The Northwest Environmental Training Center is presenting the National 2009 Water Quality Conference to be held on May 20 - 22, 2009 in San Antonio, Texas. This exciting and informative meeting will address the issues and discuss the technology of the quality and supply of the world's most valuable resource - water. This conference will intertwine four tracks through many workshop sessions in this three-day conference. This event is not one to miss!

Session 5 - 8:30 A.M. - 9:30 A.M.

James Brown - EPA-Region 6

Water Efficiency: A mitigation approach to climate change

WaterSense, an incentive based partnership program sponsored by EPA, seeks to protect the future of our nation's water supply by promoting water efficiency and enhancing the market for water-efficient products, programs, and practices.

WaterSense helps consumers identify water-efficient products and programs. The WaterSense label indicates that these products and programs meet water efficiency and performance criteria. WaterSense labeled products perform well, help save money, and encourage innovation in manufacturing.

Getting the most out of every drop of water is an important tool in addressing climate change and reducing greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere. About 1/8th of all the electricity produced in the U.S. is used to pump, treat, and heat water--more than the pulp and paper and petrochemical industries combined. One of the largest expenses for water and wastewater utilities is electricity due to pumping operations. Reducing water use through effciency and conservation measures will have a direct impact on reducing electrical energy use and consequently greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere.

Session 6A - 10:00 A.M. - 10:45 AM.,

Timothy Malooly - Irrigation Consultants & Control, Inc.

WaterSense: Expanding Public/Private Collaboration to Reduce Outdoor Water Use

WaterSense, a partnership program sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, is working to improve efficiency in landscape irrigation by labeling certification programs for irrigation professionals that require knowledge of water-efficient techniques and partnering with professionals certified through these programs. WaterSense is also working to label weather- and sensor-based irrigation control technologies, which can improve the efficiency of irrigation systems.

In order to increase the efficiency of landscape irrigation, it is essential to increase the professionalism, skill, and water-efficiency ethic of irrigation professionals, as well as to increase the use of smart technologies with existing irrigation systems. To realize these changes, champions must play a role at each stage of the process, from inception to installation and maintenance. In this session, the 2008 EPA WaterSense Partner of the Year - Irrigation will discuss concrete actions that can increase the demand for efficient outdoor water use and the supply of knowledgeable professionals advocating smart products.

For example, the irrigation community can promote WaterSense within the industry, and create more opportunities for certification and training.
-- Water utilities can host forums to bring people together in their area, offer rebates for the use of smart technologies and the use of WaterSense irrigation partners, and assist their largest water-using sites in reducing their impact.
-- Manufacturers can apply for the WaterSense label for their products when available and create new incentive programs.
-- Municipalities and property managers can commit to irrigating their landscapes efficiently, ensuring that those doing irrigation work are properly trained and utilizing smart controllers.
-- Finally, other groups that influence decisions about irrigation work, such as consultants, engineers, architects, builders and developers, can drive the demand for high quality irrigation work by specifying the use of WaterSense partners and labeled products.

Jason Maldonado and Robert Snoza -PBS&J
Robert SnozaHarris County Flood Control District (co-speaker)

The Value of Enhancement: Wetlands and Water Quality

The Texas legislature created the Harris County Flood Control District (the ?District?) to identify and mitigate flooding problems in the Houston area by siting, designing, and maintaining flood damage reduction and drainage facilities. The District holds a federal municipal separate storm sewer system (MS4) discharge permit for stormwater and is required to address water quality concerns. In accordance with the District?s Storm Water Management Plan, water quality enhancements are incorporated into new projects where practicable. Stormwater treatment systems implemented by the District include the creation of wetland areas within wet bottom detention basins and riparian channels.

The District initiated a program to uniformly and consistently evaluate the effectiveness of these stormwater enhancement systems. A study of the overall effectiveness of these created wetlands for the treatment of stormwater will be used to modify and update design criteria for District stormwater features and to improve the use of stormwater best management practices (?BMP?s?) in the Houston-Harris County area. Currently the District is conducting stormwater monitoring studies at three facilities with wetland enhancement areas within Harris County: the Greens Bayou Wetlands Mitigation Bank (Unit P700-01-00), the Fallbrook Detention Basin (Unit E500-12-00) and the Mason Creek Detention Basin (Unit T501-01-00) and Mason Creek Riparian Corridor (Unit T101-00-00). Each facility consists of various wetland plantings and design features.

This presentation will compare the three facilities and explore the mechanisms of stormwater treatment provided at each. Carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus transformations will be reviewed as well as heavy metal and solids removal mechanisms. Key provisions of the monitoring plans, monitoring activities, and monitoring results collected as of May 1, 2009 will be evaluated to determine if any pollutant removal was occurring at each facility that would reduce loadings to receiving waters. Initial results from two of the sites indicate various performances of pollutant removal. The District has plans to implement stormwater monitoring at six additional facilities with similar created wetland areas located throughout Harris County. Continued monitoring will be utilized to refine wetland and BMP designs and to recognize any water quality benefits of current systems. Wetlands are expected to provide water quality benefits for Harris County which may translate into other benefits such as economic savings, pollution reduction and downstream natural resource enhancement.

