The upcoming Indiana Water Environment Association (WEA) Annual Conference will include three presentations by Donohue personnel. The conference is set for August 21to 23 in Fort Wayne’s Grand Wayne Convention Center. The presentations include the following: 

• “We Told You Improvements Were Needed, Now You Want It When?” presented by Paul Elling and Emily Wehmeyer. In 2015, Donohue was retained to evaluate the sanitary collection system serving an industrial facility located over 8 miles from the local wastewater treatment plant and 5.5 miles southeast of city limits. The industrial user had requested that the city identify whether the collection system had sufficient capacity to increase their permitted sanitary discharge from 280,000 gallons per day (gpd) to 500,000 gpd. The report was completed with no action taken for nearly 18 months. In October 2017, the plan was approved and project completion was required by January 1, 2019. This presentation will detail the initial report findings and describe the project’s fast-paced design, challenges, and obstacles to success.
• “That’s Alarming,” a presentation by Robert Neils, discusses the range of available technologies for alarm notification to off-site and on-call operations staff. Technologies presented range from a simple hard-wired automatic dialer using a standard telephone line, to sophisticated software-based systems. Real world examples of these technologies will be presented as well as the advantages, disadvantages, and security concerns associated these options.
• “Keeping Staff Safe One Step at a Time: Grating Safety and Maintenance.” T.J Bates and Katherine Merkle will discuss the need for grate safety and maintenance. Environmental exposure, age, support conditions, and original construction all play a key role in determining the potential risk of grating failure and associated injury or death. Without a thorough and proper evaluation that goes beyond the surface of the grate, significant deficiencies may go unnoticed and unaddressed. Attendees will become more aware of the risks associated with grated walking surfaces and be better prepared to proactively address potential hazards within and around any facility.

The Indiana Water Environment Association (IWEA) mission is to preserve and protect Indiana’s waterways through educating their members and the citizens of Indiana about the importance of the water environment. This year the IWEA has expanded its schedule to include intriguing and innovative presentations, mobile sessions, plant tours, and hands-on demonstrations. Visit us in our Donohue booth.