Africa Water, Sanitation & Hygiene Nov - Dec Vol. 9 No.6 | Page 20

Water / Wastewater

Into The Storm: Forecasting the Future of Water
By Kevin Westerling

willing to take some risk to try something new and
innovative. Even if you have all of that in place, you
then may need a regulator who is willing to approve that
new technology/approach; so, policy plays a big role as
well. The concept of risk and risk-sharing is increasingly
recognized as a real issue.”
Key Trends
What are the trending issues that innovation can
solve? The biggest attention-getter may be stormwater
management. WEF acknowledged this by introducing
the inaugural WEFTEC Stormwater Congress last
year and by expanding the 2014 program due to rising
demand.
Image credit: “July 7 2009 Extravaganza - Prediction = True,” Pilottage © “We are all increasingly aware of the importance of
2004, used under an Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic license: https:// stormwater management to address water quality and
creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/ quantity challenges. In fact, since the passage of the
Clean Water Act, the largest contributing force to water
ith great power comes great responsibility.”
quality impairment has flipped from point sources to
Whether you recognize the quote from Voltaire
nonpoint sources,” explained O’Neill. “Predictions for the
(1832) or Spider-Man (2002), it is an enduring truth.
market for stormwater technologies indicate expanding
And while the world of water/wastewater may not excite
need not just here in the U.S., but globally. Many of our
like a superhero, the work is important. In early 2014,
utility members are taking responsibility for management
Eileen O’Neill inherited important responsibility by
of stormwater, and we are also aware of a growing cadre
becoming the executive director of the Water Environment of stormwater professionals looking for opportunities
Federation (WEF). WEF’s agenda for WEFTEC 2014
to exchange best practices and learn about cutting-edge
reflects the needs facing the water/wastewater community
approaches to stormwater treatment, management, and
— infrastructure, financing, regulations, water quality,
financing.”
scarcity, et al. — but it also pushes the industry by
WEF’s strategic direction, according to O’Neill, also
promoting best practices, new technologies, and solutions.
includes focus on communicating the true value of water
I spoke to O’Neill about what needs to be done to
to the public, defining and developing the skills and
maintain a supply for years to come.
attributes needed by water professionals of the future, and
identifying highly practical short- and long-term solutions
Future Focus
for resource recovery and holistic water management.
O’Neill and WEF exert influence on the market by helping
Mission Critical
foster innovation, through both the Leaders Innovation
Forum for Technology (LIFT) done in partnership with
As stewards of a precious resource, water and wastewater
the Water Environment Research Foundation (WERF),
professionals are imbued with great power and
and through WEFTEC’s Innovation Pavilion.
responsibility — superheroes of public health and the
“Supporting innovation is not a simple or singleenvironment, if you will — but part of that responsibility
dimensional challenge,” said O’Neill. “Enabling
is to keep up with the latest technologies, techniques, and
innovation, or helping the innovation process move
trends. The mission to continually learn conjures another
forward, requires a lot of the ‘right’ pieces to be in place.
enduring quote; it was Sir Francis Bacon, in 1587, who
Of course you need the idea inventors — universities,
reminded us that “Knowledge is power.”
start-ups, and sometimes established companies’ R&D
Knowledge, power, and responsibility — all in a day’s work
centers, or even utilities — to help start the process.
for today’s water p