The 20th Annual WateReuse Sympo-sium, held on September 18-21, in Denver, Colorado, USA, focused on “Mile High Opportunities in Water Reuse and Desalination.”
The symposium’s opening day featured a presentation on “The Solaire, A Residential Reuse High Rise” by Michael Zavoda, P.E., the senior project engineer from American Water’s Applied Water Management Group. The Solaire, a 293-unit residential apartment building in New York City’s Battery Park, is the first and only building of its kind to receive a LEED™ gold certification by the US Green Building Council. The Applied Water Management Group of American Water designed, built and now operates the 25,000 gallons per day (GPD) independent wastewater system located in the building’s basement, which recycles and treats the building’s sewage for reuse.
The symposium’s expanded programming focused on both water reuse and desalination as alternative sources. The agenda also included coverage on Tampa Bay Water’s Seawater Desalination Plant, since the Board of Directors of Tampa Bay Water unanimously appointed American Water and its European sister company Pridesa to manage the plant in November 2004. Since then the company has directed the remedial design, construction and operation of the 25 million-gallons-per-day facility that turns seawater into freshwater.
Mohammad R. Karim, Ph.D., an environmental scientist in the Innovation & Technology group at American Water’s Research Lab in Delran, New Jersey, presented the paper “Microbial Quality of Urban Reuse Water.” His presentation focused on the extensive research into the effectiveness of membrane bioreactor treated reclaimed water. Dr. Karim has been the principal investigator, or co-investigator, on various research grants from the AWWA Research Foundation and the Water Environment Research Foundation.
“Membrane bioreactors, like those used in The Solaire and studied by Dr. Karim, are the leading edge technology for advanced wastewater treatment,” explained Dr. Mark LeChevallier, Director of Innovation and Environmental Excellence for American Water.
The Water Environment Federation (WEF) and the American Water Works Association (AWWA) co-sponsored the WateReuse Association’s Annual Symposium.
