2019 AWRC Conference: Post Conference Wrap-Up

This year’s conference theme was “Water Quality and Nutrient Management” and was a great success with record attendance of over 160 people!

The annual AWRC conference is a great place for water stakeholders to come together to network and share ideas. We worked with partners to craft an agenda that brought in excellent speakers to share their research, successes, challenges, and opportunities for collaborations. Thanks to everyone who participated and attended this year’s conference!

Session Topics

We opened the conference with presentations about challenges and opportunities for nutrient recovery at urban waste water treatment plants and from agricultural livestock waste. “The old way of doing things worked fine for a long time, but we now need to change how we think about water and nutrients in waste streams,” says keynote speaker Michael Watts, Water Technology Leader at Garver.

The second keynote speaker, Mark Stoermann, Chief Operating Officer with Newtrient, suggested that there are market-based solutions to improve nutrient recovery from waste streams that will help protect water quality and provide new sources of revenue for urban and agricultural players.  

This year’s conference was great because we heard from a diverse group of people about nutrient recovery, including industry leaders, water utilities, extension specialists, and state agencies. Indeed, a collaborative effort is needed to solve the current challenges with water and nutrient management in urban and agricultural settings, and the impact on water quality.

To kick off day two of the conference, several researchers from the U.S. Geological Survey presented brand new information from the Mississippi Alluvial Plain (MAP) study. They shared information about their efforts to quantify groundwater availability in the MAP, a region that relies heavily on groundwater for agricultural production, but is seeing declines in these levels. This research will be used to update the water budget for the region and inform water management activities in the delta.

The last session of the conference had presenters focus on water rules and regulations in Arkansas and the nation. We heard about numeric nutrient criteria development in Arkansas and updates and nuances about how various waterbodies might or might not be under Clean Water Act jurisdiction.

Poster Competitions

The poster session is always a great event showcasing research from students and professionals on a variety of topics. Along with many other student researchers, students in the Ecosystems Services Research Experience for Undergraduates (EcoREU) program presented findings from their summer work. We had separate competitions for graduate and undergraduate students, both of which were tight. First and second place in each division walked away with an Amazon giftcard.

Undergraduate Student Competition: Congratulations to Lydia Ruben, an EcoREU student, and advisor Dr. Julian Fairey, both from the University of Arkansas for getting first place with their poster titled “Assessing the Impact of Chlorine-Boosting on Haloacetic Acid Formation in the City of Fayetteville Drinking Water Distribution System”. Second place went to Jesutofunmi Palmer, an EcoREU student from the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, and advisor Dr. Jamie Hestekin at the University of Arkansas for their poster titled “Tunable Coatings of Tempo-Oxidized Cellulose for Moisture and Gas Barrier Applications”.

Graduate Student Competition: First place went to Ivy Wu, advised by Dr. Andy Herring, both from the Colorado School of Mines for their poster “Recovery of Nutrients and Purification of Wastewater”. Second place went to Karla Morrissey, advised by Dr. Greg Thoma, both from the University of Arkansas for their poster titled “Life Cycle Assessment of Novel Electrochemical Phosphorus Recovery Technology at the Plant and U.S. Watershed Scales”.

Conference Sponsors and Exhibitors

Much of our success with this annual conference is because of support from our sponsors and exhibitors. A big thanks to the following:

AWRC conference sponsors and exhibitors 2019.