The NIOA Newsletter - March 2020 Edition
Good afternoon to the Friends of the NIOA!
The March NIOA Training will at the Steuben Lakes Regional Waste District on Wednesday March 11. Registration will begin at 10a and a tour will begin at 10:30a sharp! After the plant tour, we will have lunch and a presentation. If you plan to attend, please contact your NIOA Officers (Katie, John or Tim) to RSVP no later than noon, Monday March. 9!
Help us bring you the training you want, where you want it! We are looking for facilities to host the April, September, October and November 2020 meetings. No treatment plant is too small; no facility is too unique! Maybe you are interested in hosting, but are concerned about organizing the tour - John has offered to help type up a fact sheet for you. Engineers, Product Suppliers & Service Providers - This is a great opportunity to show case a process or product or service in use! If your utility/company/organization is willing to host, give us a shout.
IWEA Operators Challenge. The annual Operator's Challenge will be in central Indiana on Tuesday May 19th, at the Fishers Wastewater Treatment Plant! This is a great opportunity to learn and to sharpen your skills in areas such as Biosolids/Land Application, Laboratory Operations, Operation & Maintenance, Collection Systems and Safety. The NIOA will pay all registration fees for a couple teams to participate! Contact any of your NIOA Officers for more information or check out IWEA's link.. Engineering Consultants & Contractors - please consider participating and recruiting some of your municipal clients to make this event successful!
IWEA Annual Conference - Call for Abstracts. The annual conference will be held at the Grand Wayne Convention Center in Fort Wayne, August 26-28! The annual conference always attracts a great variety of equipment provides, municipal services and professional consultants, as well as a diverse 3 days of training! The call for abstracts (presentations) is open through March 6. Nobody likes to present, but everyone wants to hear about interesting topics....this is your opportunity to share that project that your utility did, or a different method of doing something that others might find valuable. IWEA consistently hears that Operator-led presentations are some of the most enjoyed presentations out there. As an incentive, your registration is free for the day that you present! Again, Engineering Consultants & Contractors -- we encourage you to consider a joint presentation with one or more of your municipal clients to encourage them to get involved.
NIOA Doug Brookhart Scholarship - Nominations Needed. We are also looking for nominees for the 5th annual Doug Brookhart Scholarship! As a tribute to Doug Brookhart, his support for NIOA and his assistance in all aspects of the important work done by plant operators, a scholarship has been created. The Scholarship consists of paid registration to the annual IWEA conference – all three (3) days, including lunches, hotel reservations at conference hotel for two (2) or three (3) nights, parking and $50 VISA gift card for meals. Estimated value = $1,100. Nominations are requested from all members by the June meeting. Please contact you NIOA Officers for more information or to nominate someone. If you are interested in donating to help the NIOA fund this scholarship, more information can be found here.
Indiana Dig Law Training - The Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission (IURC) would like to invite you to participate in an Indiana Dig Law Safety Day. Training in our region will be held in Fort Wayne (4/22), South Bend (5/6) and Crown Point (5/13). These FREE events will include a complete Indiana Dig Law training class covering Indiana’s dig law, best practices and how to properly document your worksite. Guest Speakers and/or other demonstrations may be available. All events include a FREE light breakfast, a lunch meal, door prizes and promotional item giveaways.
IDEM Updates -
1) Indiana Code 13-18-26, which went into effective on April 10, 2019, requires certain NPDES permit applicants to certify that they have prepared and completed a life cycle cost-benefit analysis, a capital asset management plan, and a cybersecurity plan. The certification must be submitted to IDEM along with the NPDES permit application. View the draft Indiana Code and Implementation Plan here. Forward comments or questions to the IWEA Government Affairs Committee here.
2) First Notice of Rulemaking to increase drinking water and wastewater utility fees. View the Public Notice here.
Citizens Petition to Initiate Rule-Making Process - 2012 EPA Recreational Water Quality Criteria. A number of Indiana Communities have submitted a petition to the Indiana Environmental Rules Board to direct IDEM to adopt an Indiana-appropriate version of the 2012 EPA Recreational Water Quality Criteria. Adoption of this criteria will help provide regulatory certainty to over 100 Combined Sewer Overflow Communities that once they meet the required level of CSO control, future investments in wastewater infrastructure will not be wasted on massively expensive projects with no environmental benefit. At the January Environmental Rules Board Hearing, the board found the petition to have merit and agreed to schedule a formal hearing on the matter. It is our understanding that this hearing will be held on Wednesday May 13th. Hey! There is no NIOA meeting in May, so you can come to Indy & support this effort! You can learn more about this issue here.
Looking for a job or have a job to offer? If you or someone you know are looking for a position in the wastewater industry, checkout the job postings at TheNIOA.net (you can also follow The NIOA on Facebook for timely notifications)! If your employer is hiring, please contact Craig for more information - you can list jobs for free if you are a current NIOA member.
