Industry News

Vancouver, Canada—Carl Data Solutions Inc. (“Carl Data” or the “Company”) announced that its wholly-owed subsidiary FlowWorks Inc. is moving on to the piloting phase with their new application for helping prevent sanitary sewer overflows (SSOs). Infinitii SSO Forecaster, a machine-learning enabled tool that helps predict where and when an overflow might take place seven days in advance, is the latest edition to Carl Data’s suite of applications that support healthy, sustainable smart city development.

Kevin Marsh, VP of Sales for FlowWorks, says, “As many of our clients are experiencing more extreme storm and rainfall events, they are seeing SSOs occur where they haven’t been in the past. Last week, Raleigh, North Carolina had seven million gallons of sewage overflow into waterways and even onto private property. Our Infinitii SSO Forecaster can help prevent this from happening.”

SSOs occur when untreated sewage is discharged from a sanitary sewer into the environment prior to reaching a sewage treatment facility. This is often caused by excessive stormwater entering sewer lines during a heavy rainfall, and may occur even in well managed sewer systems. SSOs can cause gastrointestinal illnesses, beach closures and restrictions on fish and shellfish consumption.

“SSOs aren’t only a direct problem for the health and infrastructure of cities and municipalities, but are also a liability,” said Greg Johnston, Carl Data CEO and President. “The destruction of private property by sewage is messy in more ways than one, and we could help cities mitigate their financial damages with our Infinitii I&I and Infinitii SSO Forecaster.”

San Juan Capistrano, Calif. — Fluidmaster has announced a new scholarship program for the plumbing trade. In partnership with the PHCC (Plumbing-Heating-Cooling Contractors) Association, Fluidmaster will match the scholarship recipient with a plumbing job and formal training to become a certified plumber.

The scholarship is available to high school seniors or graduates who plan to enroll full-time in the PHCC Association of Orange County, Riverside and San Bernardino (PHCC-ORSB) four-year Journeyman Plumbing Training Program. The scholarship value is worth approximately $14,000 over four years.

Ommar Garcia, Gabriel Rodriguez and Dane Barker were selected as the first recipients to work with Barker & Sons Plumbing and Rooter in Orange County.

“There is a high demand for plumbers, as many skilled plumbers are retiring, and school programs are no longer widely available,” says Robert AndersonSchoepe, Fluidmaster Chairman and CEO. “Plumbing is a lucrative career and we’re excited to support an industry who has supported our success.”

“We’re thrilled to partner with Fluidmaster to help guide these youth and introduce them to a plumbing career,” says Michael Barker, President of Barker and Sons Plumbing & Rooter. “The scholarships recipients that were selected to work with our team are smart, driven, and on the path to becoming great plumbers.”

The student recipients receive a $3,500 award and up to six awards will be granted annually and can be renewed for up to three additional years or until the training program is complete. This program is administered by Scholarship America, the nation’s largest designer and manager of scholarship, tuition assistance and other education support programs.

Applicants to the Fluidmaster PHCC Scholarship Program must be High School Seniors or graduates who have completed the Plumbing-Heating-Coolers Contractors Association Ride and Decide Program, and those who plan to enroll in full-time study in the PHCC-ORSB four-year Journeyman Plumbing Training Program at PHCC. All recipients must also be United States citizens or be legally eligible to work in the United States, and employed by a business with membership in PHCC-ORSB.

The American Water Summit took place on October 24th – 26th 2018 at the Loews Hotel, Philadelphia, PA. The conference brought together over 300 executives and business leaders from across the North American water sector, including thought leaders from the financial sector, technology sector, industry, and local and federal government. Discussing ‘Inspiring Innovation’ the two-day conference showcased new and emerging talent, examining the threats facing the water industry now and in the future, and demonstrating the wealth of opportunities available in the North American market.

The American Water Summit 2018 opened on Wednesday 24th October 2018 with a pre-conference workshop focused on Accelerating the Digital Utility: Making procurement, return on investment, and objectives work for water. Chaired by George Hawkins, former General Manager of DC Water, the workshop began by giving the speakers, each from utilities across the US, Canada, Australia, and the UK, an opportunity to offer their unique perspectives on how best to accelerate the adoption of smart solutions.

Further speakers from Clean Water Services, Arcadis, Jacobs, XPV Water Partners and PRASA then broke down the procurement and cost benefit analysis of how utilities begin investing in, and procuring, digital solutions. The event ended with a workshop challenge, with attendees lending their expertise to try to establish a solution to some of the biggest roadblocks.

The conference’s Day 1 Opening Plenary followed on Thursday October 25th, with an Opening Address by the US Department of Energy’s Secretary Rick Perry. Secretary Perry announced the Water Security Grand Challenge at the Summit, which is a joint effort by the US EPA and US Department of Energy, aiming to advance technology and innovation to meet the global need for safe, secure and affordable water.

Rich Karlgaard, Publisher and Global Futurist at Forbes gave the Keynote Presentation, with an opening discussion panel by Debra Coy, Partner at XPV Water Partners, alongside Andy Kricun, Executive Director at the Camden County Municipal Utilities Authority, Erin Boeke Burke, US Public Finance, S&P Global and Howard Neukrug, Senior Advisor for the Global Water Leaders Group.

