WefTec 2023 Day Two: Making Water Approachable

WHAT'S INSIDE

United Flow Technologies (UFT) is covering the WefTec conference in Chicago. WEFTEC is an annual water and wastewater conference focusing on the challenges, opportunities, and developments facing the water sector.?

In this free report, we cover Automation, Artificial Intelligence, Cybersecurity, updating infrastructure, and how the water sector is preparing for the coming generations.?

We present key insights from day two of WefTec 2023.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

• The wastewater industry faces new challenges as operators and owners age along with the existing infrastructure. Innovators in the sector are looking for ways to secure the future and ensure that the next generation is equipped to pick up where the current one leaves off. The push is to renew and reinvigorate while time remains on their side.
• Change has to come to the entire sector, not just at the top. A mix of grassroots and industry-wide changes is the key to future development. As a new industrial revolution takes place, it becomes ever more necessary to integrate the entire industry with the deliberate intention of preemptively defending against what many believe to be the next issues wastewater faces.
• Wastewater treatment is an integral part of most people’s day to day lives, but few ever even think about it. One way to equip today’s youth with the tools they need to preserve and improve quality of life is by making the water sector more accessible and less intimidating.

As Time Goes By: The Silver Tsunami

Day two of WefTec focused intensely on how companies are planning for the future. There is a cautious optimism about the industry’s ability to continue moving in the right direction. As more and more operators and managers retire, the worry of knowledge loss grows. If those who are of retiring age or nearing it don’t find a way to pass on what they’ve learned, that information will go by the wayside.?

Xylem is one of the largest entities in the water market, and it too is feeling the pressures of age. patrick decker , CEO since 2014, announced recently that he will be stepping down from his position soon. His successor is current Xylem COO, Matthew Pine . Pine talked about the challenges of increasing amounts of data during the “WefTec Live” event and the need to attract younger talent. He mentioned the imposing size of data getting collected that people can’t manage to keep up with. He also knows that he has to be part of the coalition that attracts young people to the wastewater sector, which is not the most attractive industry name.

In his talk titled “Digital Transformation Enables Smart Water Initiatives”, Rockwell Automation’s Director of Advanced Analytics, Bijan Sayyar-Rodsari , revealed that over 75 percent of water infrastructure in the United States is over 30 years old. It is easy to forget that 1993 was 30 years ago, and though the thought is a little distressing, it is vital that people have an accurate conception of the state of things. Still, wastewater treatment as a whole is stubborn and reluctant to change.?

Speakers Andrew Erickson and Mason Throneburg put it simply: “we can either resist change or embrace it. Their joint speech thrust the idea of agility into the spotlight. They believe agility is the answer to the rigidity that pervades their world and that it is important to frame everything positively. Instead of thinking something was wrong, for instance, think instead that it is an opportunity for accelerated learning.

Corporations are also increasingly investing in technology that allows people to leave their mark and keep their knowledge for the world to use. This is called a Digital Legacy and is not to be confused with online estate planning. Sayyarrodsari mentioned that with the same data and the same infrastructure, certain technologies and processes result in increased returns on investment and profit. It remains the job of the retiring generation to leave the sector in a state where it does not have to relearn everything it should already know.

Integration and Intentions: The Next Industrial Revolution

“We cannot invest in technology for the sake of technology alone”. The bold words of Don Dickinson push against the trend of producing technology for its own sake. We run the risk of being run by our technology instead of running it for our benefit. @dondickinson, who works for Phoenix Connect USA, made sure to drive home the idea of intentions. Everyone should ask the question: why are we doing this?

According to him, we are approaching the fourth Industrial Revolution. The first is the one we all know, when Eli Whitney’s cotton gin and other machines began to replace muscle with steel, but that was not the end. In the early 20th century, simple automation and enhanced division of labor paved the way for mass automation, which itself grew more sophisticated in the 1970s with the implementation of microchips. Silicon brought in the current age, but as we approach the end of this generation, all eyes will be on the digital world and how it will completely transform businesses throughout the economy.

With this incredibly powerful tool available, it is imperative that those using it know the purpose. As it currently stands, most of the economy is digitizing on top of older systems, but soon most systems will be digital from the start. Instead of adding a new coat of paint to the house, we are rebuilding homes from the ground up. The opportunities for advancement exceed what we can currently imagine so long as implementation follows a plan.

Dickinson brought up the issue of cybersecurity and how important it is for maintaining smooth operation of necessary systems. But as it stands, current systems and infrastructure are too outdated to be able to defend against cyber threats all the time, no matter how sophisticated the software is. The next generation of machines and systems will have to make use of digital power to incorporate a dynamic cybersystem from the very beginning. This is not only safer, but cheaper and far less stressful.

Additionally, every change the water industry makes needs to be justified by return on investment. In a world with so many possibilities, it is hard to know on your own where research money should go or which technology to buy. Return on Investment (ROI) as a principle for action is the best indicator of what works and gives the best idea of what the sector needs. In other words, technology that better addresses the issues at hand provides a greater ROI, so when making technological decisions, executives need to imagine how changes will help in the most meaningful ways.

Another intention outside of ROI is integration. Simply put, if one aspect of wastewater systems lags behind all the others, the entire process loses efficiency. The industry needs to follow the plan of vertical integration, or better connecting different levels of the process. This means collection, treatment, procurement, everything. The aforementioned Bijan Sayyarrodsari mentioned that “we use AI at the edge without making the operators’ lives more difficult”. When he mentions the edge, he means using artificial intelligence (AI) to complement entire systems and improve them at every level. Its role should also be supplementary so that operators do not need PHDs to continue doing their jobs.

