Monday AM Session 1 - General Session

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Description

Presentation #1: What have we accomplished and what is projected for the future? In days past onsite wastewater technology and regulation focused solely on disposal. Today with an emphasis on sustainability and 3 resilience, the reuse and conservation of wastewater is now being evaluated. John will review the County’s current position and the path forward for the Houston Region, including discussion of massive reuse that goes mainly unnoticed and the future of onsite reuse and its impact in land planning.

Presentation #2:  What are the big research needs to achieve more sustainable environmental quality? The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals provide a global framework to assist in advancing a more sustainable future for all people while protecting natural resources, but degradation of environmental quality decidedly challenges achieving these noble Goals. Studies of environmental quality have often been reactionary, responding to the newest disease, impaired ecosystem or species, and class of understudied chemical, physical or biological stressors.

Presentation #3:  Dr. Sawyers will discuss EPA’s activities in support of onsite and decentralized wastewater systems. He will place particular emphasis on their implementation of federal legislation related to decentralized wastewater, and other EPA programs.

Presentation #4:  Tracy Hammond is a member of the firm's National Public Policy group and assists clients interested in shaping energy, environmental, and infrastructure legislation and regulation. He is part of the team which represents NOWRA on Capitol Hill. He will provide an analysis of the legislative and regulatory landscape, initiatives underway which may have an impact on the onsite/decentralized industry, and steps the industry can take to increase its influence in Washington on those initiatives.

Contributors

John Blount

John Blount is a 1984 graduate of the University of Houston. After college he served as an Army Corps of Engineers officer on both active and reserve duty, achieving the rank of captain while being stationed in the United States, Republic of Germany and the Republic of Honduras. He has worked in the civil engineering field for 37 years and is a Registered Professional Engineer (WI) (TX) (ME) as well as a LEED Accredited Professional, Certified Flood Plain Manager (CFM) and Envision Sustainability Professional (ENV SP). He has been employed with Harris County for over 34 years starting as an Inspector and advancing to Director of the Engineering Department. He currently holds the position of County Engineer. He serves on the National Sanitation Foundation (NSF) Joint Wastewater Committee and was previously Chairman of the Texas Onsite Wastewater Research Council appointed by the governor. John is a leader in green infrastructure and sustainability practices
Bryan W. Brooks

Bryan W. Brooks is Distinguished Professor in the Department of Environmental Science, and Director of Environmental Health Science at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. His research focuses on water quality and reuse, developing approaches to define and manage hazards and risks, environmental, aquatic and comparative toxicology and pharmacology, environmental and green chemistry, environmental public health, and the ecology, chemistry and toxicology of harmful algae blooms. Prof. Brooks has served on the NOWRA Board of Directors and coordinates NOW-R2 with NOWRA. He has served as Fulbright Visiting Research Chair in Water and the Environment at the University of Lethbridge in Canada, as a Visiting Erskine Fellow at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand, as visiting Pearl River Scholar Chair Professor at Jinan University in China, and as visiting professor at the University of South Bohemia in the Czech Republic. Prof. Brooks received the Kenaga Award from the Society of Environmental
Dr. Andrew Sawyers

In his capacity as the Director of the EPA Office of Wastewater Management Dr. Sawyers oversees the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) program, the Clean Water Act’s mechanism for the permitting of municipal and industrial discharge into surface waters of the U.S. As the Director of OWM, Dr. Sawyers is also responsible for multiple technical and financial assistance tools for the development and maintenance of the country’s wastewater infrastructure, including WIFIA, the Clean Water State Revolving Fund (SRF) and EPA’s Water Finance Center. He previously worked for the Maryland Water Quality Financing Administration where he managed the state’s Clean Water and Drinking Water SRFs and the Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay Restoration Fund. He has a Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University in Geography and Environmental Engineering.
Tom Fritts and Nicholas Dykes

Tom Fritts is vice-president of Residential Sewage Treatment Company, Inc. in Grandview, Missouri where they design, sell and service alternative onsite wastewater systems. Tom is past president of the Missouri Smallflows Organization (MSO), the Kansas Small Flows Association (KSFA) and the National Onsite Wastewater Recycling Association (NOWRA). He is an approved instructor for NOWRA, the Consortium of Institutes for Decentralized Wastewater Treatment and several states across the country. Tom is the 2016 recipient of the NOWRA Dick Otis Industry Achievement Award and the 2015 Kansas Small Flows Association Raymond Peat Industry Achievement Award.

Nicholas Dykes grew up in the onsite wastewater industry, and has been working with hisfather Scott Dykes since he was old enough to come to work. Some of his earliest memories are using a grade stick and laying infiltrators. He can’t quite remember a time when setting an ATU, chlorinator, and pipe to daylight was common practice. But it was, and perfectly legal! He is 32 years old now, and so much has changed for the better. He is grateful to have watched Onsite Wastewater Treatment in the State of Missouri grow to what it is today. Nicholas is a 3rd Generation in a Business who puts Workmanship and Best Practices First. He has been Blessed to learn this trade from many great men in the Kansas City area whom he considers the best in the business. Nicholas is a registered Advanced installer and Inspector with DHSS. He has Installed systems from 360 gpd to 3000 gpd systems, conventional, LPP, Drips, Lagoons, Mounds, UV Discharge (DNR), even the experimental ones we do not talk about. Nicholas loves what he does and this industry, and looks forward to watching it grow and evolve in the future.

Thank you

Description

Contributors

John Blount

Bryan W. Brooks

Dr. Andrew Sawyers

Tom Fritts and Nicholas Dykes