Partnering For Impact Event
On June 3rd, CASA and CWEA co-hosted the 5th Annual Partnering for Impact (PFI) for California at the David Brower Center in Berkeley, CA. Approximately 70 attendees from across the clean water industry (agencies, academic researchers, consultants, and technologists) gathered for a one-day event to discuss two issues that will no doubt drive agency priorities in the years to come: Emissions from nutrient removal and management of reverse osmosis concentrate. These two issues were selected not only for discussion at PFI, but are also the focus of the CASA Research Collaborative (CRC).

Felicia Marcus (Stanford University) provided an insightful and intriguing opening keynote address, discussing pathways to innovation in wastewater policies. A morning panel discussion on reverse osmosis concentrate management, facilitated by Angela Stiegler (Hazen and Sawyer), was contributed to by experts from across the industry: David Sedlak (Cal Berkeley), Mark Donovan (GHD) and Manisha Kothari (SFPUC).

Following a networking lunch, the afternoon session kicked off with an Emissions from Nutrient Removal panel led by CASA’s Sarah Deslauriers. She was joined by Mike Falk (HDR), Krishna Pagilla (UN, Reno) and Christophe Boisvert (DHI). Each panel discussion was followed by a robust roundtable discussion with facilitated conversations that were brought back to the full group for discussion and note. Felicia closed out the day with a “Call to Action” that inspired and instructed participants with ways to bring these ideas home to make an impact.

Both PFI and the CRC were born from discussions within the CASA Engineering and Research Group and continue to grow in impact and popularity. Please join us at the work group meeting during the annual conference to learn how you can participate in these initiatives going forward.