The article summarizes the successful completion of the third annual WEF Service Project organized by the Students and Young Professionals Committee (SYPC). Over 75 volunteers helped build a 125 foot by 30 foot bioswale in New Orleans' Lower Ninth Ward to direct stormwater and improve water quality. The project was accompanied by a water carnival with educational booths. Planning is underway for next year's project in Los Angeles. The article also provides updates on other SYPC events at WEFTEC including the Young Professionals reception, process automation workshop, career fair, and student design competition.

1. YP Connections
B IOSWALES IN THE B AYOU In This Issue
By Katie Schaffnit
"Bioswales in the Bayou" x SYPC Service Project
October 2, 2010 marked
was a smashing success, and
the completion of the third
would not have been possi- x WEFTEC 2010
annual WEF Service Project.
ble without the help of our YP Reception
This year, organized by the
hard-working volunteers and
SYPC, more than 75 volun- Student Design
our generous sponsors. A
teers came together to build a Competition
huge thank you goes out to
bioswale in New Orleans’s The completed bioswale will the following groups for Career Fair
Lower Ninth Ward, an area retain storm water allowing it their monetary support:
hit hard by Hurricane Katrina to percolate slowly back into Process
Advanced Engineering and
in 2005. the groundwater. Automation and
Environmental Services,
companied by a water carni- Black & Veatch, Brown and Control Workshop
val. Held on a nearby street, Caldwell, CDM, DC Water x MA Updates
the carnival featured 14 x Getting Involved:
booths manned by engineer-
ing, government, and envi- Students and YPs
ronmental groups, aimed at
x Calendar of Events
educating the public about
water issues. The carnival
SYPC volunteers hard at work in drew nearly 200 visitors, City of New Orleans Police De-
New Orleans partment, Cleveland Tubing,
who learned what it might
Delta Mining, EcoUrban LLC,
The project, titled be like to have to collect and SYPC volunteers and the
completed bioswale. Future Proof, Global Green,
"Bioswales in the Bayou", carry all your drinking water
Greater Little Zion Missionary
worked with local New Or- in a bucket, watched demon- & Sewer Services, Duperon
Baptist Church, Groundwork
leans landscape architecture strations of erosion due of Corporation, Fluid Control
New Orleans, Hike for
firm FutureProof to design stormwater runoff, and got Specialities Inc., Hach Com-
KaTREEna, Jenkins Farm and
and build a 125 foot by 30 to have their pictures taken pany, HDR Engineering
Nursery, Lower 9th Ward Vil-
foot bioswale in the center of with Ricky the Raindrop Inc., Stantec Consulting
lage, LSU Ag Center, New Or-
a green housing community who came all the way from Service Inc., Veolia Water
leans Sewerage and Water Board,
that is under development by the Municipal Water District North America, Weston
St. Pius X Catholic School,
the national environmental of Orange County for the Solutions Inc., and Westfall
Storm Hunter Hauling, World
non-profit, Global Green. It event. Manufacturing Co. Thank
Water Works, and WEF.
will direct stormwater away you also to the organizations
The carnival and the ser-
from the new homes, retain who donated both time and Planning is already underway
vice project were extremely
the water and remove pollu- well received by the commu- materials to the day's en- for next year's service project
tion while helping runoff seep nity and even attracted the deavors: Archer Western (WEFTEC.11 in Los Angeles). If
into the groundwater. Alberici, Baker Transporta- you are interested in getting in-
attention of the local media,
tion and Logistics, Bayou volved, please contact Haley Fal-
For the first time, this year's resulting in an evening fea- Rebirth, Bottom Line Equip- coner at
WEF Service Project was ac- ture on the local news. ment, Brentwood Industries, haley.falconer@hdrinc.com.

2. P AGE 2 V OLUME 5, I SSUE 1
YP R ECEPTION
By Sarah Hubbell indoor/outdoor Voodoo Gar- ing game of musical chairs.
den area of the venue, enjoy- Sponsors of the event in-
On Monday night at
ing delicious food and bever- cluded CDM, Greeley and
WEFTEC in New Orleans,
ages. Several sponsoring com- Hansen, Hach, Marsh McBir-
the Students and Young Pro-
panies provided some great ney, AECOM, EDI and
fessionals Committee hosted
door prizes, including a Flip WWEMA. Our generous
YPs Jennifer Shore, Haley the sixth annual YP Reception
video camera and an Amazon sponsors make this event pos-
Falconer, and Michelle at the incredible House of
Kindle. Committee chair, sible at no charge to atten-
Hatcher at WEFTEC.10’s Blues. About 250 young engi-
Bob Wimmer, emceed a dees, so make plans now to
YP Reception. neers and industry leaders
dance competition and a rous- attend this event in Los Ange-
mixed and mingled in the
les at WEFTEC 2011!