The Summit’s two-day agenda featured a variety of expert-led sessions, roundtables and presentations relating to the three session strands: Finance & Strategy, CTO Forum, and Water Leaders. Finance & Strategy navigated the new business and investment models that will define the water industry in the years to come, while CTO Forum explored the opportunities for forward-thinking solutions providers. Finally, the Water Leaders strand showcased the utility led innovation which is recasting the water sector from the ground up.

As part of the American Water Summit, the Leading Utilities of the World global network took time to induct four new members to the initiative: San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, USA; Alexandria Renew, USA; Denver Water, USA; Northumbrian Water, UK. Leading Utilities of the World is a network of the world’s most forward-thinking water and wastewater utilities, as defined by the network’s 14 distinct innovation areas. Its members represent the gold standard of utility innovation and performance throughout the developed world’s water sector.

The American Water Summit stands at the forefront of advances in the industry, with the agenda guided by Global Water Intelligence’s (GWI) market leading research and analysis. In 2018 this was demonstrated in a session entitled ‘What Does a Great Water Future Look Like?’ held as part of the CTO Forum strand. This historic session brought together next generation utility leaders to discuss their vision of a water utility in the year 2040 and gave many attendees a hopeful outlook on the future of the industry. Dana Gonzalez, Hampton Roads Sanitation District; Raul Gonzalez, Hampton Roads Sanitation District; Tera Fong, DC Water; Aisha Niang, Houston Water; Serge Haddad, Los Angeles Department of Water and Power; Stephanie Chiorean, Philadelphia Water Department; and Abby Sullivan, Philadelphia Water Department gave presentations outlining their goals for the future of utilities.

The Gala Dinner, held on the evening of October 25th, featured a presentation by photographer Ed Burtynsky of Toronto Image Works, whose collection, aptly entitled ‘Water’, showcased the various ways water, or the lack of water, affects change on the environment. Mr. Burtynsky also showed part of an upcoming film documentary, The Anthropocene Project.

Day 2 of the Summit saw the highly anticipated CEOs Panel. In this session Andy Seidel of UGSI Solutions joined senior executives from Aclara, SUEZ North America, Black & Veatch, Jacobs, Mueller Water Products, and Xylem, to discuss how the water sector is addressing the needs of a rising population, unpredictable weather patterns, and an increasingly data-driven economy.

The New Economics of the Regulatory Frontier panel particularly captured the attention of delegates as it focused on microcontaminants removals, with emphasis on PFAS, one of the microcontaminants of greatest concern for the US EPA. The discussion revolved largely around what PFAS are and how they came about, how PFAS gained national attention and concern, available technologies for PFAS removal, transparency and response to the public. We heard from several solutions providers from CDM Smith, Calgon Carbon, AECOM, and Evoqua on available technologies and persistent problems, in addition to hearing from Mike Pickel with Horsham Water and Sewer on how his utility approached the problem, implemented solutions and communicated with the public.

The American Water Summit 2018 agenda culminated in the Closing Panel on Thursday October 26th giving an international perspective on the global water market. GWI’s Publisher, Christopher Gasson, hosted a panel of industrial and municipal water sector experts for a discussion of what the North American water sector must learn from the rest of the world. Speakers included Sue Murphy, CEO of the Water Corporation, Australia, John Gibson, President and COO at Veolia North America, Heiner Markhoff, CEO at SUEZ Water Technologies and Solutions, and Thierry Noel, Director at Amane Advisors.

Deerfield Beach, Fla. — Grundfos has expanded its U.S. footprint to Florida to serve the water and wastewater industry with its industry-leading solutions. On Thursday, Nov. 8, Grundfos hosted a ribbon cutting ceremony at its new facility in Deerfield Beach, Florida, to celebrate the expansion.

Located at 620 S.W. 12TH Ave. in Deerfield Beach, the new facility serves as a distribution hub for Grundfos water and wastewater pumps, controls, and related accessories, and offers service and testing to the area.

At 4 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 8, Deerfield Beach Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Denise Jordan joined Grundfos leadership and the local business community for a ribbon cutting ceremony at the new location.

“By placing a location in the heart of Florida, we will now provide inventory, personnel and local expertise to assist customers with all of their water and wastewater pumping, treatment, and control/monitoring challenges,” said Robert Montenegro, executive vice president of sales for Grundfos Water Utility. “We look forward to supporting businesses and municipalities with world-class Grundfos solutions.”

Earlier in the day, Grundfos hosted consulting engineers and municipality personnel for a series of continuing education courses provided by the Grundfos Technical Institute. The Florida Rural Water Association approved one of the courses offered to include continuing education units (CEU) and professional development hours (PDH) for participants.

Grundfos is not only investing in the new Florida facility, but also expanding its innovative, efficient, reliable pump offerings to service the market. The new patent-pending Grundfos SE/SL submersible wastewater pumps feature enhanced durability for dry pit and submerged applications, and the new Grundfos SD range of pumps offers the water quality industry a durable solution to solids handling for wastewater and Stormwater collection and treatment that can be customized for a wide range of applications.

To learn more about Grundfos products, attendees at the ribbon cutting toured the facility, viewed our pumps, and met the Grundfos experts.

For more information, visit www.grundfos.us.