Brad Hitselberger of Industrial Flow Solutions is one man trying to bring the lower level of the industry up to pace. Industrial Flow Solutions is transforming the world of pumping, specifically in harsher environments. Hitselberger helped Jay Irwin, a New York State based pump-owner, change his life with the first US installation of a Direct In-Line Pump System. This pump is specifically designed to make wet wells (a tub where wastewater collects before pumping begins) remnants of the past. The pump lifts influent at the point of entry and contains various tools to break down large solids, prevent corrosion and erosion, and eliminate smells. The pump stores the influent itself so that it does not just sit in a hole in the ground. This is faster, easier, cleaner, safer, and just smells better.?

Hitselberger is an example of looking towards technology with a purpose in mind. Industrial Flow Solutions examined a problem and developed the technology around solving that, just as Don Dickinson advised. Inside the hall where he spoke, industry members looked on with wide eyes and dropped jaws at this simple and elegant solution to something that had been accepted as just a part of the process not even a year ago. Still, there are challenges. Some people in the room refused to accept it as it was “too good to be true” and “must have a catch”. Additionally, the technology is new and complies with all city, state, and country regulations, but the newness concerns some people. Some worry that as the new system grows in popularity, governments will add unforeseen regulations that render the tech unusable. This goes to show that integration truly runs throughout the entirety of the industry that it includes everything from the EPA to people flushing their toilets.

It’s Not Rocket Science: Demystifying the Industry

Even with the attempts to address the “silver tsunami” of retiring professionals, to renovate and integrate the industry, there are still issues. Few people even know about the wastewater industry, fewer still wish to become a part of it. It is true that innovation makes some jobs obsolete, but it also opens up new possibilities for work and makes some jobs more important. Ultimately, the sector desperately needs to attract more college and high school graduates to be in a healthy spot.

Don Dickinson is also trying to accomplish this. In line with the principle of integration is horizontal merging of IT and OT. These stand for Information Technologies and Operations Technologies respectively and have also been two separate, albeit related, fields of data. In short, IT runs on the front end of business activities like administration and cloud collection while OT runs on the back end, on machines. Dickinson is proposing a switch from proprietary closed systems over to open systems in order to connect people in the water business with each other and the outside economy. He hopes that the distinction between IT and OT disintegrates and the two become one and can be viewed and managed all in one place.

Supply-chain issues during the pandemic opened his eyes to the necessity of change. Phasing out proprietary systems would mean hardware interchangeability, which would drastically mitigate the effects of issues like the ones faced in 2020. Basically, if any software can run on any hardware, the supply of capable hardware skyrockets and eliminates waste and redundancy. This integration of IT and OT as well as the switch to open systems helps make jobs in the industry much simpler and frees up time and money for other projects. These other projects can involve coding, a cumbersome topic in the world of water. Different companies use different coding languages that can be hard to teach and learn, but as one language (Python) comes to dominate the landscape, there will be less and less variation amongst companies. Dickinson imagines a very near future where coding systems are built to resemble Python and do not act as a barrier to entry. The increase in AI demands more coders come to the sector, but they can only come if they can do the job.

But still, wastewater treatment is not “cool”. It probably never will be, but it does have its charms that most people do not know. That is why WefTec and things like it are so important for the future; they shine a light on little-known topics that are so valuable. United Flow Technologies (UFT) (UFT) was fortunate enough to be able to interview Michael Fowler , a wastewater treatment plant operator for JEA in Jacksonville Florida. Fowler works as a judge at WefTec’s “Operations Challenges”, a series of challenges that sees teams from across the globe compete in simulations of potential events. This year saw teams engage in a fictitious scenario where somebody got stuck and needed rescuing from a wastewater collection system.

Spectators from across the conference flocked to the elevated platforms where the teams performed impressive acts of (simulated) heroism. It was exciting and made the operators look like heroes, titles they truly deserve. Fowler explained that they have fun in these competitions but take the jobs absolutely seriously. He hopes all the crisis training never becomes useful, but disasters do happen, and when there are jobs to do, some people have to do those jobs. It is thankless and unglorified to the extreme, but it is rewarding nonetheless.

“I’m in the business because I get to go home every day and know I’m helping my community, helping the environment.”?

He couldn’t help but smile as he reminisced about the relationships he has built due to his work. Afterall, as he says, “people spend more time at work than with their families”. When asked about what kind of people should look to join the industry, he replied that they could be anyone.

More specifically, regardless of their background, curious young adults with open minds who are team players, who like to develop leadership skills and who do not mind working without a pat on the back, would be perfect fits for the sector. He hopes to see schools add extracurriculars and electives where students can learn about his industry and even complete some of the necessary coursework for joining it. Nothing can make millions of people join the water sector overnight, but with a mobilization across all levels, more and more will be attracted to it.

WefTec 2023 is not yet over, and we will continue to provide updates as it unfolds during Day 3.

Follow our LinkedIn page here to get updates from WefTec 2023 and key insights about the water and wastewater treatment industry.

United Flow Technologies (UFT)

United Flow Technologies (UFT) is a platform established in July 2021 to invest in top-tier water and wastewater companies to provide them with resources to accelerate their growth and scaling. UFT has in its portfolio market-leading businesses MISCOwater , Tesco Controls , Macaulay Controls Company , The Henry P. Thompson Company , Shape Incorporated, EES , Newman Regency Group , Southwest Valve and Equipment , Kodru Mooney , Iowa , Wisconsin , and Minnesota Pump Works to create a national manufacturers’ representative network and system integration services in process equipment, flow control, pumps, automation & control, and other equipment solutions in the W&WWT value chain for the municipal and industrial market.