NEWEA's June Update

With the start of June, we're already approaching the halfway mark of 2023.

Looking back at the first five months of the year, NEWEA has had a busy and exciting six months. In January, we hosted our first fully in-person Annual Conference since January 2020, which was attended by over 2,000 water professionals. In collaboration with regional and state water and wastewater organizations, we launched the Work for Water initiative, focused on creating a sustainable workforce development organization for all New England water utilities. The Steering Committee tasked with developing this initiative met in April to provide their insights and expertise on these crucial topics. The workshop brought forth common themes and trends regarding issues in workforce development, which will be used to develop Phase II - Investigation of Opportunities and Issues and Phase III - Development of the Strategic Plan.

As we look ahead, our next event is our 2023 Spring Meeting, which is taking place this week in Saratoga Springs, NY. We're also currently accepting abstracts for our Residuals and Biosolids Conference, taking place in November, and for our 2024 Annual Conference. Additionally, we're accepting NEWEA Officer nominations until June 16. Nominate yourself or a qualified colleague to help shape the future of our association. Scroll down to learn more and access relevant links.

Check out the rest of the newsletter for more on committee news and details on upcoming events. Until next newsletter, we hope everyone has a great month and stays healthy.

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.

There's Still Time to Register for the 2023 Spring Meeting

Join NEWEA and New York Water Environment Association (NYWEA) in Saratoga Springs, NY June 7-9 for our jointly hosted Spring Meeting. With 17 technical sessions, the Operations Challenge, exhibitor displays, and more, there are lots of opportunities to learn, network, and earn Training Contact Hours (TCHs) at the 2023 Joint Spring Meeting.

View the Program and register to attend.

Submit an Abstract to the 2024 Annual Conference

NEWEA's Program Committee invites the submission of abstracts for our 2024 Annual Conference & Exhibit. This prestigious conference, which will take place January 21-24, 2024, annually attracts over 2,200 water professionals for several days of technical sessions, exhibits, student poster displays, and more. Attendees have the opportunity to network and exchange information and state-of-the-art concepts in water and environmental issues.

Submit by June 16.

NEWEA/RCAP Workshop

RCAP Solutions and NEWEA are hosting an in-person workshop for small and rural wastewater utilities to build financial, managerial, and operational capacity for their systems.

Workshop topics will include:

Safety
Regulation Review
Pumps
Collection
Operations & Maintenance
Activated Sludge

Reserve your spot.

NEWEA/WEF Award Nomination Deadline Extended

The deadline for submitting a nomination for NEWEA and WEF Awards has been extended to June 9.

There's still time to honor the work of a deserving water professional by submitting an award nomination on their behalf. Self nominations are encouraged.

Award recipients will be honored at the Awards Ceremony and Luncheon at NEWEA's 2024 Annual Conference.

Visit our site to see the full list of awards. Nomination submissions are due by June 9, 2023.

Submit a NEWEA Officer Nomination

Do you see yourself as a leader in NEWEA or do you know of someone who would be a perfect fit on our Executive Committee? Help us shape NEWEA's future by submitting a nomination for an Officer position.

The Nominating Committee and Executive Committee encourage you to give serious consideration to nominate a worthy colleague or yourself for one of the current Officer vacancies listed below. Click the links to view the position's description.

Officers are voting members of the Executive Committee and use their time and talents along with those of your colleagues to help direct and guide NEWEA into the future. NEWEA is a dynamic organization that relies heavily on its members to develop and implement its many policies and programs. By nominating a worthy colleague or yourself, you will become an important part of this vital Association that is so important across all sectors of the water environment.

Submit a nomination by June 16, 2023.

Northeast Biosolids & Residuals Conference Call for Abstracts

NEWEA's Residuals Management Committee and the North East Biosolids and Residuals Association (NEBRA) are pleased to announce the call for abstracts for their 2023 Northeast Residuals and Biosolids Conference.

The conference and exhibit is a comprehensive forum to learn the latest trends in biosolids and residuals management and is a great opportunity for networking with those involved in managing these materials in the Northeast. There will also be a tour of a local wastewater treatment facility with advanced solids handling processes.

Abstracts are being accepted in the following topics:

Regionalization Challenges and Success
Research and Solids Treatment Technologies for Contaminants of Emerging Concern, like PFAS
Residuals Master Planning
Solids handling and co-digestion
Thermal Treatment Technologies
Regulating Residuals/Biosolids Ends Uses

Submit an abstract by June 30, 2023.

Affordability of Household Water Services Across the United States

Lauren A. Patterson, Sophia A. Bryson, and Martin W. Doyle of Duke University conducted a study to identify the concentration of households that struggle to pay for water service across the United States. The study's abstract is included below, as is a link to read the full article:

Households that cannot be able to afford their water bills may lose access to drinking water and wastewater services. This study seeks to quantify how many households may struggle to pay for water services across 787 of the largest drinking water providers located within each state of the United States.

Household water affordability is the ability for a household to pay for basic water services without undue hardship. Here, we select 6,000 gallons per month (22.7 m3/mo) as sufficient to meet basic needs and define undue hardship as spending more than 4.6% of household income (one day of labor each month) to pay for water services. Monthly bills are combined with census income data based on service area boundaries to determine how many households are spending more than 4.6% of their income on water services.

We find that basic water services are unaffordable for 17% of the households (28.3 million persons) in this study. The median, or representative community, has one in seven households spending more than 4.6% of their income paying for water services. We developed a data visualization tool to allow users to explore how affordability challenges change across different volumes of water usage and levels of financial hardship (https://nicholasinstitute.duke.edu/water-affordability/water-affordability-united-states). This research shows that household water unaffordability is not a localized problem but rather is a challenge experienced by households in communities across the nation.

Read the full article.

Ways to give

Make a donation online.
When you shop online, use Amazon Smile and choose New England Water Environment Assoc as your charitable organization.
Take a moment to share how NEWEA has impacted your career, education, and/or community.
Establish a legacy gift or memorial fund, or include NEWEA in your will.
Designate NEWEA for a Qualified Charitable Distribution. (If you have to take a Required Minimum Distribution from your retirement funds in 2023, you may be able to offset the tax impacts. Contact your financial advisor/IRA custodian for more information.)

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