Session 6B - 11:00 A.M. - 11:45 AM., (Room)

Suzanne Quist - Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company

Perchlorate - A Worthy Opponent

My presentation is on the detection of 15 ppb of perchlorate at a non-community, non-transient, small water system well located in Palmdale, CA and the follow-on activities that identified a poorly constructed disinfection system and sodium hypochlorite solution as the culprits.

Topics covered include:
Events before and after the perchlorate detection
CA Perchlorate regulatory requirements
Sampling techniques
State agency interaction
Problem-solving techniques ( i.e. Root Cause Analysis method)
Corrective and preventive action

Mason Miller and Sean Ables - TCEQ

Source Water Protection

Source Water Protection sets into motion a process by which local governments and suppliers of drinking water are encouraged to take proactive steps to protect local drinking water supplies before costly treatment enhancements are required. This presentation demonstrates how to protect your drinking water source through source water protection and best management practices.

Session 7B - 2:15 P.M. - 2:45 P.M., (Concurrent Session - Room)

Nelly Smith - EPA-Region 6

Watershed Planning Process and Stakeholders Involvement in New Mexico

EPA has determined that the best way to achieve water quality restoration goals is by completing sufficient characterization and planning actions in a watershed using nine criteria outlined in the 2004 guidelines. Sufficient development of a watershed based plan meeting this criteria will lead to more effective and efficient use of 319(h) funds to achieve national program water quality goals. The framework outlined in the implementation guidance (eg., build partnerships, characterize the watershed to identify problems, set goals, design an implementation program, implement the watershed plan, measure progress and make adjustments) is intended to assist States in developing watershed planning process and watershed based plans that, when implemented, will lead to water quality restoration of 303(d) - listed impaired streams

Because the development and implementation of watershed plans will most likely involve a combination of at least some local, state, tribal, and federal partners, it?s important to identify any potential programs and activities that might be relevant to your watershed planning effort and determined whether representatives from these programs should participate in stakeholder groups. The following some specific projects that exemplify stakeholders coordination in New Mexico:

Project: Taos County Land Project (TCLP) FY07-G
Project: Rio Puerco Above la Ventana restoration Project FY-02

Rajesh Shrestha - Women's Foundation Nepal

State of Arsenic in Nawalparasi District of Napal

In the early 1990s high concentrations of arsenic were discovered in the shallow-aquifer groundwater accessed by tube wells in Bangladesh and West Bengal, India. Arsenic (elemental symbol As) is the oldest known poison to mankind. The poisoning from arsenic dissolved in drinking water over a period of time can result in chronic arsenicosis, cancer, and death.
Arsenic is a metalloid element naturally present in the crust of the earth. Arsenic is a transitional reactive element that forms chemical and organic complexes together with other metals, carbon, and oxygen. It is also a common impurity in ores of iron, magnesium, and other metals. Due to several geophysical events and chemical reactions, especially the oxidation and reduction processes, several water soluble arsenic compounds can be generated and released into the earth's crust, potentially contaminating the ground water.
For centuries arsenic has been recognized as a potent human toxin. Exposure to arsenic in a variety of forms can derive from several sources, such as food and water. Arsenic enters the human body through ingestion, inhalation, or skin absorption.
During the course of these studies, it has become increasingly evident that measures need to be taken not only to get a better grasp of the extent of arsenic contamination in Nepal, but to also find methods for providing safe, arsenic-free drinking water to the affected population. The health implications of arsenic poisoning could reach epidemic levels in Nepal, too— as it has in West Bengal and Bangladesh— if not mitigated as soon as possible.
Mainly in Nawalparasi district , well contains higher level of arsenic most of the wells exceeds 10ppb of WHO guidelines value.I have seen some of the people is suffering from arsenicosis diseases and cancer.
The purpose of the study was to find levels of arsenic in Nawelparasi district. The levels of arsenic concentration were divided into three category i.e. 0 to10 ppb (Arsenic level within WHO guidelines value), 11 to50ppb (Arsenic level within Nepal’s Standard) and more than 50ppb(Arsenic level not safe for drinking and cooking purposes.

Ken Diehl - San Antonio Water System

Case Study: Innovative Collaborative Approach to Address a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) for Bacteria Impairment of the Upper San Antonio River

The San Antonio River Walk is the number one entertainment destination in Texas and is the ?cornerstone? of tourism in San Antonio, Texas. The quality of the San Antonio river water is a topic that is taken very seriously by community leaders, regulatory agencies, San Antonio River Authority, San Antonio Water System and the City of San Antonio.

