Annual Report 2008
Helping Communities Flourish
2009 marks the Water Environment Research Foundation's 20th
anniversary. Since 1989, WERF has tackled problems and opportunities on
behalf of the wastewater and stormwater communities, bringing solutions
and ideas to the people serving small public utilities, major urban
agencies, multinational corporations, and state and federal regulatory
officials.
It took a visionary commitment by many people to get where we are
today. Fortunately, we have just as many visionaries who will take us
where we need to go tomorrow.
Dennis Diemer, Chair,
East Bay Municipal
Utility District
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• It seems like the whole scientific world is researching
climate change impacts and mitigation. WERF is the research organization
examining implications for, and contributions of, wastewater treatment.
Our work will contribute to greenhouse gas reduction and alternative
fuel development.
• EPA is preparing new water quality criteria for pathogens in
recreational waters. WERF is taking a lead role in looking at the
implications for inland fresh water bodies. Our work will inform the
regulations.
• Lawsuits continue to attack nutrient levels in rivers and
bays. WERF is facilitating the collection of wastewater nutrient data.
We are searching for achievable limits and affordable - and therefore
realistic - technologies to reduce wastewater contributions to nutrient
loads. Our work will aid the recovery of impaired waterbodies and save
millions of taxpayer dollars in unnecessary capital investment.
• Communities hate sewer pipe failures, and for good reason.
WERF is leading the development of asset management tools to help
communities strategically plan for cost effective infrastructure
replacement or rehabilitation.
Glenn Reinhardt,
WERF Executive Director
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• Does society want to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels? And
get rid of wastewater solids at the same time? WERF researchers are
collaborating with the best minds around the globe, finding affordable
technologies that will turn biosolids into biofuel and convert carbon
and nitrogen into energy. Endocrine disruptors were just suspicions of
wildlife researchers in 1989 and were little known to the broader
scientific community. Detections of pharmaceuticals and trace amounts of
consumer product chemicals in water supplies continue to cause public
consternation. To date, WERF researchers have reviewed and summarized
the available literature, including a number of risk assessments, and
found no evidence linking these low concentrations in wastewater to
adverse human health effects. We are directing research that will
examine the effects on aquatic communities and we continue to search for
the best technologies and processes to remove the compounds during
wastewater treatment.
• WERF has developed an array of security products and
protocols guarding against natural catastrophes
and physical attacks that will protect the functional viability of the
wastewater collection and treatment systems during emergency events.
• In 1989, sludge processing and disposal was "a national
problem with few obvious solutions" but, thanks to WERF research, we are
finding solutions. Innovators are exploring the use of solids as an
energy resource opportunity for the future.
The benefits of WERF research reach throughout America’s
communities
Wastewater issues do not reside solely in the municipal treatment
plant that is usually hidden from public view. The full wastewater
system includes various sources of sewage (i.e., homes, business, and
industry); pipes, pumping stations, and other collection works;
treatment facilities, technologies and processes; residuals disposal;
energy use and generation; air emissions; receiving waters; and
downstream water uses. Today’s issues also increasingly involve
decentralized management, onsite treatment, and reuse.
Stormwater issues are broader than the culverts and pipes that have
formed the backbone of rainwater management over the centuries. Hard
assets are still central to stormwater management, but WERF is proud of
our contributions to green practices that manage urban stormwater runoff
at its source.
WERF research has added to our country’s ability to address a
wide range of health, safety, and environmental needs. We are able to
produce these achievements because of the support of 300 subscribers,
including 200 wastewater and stormwater utilities providing services to
over 70 percent of the U.S. sewered population. More than a dozen global
manufacturers with private wastewater facilities also support WERF, as
do nearly a hundred companies that provide services and equipment
to both public and private facilities.
It’s been a very productive 20 years. We look forward to
continued discoveries and contributions in the years ahead.
Dennis Diemer, Chair East Bay Municipal
Utility District
Glenn Reinhardt, WERF Executive
Director
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