipment operate with real septage. There will be extended coffee breaks, lunches, exhibits and an evening reception, providing many networking opportunities with other contractors, manufacturers and suppliers.

Watch this column for details in the coming months. Knowing what your options are will help you make better decisions in the future to keep your business growing.