WEFTEC P ROCESS A UTOMATION AND C ONTROL W ORKSHOP
By Eric Dodds workshop provided design tendees. The workshop was
personnel, operational staff chaired by a YP (Erici Dodds)
The S&YP co-sponsored the
and utility managers with and included three YP speak-
A Y EAR ‘Process Automation and
practical fundamental knowl- ers (Steve Kerr, Matthew
Control Fundamen-
IN R EVIEW tals: SCADA 101’ workshop
edge of control systems, ex- Schultz, and Eric Dodds).
plaining what automation
at WEFTEC’10 with the
systems consist of, why auto-
Automation and Information
mation is beneficial, and how
Technology (AIT) Committee
automation systems are im-
and the Municipal Wastewa-
plemented. The workshop
ter Treatment Design
was well received by the at-
(MWTD) Committee. The
C AREER F AIR
By Anil Tangirala Pirnie, and the Peace Corps. Over 200 and young professionals to learn more
students attended the Career Fair. Stu- about WEF Technical Committees. Six
The WEFTEC.10 Career Fair was held
dents were encouraged to submit their committees had booths at the Career
at the New Orleans Morial Convention
resumes in advance of WEFTEC, and Fair to speak with young professionals
Center on October 12, 2010, from 1 to
WEF received a record number of re- on opportunities to get more involved
4 PM. This year the following compa-
sumes for the Career Fair. Mr. Christo- in WEF through committee work.
nies participated in the Career Fair:
pher Korab, Vice President of Human
AECOM, Black and Veatch, Brown and
Resources for Aqua-Aerobic Systems,
Caldwell, CDM, CH2MHILL, Carollo
Inc. assisted students with last minute
Engineers, Environmental Dynamics,
preparations and answered questions
Freese and Nichols, Greeley and Han-
regarding career search strategies. WEF
sen, Hazen and Sawyer, HDR, Malcolm
also added an opportunity for students

3. P AGE 3 V OLUME 5, I SSUE 1
S TUDENT D ESIGN C OMPETITION
By Michelle Hatcher ics ranging from sustainability, ren Zuravnsky at
water reuse, wetland construc- lzuravnsky@greeley-
WEFTEC 2011 hosted 11
tion, etc. Teams prepare a 20- hansen.com. The 2011 Stu-
teams for the Student Design
page submittal prior to dent Design Competition
Competition for the wastewa-
WEFTEC and 20-minute pres- Guidelines will be posted
ter and environmental compe-
entation for WEFTEC. Both shortly, so mark your chance
titions. Teams from across the
aspects of the competition are to become a part of this excit-
country participated and in-
judged and a final score is de- ing competition!
cluded schools from the Uni-
termined, with the winner
versity of Florida, Southern
announced at WEFTEC. This
Methodist University, Ryerson
year’s winners included South-
University, University of Illi-
ern Methodist University for
nois – Urbana Champaign,
their presentation titled
Colorado State University,
“Settler’s Village Wastewater
University of North Dakota,
Treatment Plant Expan-
University of South Florida,
sion”. The University of Flor-
WEFTEC University of Waterloo, North
ida received first place in the
Dakota State University, South
environmental competition Southern Methodist University
Dakota State University, and won first place in the wastewa-
with their presentation titled
Virginia Tech. In all, there ter division.