The Upper San Antonio River was named on the 2000 Texas 303(d) List. As a result, a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) program was initiated by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ). In response to a TCEQ TMDL, a Watershed Protection Plan (WPP) was developed. One feature of the WPP is that it is a stakeholder driven process and represents a voluntary strategy for reducing bacteria levels as a pro-active measure to avoid regulatory action. This paper provides background information on the development, implementation of the identified action items and the current status of the TMDL.

The Upper San Antonio River was named on the 2000 Texas 303(d) List. In response to a TCEQ TMDL, a Watershed Protection Plan (WPP) was developed that it is a stakeholder driven process and represents a voluntary pro-active measure to avoid regulatory action. This presentation provides information on the development and identified action items and the current status of the TMDL.

Session 8A - 3:45 P.M. - 4:15 P.M., (Concurrent Session - Room)

Warren Schlecte - Texas Parks and Wildlife

Using Nonparametric Control Charts for Establishing and Monitoring Nutrients in Texas Reservoirs

Texas must establish and monitor nutrient levels in its reservoirs. One powerful way to establish and monitor nutrient criteria is through use of nonparametric control charts. This presentation will show how use of nonparametric control charts provide stable sensitivity and specificity that parametric methods lack for typical nutrient data. It will illustrate why use of parametric models are not a good fit to these data. Finally, it will demonstrate that nonparametric control charts can be a powerful tool for monitoring changes in the nutrients. While this talk is focused on nutrients, this approach is one that could be used for a variety of water-quality metrics that are not normally-distributed. For normally-distributed data, parametric control charts should be investigated.

Michael Hall - YSI, Inc

Cost-effective autonomous water quality monitoring systems for high-resolution data in near real-time

This presentation will discuss autonomous monitoring systems that are providing near real-time data at very high spatial and temporal resolution at a fraction of the cost of sampling programs. Significant improvements have been made in regards to reliability, maintenance intervals and ease-of-use that are making autonomous technologies cost-effective methods of environmental monitoring. Data will be presented on the effectiveness of an automated vertical profiling system and a low-cost, autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) used to transport a water quality monitoring package through a water column.

Session 8B - 4:30 P.M. - 5:00 P.M., (Concurrent Session - Room)

Craig Otto - Irrigation Consultants & Control, Inc.

Municipality Challenges and Solutions Relating to Landscape Irrigation

Municipalities face growing concerns over potable water infrastructure and supply. Drought conditions have forced many municipalities to create and enforce severe watering restrictions. Landscape irrigation plays a major role in community water use. The City of Chanhassen used a Minnesota Pollution Control Agency grant to identify and audit its residential high water users. The audit suggested a high potential for improving the management of residential landscape irrigation. Effective landscape irrigation management requires a commitment by property owners, designers, installers and municipalities.
Several positives came out of the irrigation audits.
- Homeowners were very excited about the opportunity to save water and indicated they would make the recommended changes to their systems. Homeowners frequently admitted they were unaware that their systems could be significantly more efficient.
- Many common problems could be solved quickly and inexpensively.
* Only two sites had rotor head zones with nozzles that matched precipitation rates.
* Irrigation schedules were not appropriate year-round and not appropriate for soil conditions.
Other problems were more expensive to fix: poor spacing, rotor heads mixed with spray heads, zones with flow rates that exceed the supply, and other poor design issues.
Municipalities can lead residents to more water conservation practices by:
- recognizing and promoting certified irrigation professionals
- offering education opportunities to homeowners and irrigation professionals
- offering rebates and other incentive programs for efficient irrigation, and
- adopting water-saving policies for municipal properties.
Irrigation professionals should be encouraged to achieve certifications and stay current with continuing education and efficient irrigation technology.
Homeowners need to understand that there is an upfront investment associated with efficient irrigation, but that it generally pays back multiple times over the life of the irrigation system.
Municipalities need to lead the way to water conservation. The others will follow. Conservation will only occur if all make the commitment.

Diane Humes - Texas Master Naturalist

Mason Park Stormwater Treatment Wetland

The Mason Park Stormwater Treatment Wetland is a constructed wetland. It receives neighborhood stormwater directly from a storm culvert, directing its flow through a series of three wetland ponds before the water enters Brays Bayou, a major Houston waterway. Volunteer monitoring of the water, using basic parameters of temperature, D.O., pH, conductivity, salinity since 1/2006 and testing for E. coli since 1/2007, demonstrates that the wetland is cleaning up the water. Oxygen levels are improved and bacterial levels decrease by 99% by the treatment wetland.

This project was conceived as a test and demonstration of a natural method for cleaning stormwater, reducing flooding, and increasing habitat within the city of Houston. It was completed in partnership with many entities.