GMWEA News

Water Quality Day 2019 Is Largest Ever!

On May 30, Vermonters visited a record number of participating facilities on Water Quality Day! Nineteen sites hosted tours and open houses throughout the state. Hundreds of people took advantage of the opportunity to see first-hand our amazing water quality infrastructure, and to meet the professionals who keep our water safe 24/7/365. Everyone who visited left with greater understanding of how our water and wastewater systems work.

For more about the event, and photos, see the Summer 2019 Newsletter or CLICK HERE.

Huge thanks are due to all the staff at the following facilities, for taking the time to welcome area residents -- and for the great work they do all year 'round:

Barre Water Filtration Facility
Bennington Water Filtration Facility
Brandon Wastewater Treatment Plant
Brattleboro Wastewater Treatment Plant
Burlington Wastewater Treatment Plant
Champlain Water District
Johnson Wastewater Treatment Plant
Manchester Wastewater Treatment Plant
Middlebury Wastewater Treatment Plant
Montpelier Water Filtration Facility
Newport Water Filtration Facility and Newport Wastewater Treatment Plant
Randolph Wastewater Treatment Plant
Rockingham–Bellows Falls Wastewater Plant
South Burlington Wastewater Plant
South Burlington Stormwater Treatment Facility
Stratton Wastewater Treatment Plant (Winhall-Stratton Fire District #1)
Vergennes Wastewater Treatment Plant
Wilmington Wastewater Treatment Plant

May 23, 2019: Full House Attends GMWEA's Annual Spring Meeting & Training Conference

Over 180 water quality professionals attended this year's conference to view service and technology vendor exhibits, attend nine hours of technical trainings, view vendor exhibits, and participate in GMWEA's annual member business meeting. GMWEA also presented its annual service excellence awards to 10 outstanding individuals and facilities.

This year, we were especially pleased to present Kirsten King, executive director of New England Water Works Association, as our keynote speaker. King's address, "Silent Servants No More: Why Water and Wastewater Systems Need to Know How to Educate Customers on Why Water's Worth It," detailed the increasing need for water/wastewater operators and administrators to be skilled at public communications.

For complete information on the awards, along with photos of this year's winners, CLICK HERE to visit the Awards web-page. For information on this year's training sessions, CLICK HERE. For full articles, see our Summer 2019 Newsletter.

January 1, 2019: GMWEA Wins Grant for Public Outreach Project!

GMWEA was recently awarded a $9,860 grant from the Lake Champlain Basin Program to conduct a year-long program of public education intended to reduce the average Vermont household's contribution to water pollution.

The Vermont Water-wise Communities Initiative will create a series of four informational brochures to be provided to every city and town, detailing the many damaging chemicals a typical household puts into its wastewater stream and providing tips for best-practice disposal. Municipalities can include the brochures with quarterly sewer/water bills and/or property tax bills to make sure they get into the hands of every Vermont citizen. The printed brochures will be accompanied by social media activity and conventional media attention.

For more information, CLICK HERE!

Sincere thanks are due to the U.S. EPA, New England Interstate Water Pollution Control Council, the Lake Champlain Basin Program, and the Vermont League of Cities and Towns.

GMWEA News

89 Main St., Suite 4, Montpelier, VT 05602

November 8, 2018: Fall Tradeshow Draws 400 Water Quality Professionals

GMWEA's 25th annual Tradeshow and Conference of November 8, 2018, at the Doubletree Center in Burlington was a great success!

Over 400 water, wastewater, and stormwater professionals, water quality technology and service providers, DPW administrators, staff from nonprofit organizations, and State agency administrators convened to attend training sessions, tour an incredible array of vendor exhibits, eat a delicious lunch, and hear speakers from Vermont and throughout New England.

Keynote speaker, Vt. Agency of Natural Resources Secretary Julie Moore, spoke about new regulations and impending challenges facing Vermont's natural waters and water quality infrastructure. The day also featured exceptional displays by 90 exhibitors, six technical trainings, guest speakers, vendor raffles, and lots of networking opportunities.

We were saddened to hear about the untimely death of New England Water Works Association executive director, Steve Ryan, at 54. GMWEA extends its sincerest sympathies to his family, and suggests that members contribute to a fund established for the education of his surviving children, Katherine and Connor. Click here to donate: www.gofundme.com/ryan-family-fund.

For more information on the event, including photos and a list of trainings presented, click here.

April, 2019: GMWEA Awards Scholarships at STEM Fair

Congratulations to our water quality project scholarship winners at the 2019 Vermont Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math Fair! The four students were chosen from among 200 student scientists who presented their projects on March 30, at Norwich University. The annual fair features exhibits by middle and high school students from throughout the state, all of whom won local-level competitions for their experiments.

Clearly, cyanobacteria/algae and phosphorus are hot topics in Vermont’s schools, and all four 2019 winners addressed them in various ways.

Virginia Snyder, in 11th grade at Windsor Schools, won the top award of $150 for her project “Designing a Solar-powered Ultrasonic Cyanobacteria Growth Inhibitor.” Virginia explored using sound to suppress algae blooms by exposing four colonies of Anabaena to different ultrasonic wavelengths. She is the student of Catharine Engwall.
Audrey Chairvolotti, a home-schooled 9th grader from Grand Isle, also won GMWEA’s top award of $150 for “Effects of Nonpoint-Source Pollutants on Cyanobacteria Growth.” Also concerned with algae blooms in Lake Champlain, Audrey collected cyanobacteria samples from a dense bloom on the lake, then tested their growth in 14 different solutions. She cites her mother, Sheila Chairvolotti, as her instructor for the project.
Emily King, a 9th grader at Missisquoi Valley Union H.S., won $100 for “How Effective Will Substances Be in Binding to Phosphorus During Filtration?” Seeking to identify possible phosphorus (P) mitigation methods, Emily explored chemicals likely to bond with P, potentially allowing for filtration prior to entry to Lake Champlain. She is a student of Richard Ballard.Jaylyn Davidson
Jaylyn Davidson, a 10th grader at Northfield High School, won GMWEA’s $50 scholarship for “Is Algae Part of the Solution for Environmental Pollution?” Jaylyn explored the potentials for three types of algae and a flowering aquatic plant (duckweed) to help mitigate atmospheric carbon dioxide levels by sequestering CO2 through “farming” in lakes and oceans. She is the student of Shane Heath.

We commend these terrific young scientists for their enthusiasm, discipline, and devotion to water ecosystems!
Many thanks are due to Aaron Perez and Paul Sestito, water systems specialists at Vermont Rural Water Association, for joining executive director Daniel Hecht to judge this year’s STEM fair.

For more information and photos of the winners, visit our blog at www.gmweablog.org. (Scroll down the page to find the article.)