“Green Infrastructure Design
were seven teams that partici-
C ONTINUED pated in the traditional waste-
for Pollutant Control from
Transport Systems Crossing
water competition, and four
Land-Water Interfaces – A
teams that participated in the
Bridge too Far?”. Both first
newer environmental competi-
place teams received $2,500 in
tion. The traditional wastewa-
cash prizes as provided by our
ter competition includes topics
generous sponsors. Sponsors
ranging from hydraulic capacity
included Black & Veatch,
design, upgrades to existing
CDM, Greeley & Hansen, and
systems, biosolids handling,
Parsons Brinkerhoff. For addi- University of Florida won first
etc. The newer, more con-
tional team information, please place in the environmental divi-
temporary environmental de- sion.
see the SYPC webpage on
sign competition includes top-
www.wef.org, or contact Lau-

4. V OLUME 5, I SSUE 1 P AGE 4
P ULASKI P ARK R AIN G ARDEN U PDATE
By Lou Storino, IWEA Stu-
dent Chapter Chair
The Illinois Water Environ-
ment Association’s Student
Chapter and Young Profes-
sionals Committee hosted a
fall rain garden maintenance
day on Saturday October 16, 2008. Special thanks to
2010, at Pulaski Park in Chi- Kendra Sveum for coordinat- Volunteers from MWH
cago. The rain garden was ing the event and Metropoli- Americas, Donohue and Asso-
installed as the first service tan Water Reclamation Dis- ciates, AECOM, and
project of the WEF Students trict of Greater Chicago MWRDGC along with some
and Young Professionals of their friends and families Volunteers adding a top dress-
(MWRDGC) for lending
ing of mulch to the garden
Committee during WEFTEC their tools. after weeding and planting
V IRGINIA W ATER E NVIRONMENT A SSOCIATION
By Stephanie Kunze cheered on the Old Dominion
University (ODU) Monarchs
ASCE, the Eastern Virginia
Men's Basketball team as they
Regional Activities Commit-
took on the Richmond Spi-
tee (EVRAC), and the Vir-
ders and rallied from eight
ginia Water Environment
Association (VWEA) hosted a
points down to beat Rich- MA
mond 77-70. The attendees
social event for young profes-
sionals on Wednesday, De-
enjoyed pizza and wings from U PDATES
club level while watching the
cember 1, 2010. Participants Some of Hampton Roads finest
exciting game. YPs supporting ODU.
YP S IN TN & KY L EARN A BOUT F LOOD R ECOVERY E FFORTS
The Nashville YPs got efforts at the Dry Creek 17th at Louisville presented “Drinking Water
together on November 9th for Wastewater Treatment Plant; MSD. Chuck Anderson, with Regulations – what are Stage
a lunch and learn at Metro Patrick Moore, with Barge Strand Associates, presented 2 DBPR & Long Term 2
Water Services for a presen- Waggoner Sumner & Can- “Picking a Pump in 30 min- EWSTR”. A big thanks goes
tation on the Flood Recovery non, presented on the recov- utes or Less”. A big thanks out to Ms. Baldwin and to
Efforts of three facili- ery efforts at the Biosolids goes out to Mr. Anderson and CH2MHill for sponsoring the
ties. Gresham, Smith & Part- Facility; and Roy Denney, to Ray Wilkey, with ITT lunch.
ners presented on the recov- with Metro Water Services, Flygt, for sponsoring the
ery efforts at the K.R. Har- took everyone on a tour of lunch. The Lexington YPs
rington Water Treatment the Biosolids Facility. A big got together for a social on
Plant that was completely thanks goes out to all the December 14th at Marik-
flooded by the May speakers and to Southern kas. The Knoxville YPs
event. Heather Crabtree, Sales for sponsoring the hosted a lunch and learn on
Ken Cox, and Ron Taylor, all lunch. December 14th at Cannon and
with Metro Water Services, The Louisville YPs hosted a Cannon, Inc. Jennifer Bald-
presented on the recovery lunch and learn on December win, with CH2M Hill, Rising flood waters

5. V OLUME 5, I SSUE 1 P AGE 5
E NGAGING OUR M EMBERS :
T HE T ECHNICAL C OORDINATINON S UB -C OMMITTEE
By Kendra Sveum Right now we are looking mation on their areas of inter-
for YPs to fill specific volun- est and goals. The survey pro-
The Technical Coordination teer requests with the fol- vided background information
sub-committee was estab- lowing WEF Committees: on the individuals to help in
lished to focus on increasing selecting a mentor as well as G ET TING
new member engagement and x Residual and Biosolids making suggestions to poten-
filling volunteer needs, both tial activities that may be of I NVOLVED :
x Membership
within and outside the
x Municipal Wastewater
interest with them. Currently S TUDENTS
S&YPC. If you are a YP that is we are looking for more peo-
interested in becoming more Treatment Design ple to serve as mentors to our AND
involved, either nationally or
Last year the sub-committee
new incoming members. If YP S
locally, but needs some help you are interested in getting
getting started, please contact developed a mentor system to know a new YP in your
me at ksveum@donohue- to establish a guide for each area and helping them find a
associates.com, and we can new member as they learn place within WEF and your
find something that fits your how to navigate the S&YPC MA, please let me know.
