WEF Highlights

When Valerie Jenkinson heard about the devastation in the small Caribbean nation of Dominica after Hurricane Maria, she was not content to just make a donation. She started an organization that will make a much larger and lasting difference: Operators Without Borders. Jenkinson knows the Caribbean area well since she spends about 6 month every […]

Pono Hanson, chair of the WEFTEC Student Design Competition Pono Hanson is a project manager at Brown and Caldwell (Walnut Creek, Calif.) in Alexandria, Va. He has been a member of the Water Environment Federation and Chesapeake Water Environment Association since 2012. He currently serves as a member of the WEF Collection Systems Committee and […]

James “Jim” E. Miller, a member of the Water Environment Federation and Central States Water Environment Association (CSWEA) since 1977, died May 21, 2018, at the age of 62. Miller most recently had worked as a senior water and wastewater specialist and trainer at Wenck Associates Inc. (Maple Plain, Minn.). “Jim had been in the […]

Chris Marschinke, chair of the Students and Young Professionals Committee Community Service Project Chris Marschinke, project manager at Trotter and Associates (St. Charles, Ill.), has been a member of the Water Environment Federation (Alexandria, Va.) and the Central States Water Environment Association (CSWEA) since 2010. He served as the WEFTEC 2018 Service Project chair. He […]

Carol Martinson, co-chair, Students and Young Professionals Water Palooza subcommittee Carol Martinson is a project engineer for Trihydro Corp. in Laramie, Wyo. She works primarily on the design, construction, and commissioning of industrial water, wastewater, and groundwater remediation treatment systems. Martinson obtained a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering and a master’s degree in water resources […]

Growing up in Beaumont, Calif., then a relatively small town in the mountains, Bryan Wilfley didn’t expect to pursue a career in the water sector. But he also remembers shadowing his father, Jay Wilfley, who spent 30 years at the small Beaumont-Cherry Valley Water District working as an operator, foreman, superintendent, and self-taught engineer. Bryan […]

At this year’s Water Environment Federation (WEF; Alexandria, Va.) Technical Exhibition and Conference (WEFTEC®), 44 teams of elite wastewater operators met in New Orleans to participate in the 31st-annual Operations Challenge competition. For 11 of those teams, 2018 marked their national-level debut. To help new teams acclimate to the rigorous pace and complexity of Operations […]

“What do you do for a living?” It’s a common question that comes up pretty quickly in a conversation with someone new. This is a great conversation starter because it is generally innocuous, unlike questions on, say, politics, or one’s favorite judge on “The Voice.” Getting to the heart of why we work for water […]