News & Updates






Save the Date

Teacher Training
August 20, Providence, RI

Northeast Biosolids and Residuals Conference
October 2019, Springfield, MA
You may not be able to tell based on the snow still covering the ground and 20-degree mornings, but it's Spring! The days are slowly getting longer and warmer, and we're inching closer to our second largest event of the year, our Spring Meeting.

The hotel room block at the meeting location, Wentworth by the Sea, is already open. Reserve your stay for the meeting before May 12 to secure the best rate. Additionally, the program and open registration are expected to be available during the second week of April.

Until then, we have lots of other NEWEA events to keep you busy, including the second annual Deer Island Dash and KidFest, the next Poo and Brew, and Operations Challenge Training Day and Facility Tour.

On the committee news side, the Young Professionals Committee is now enrolling new mentees and mentors for the second cycle of the Mentoring Program and the Public Education Committee is looking for Stockholm Junior Water Prize judges.

Check out the rest of the newsletter for more on committee news and upcoming events. Until next newsletter, have a great month and we hope to see you at some of our upcoming events.

As always, we invite you to contact Jordan Gosselin at jgosselin@newea.org with committee news and updates you would like to share in future editions.
Sign Up for the Operations Challenge Training Day
Learn more about the Operations Challenge, take a tour of the West Warwick Wastewater Treatment Facility, and get classroom and hands-on experience by attending the Operations Challenge Training Day & Facility Tour. Training Contact Hours are available for participating states.

Sponsor or Run the Deer Island Dash & KidFest
NEWEA and New England Water Works Association's (NEWWA) Water for People committees are once again teaming up to put on the Deer Island Dash 5K & KidFest. All proceeds from this event, which will take place on May 4 at the Deer Island Treatment Plant in Winthrop, MA, will benefit Water for People.


Submit an Award Nomination
The call for award nominations period is now open! Nominate a deserving water professional or group for a NEWEA or WEF award. We honor work in the water industry in a variety of categories, including safety, engineering, operations, public education, public relations, management, collection systems, laboratory expertise, and service to the organization.

Poo & Brew Tour
Join Our Young Professionals for the Next Poo and Brew
On April 24, our Young Professionals Committee will be hosting its next Poo and Brew Event. Join the committee for a tour of the Amherst, MA Water Resource Recovery Facility, followed by a networking reception at Abandoned Building Brewery. Sponsorship opportunities are available.

Book Your Stay for the Spring Meeting
Our hotel room block is now open. Join us at the beautiful Wentworth by the Sea for our upcoming Spring Meeting, taking place June 2-5. Book your stay for the meeting before May 12 to secure NEWEA's discounted rate.

Participate in our Watershed Homebrewing Competition
With the goal of bringing NEWEA members even closer to the source waters that we strive to protect, NEWEA is seeking homebrewers for our 2nd Annual Pints Against Pollution event. This friendly competition will challenge each brewer to create an original beer using local water supplies for sharing at NEWEA’s Committee Appreciation Event in July.

Mentee Allison Fisher, far left, attends the 2019 Awards Ceremony and Luncheon with mentor Helen Gordon, middle, and Sabrina Castaneda, Student Design Competition Award recipient.
Now Enrolling: The 2019-2020 Mentoring Program

The Young Professionals Committee is now enrolling new mentees and mentors for the second cycle of its Mentoring Program! This program, introduced by the committee at the 2018 Annual Conference, pairs an experienced professional with a professional just beginning their career in the water industry.

The goal is to provide mentees with opportunities to grow their network, engage in professional development activities, and learn more about NEWEA and its available resources. Additionally, the committee hopes this program will enrich mentors with a fresh perspective on incoming water professionals.

New mentees should fill out this application, and the new mentor application can be found here.
Green Steps – From the Sustainability Committee
The Sustainability Committee recently completed (February 2019) an informal survey of NEWEA members to better understand how the membership views sustainability, and what our committee can do to further promote sustainable principles and practices within the wastewater community and NEWEA’s membership. The eight-question survey included five sustainability-focused questions. The responses provided the committee with some useful insights and suggestions about how the membership defines sustainability and how the committee can better inform the public and decision-makers on the importance of sustainable practices.

Check out this issue of Green Steps to learn about the takeaways and findings from this survey.
Become a Stockholm Junior Water Prize Judge

The Public Education Committee is looking for judges to review and select the winning paper from each of the six New England states for the Stockholm Junior Water Prize. Becoming a judge involves an approximately two-week commitment between April 15 and 29. The timeline is as follows:
 
  • April 15 – Deadline for students to send SJWP entries to WEF
  • April 17 – WEF sends state entries to NEWEA for judging
  • April 25 @ 2:00 PM – Meeting for judges to discuss state winners (and potentially interview students over the phone)
  • April 29 – Deadline to select and notify state winners and WEF

Join this fun opportunity to see projects from the next generation of water professionals! Email Teri Demers to participate.
A Call for Sustainability Directors

The Sustainability Committee would like to reach out to a new-to-NEWEA group that might have interest and motivation to be a part of our organization at large and in particular, serve a role within our Sustainability Committee. We are hearing more and more that cities, towns, companies, and industries are hiring Directors of Sustainability. These are leaders tasked with overseeing their organization’s activities related to energy and materials use, smart planning and building, composting and recycling, among a variety of other items. We see this as a potential partnership with what our Sustainability Committee is trying to offer within NEWEA. But – here’s where we need your help – we are hoping to develop a list of potential contacts that fill this role within organizations related to infrastructure and government. Do you know of someone or know someone who might know someone that fills this role? Or maybe you’ve seen mention of it in your Town or City communications? Any leads on helping us to identify folks doing this type of work would be much appreciated. Please email Courtney Eaton.
New England Water Environment Association l NEWEA.org