interests. and WEF. Each new mem- The Problem:
ber was asked to fill out a A 200 acre Biosolids Compost
survey that gathered infor- Facility that has 100,000 cubic
yards of composting, curing, and
finished compost on site sits next
to an earthen levee and just up-
T HE W ASTEWATER C HALLENGE gradient from a sensitive wetland
type ecosystem. The levee is
By Dianne Crilley system by applying traditional Wastewater Challenge Com- expected to breach and for sev-
wastewater treatment princi- mittee. There is a limit of eral hours 5,000 CFS of agricul-
The Water Environment Fed- ples learned in the classroom one team per student chap- tural runoff and snow melt will
in an extraordinary situation ter. The top 12 teams will be run through the site with the
eration would like to invite a
normal runoff controls getting
team from your school to that requires true and innova- selected to compete.
overloaded. It is expected that
participate in the 2011 WEF tive “outside-the-box” think- most of this now further con-
Wastewater Challenge ing. The deadline to submit taminated water will reach the
(WWC). This hands-on chal- reports for entry is April site fence line and if not stopped
lenging and fun national com- WHERE: Sacramento, Cali- 1, 2011, at 5 PM PST. or successfully treated will dev-
petition requires teams of fornia, at the 2011 WEF Re- astate the wetland. The Army
students to treat agricultural siduals and Biosolids Confer- All team members must be a Corps of Engineers will be re-
runoff from a biosolids com- ence pairing the breach within 12
registered WEF member. For
post facility in order to pro- hours and therefore the solution
WHEN: May 22-25, 2011 more information on how to to the problem should be consid-
tect a wetland ecosystem, join please visit: ered temporary. The natural
using an assortment of house- Questions: Post ques- slope of the facility would chan-
hold products. The challenge tions to WEFWastewater- http://www.wef.org/
Members/ nel the flow to an area of no
is an opportunity for students Challenge@wef.org more than 100 yards wide at the
across the nation to work page_joinwef.aspx?
fence line.…...
collaboratively, problem id=261&ekmensel=c57dfa7b
To be eligible to compete,
solve, and design an emer- your team must submit a De-
_59_0_261_9 To learn about your team’s
gency wastewater treatment sign Report to the WEF (click on “Student Package”). task, visit:
http://www.wef.org/
PublicInformation/page.aspx?
id=136

6. Calendar of events
YP C ONNECTIONS February 9: Part Two of Perspectives on Collection Systems Rehabili-
tation and Replacement Webcast Series: Manhole Rehabilitation
Co-Chairs:
Michelle Hatcher: hatchermm@cdm.com February 8-11:Utility Management Conference
Katie Schaffnit: schaffnit_ks@hotmail.com March 17-19: New Jersey WEA, Atlantic City, NJ
Contributors: April 1: April Fool’s Day
Dianne Crilley
Eric Dodds April 10-12: Disinfection 2011, Cincinnati, OH
Sarah Hubbell April 14: Young Professionals Summit, Louisville, KY
Stephanie Kunze
Lou Storino April 14-16: Tennessee-Kentucky WEA, Louisville, KY
Kendra Sveum
Anil Tangirala April 28-29: Iowa WEA, Davenport, IA
May 19-20: British Columbia WWA, Vancouver, BC
May 22-25: Residuals and Biosolids 2011, Sacramento, CA
June 12-15: Collection Systems 2011, Raleigh, NC
June 28-29: EWA/WEF/JSWA Cutting-Edge Technologies and Best
WE’RE ON THE WEB
Practices on Sewerage, Tokyo, Japan
W W W . W E F . O RG July 31-August 3: Energy and Water 2011, Chicago, IL
October 15-19: WEFTEC 2011, Los Angeles, CA