Just attended Weftec (worlds largest Wastewater Conference, over 20,000 people).

Is amazing when you discuss project solutions and ask for diverse perspectives from multiple areas of expertise.

When I discussed wastewater (sewage) projects, the majority of the time people that worked the booths (vendors) raced to the technical side of things.  They would ask what do the regulators require, and that their solution will meet or better those parameters of treatment.

I am an Agrologist with a huge passion about water.  I look at it very differently; asking what can we do with the clean water after it is treated, identify concepts/options, then work backwards from that to a category of treatment, then continue to go from there (e.g. MBR, SBR, MMBR).

The regulatory guidelines must be met, however, they should not drive the project objectives. They can be seen more as deliverables.

The End-Users (people that pay and receive the value) generally want an integrated solution - water is complicated so solutions must be understood at all stages of planning.

Often regulations, permits and the technology recommended is based on traditional, legacy ways of doing things - this gives us comfort.  People that bring new perspectives are seen as dangerous, or naive.

However, the legacy approach (recommend what has been done 100 times before) is not meeting standards of "up and coming communities" that are growing and also have educated, active, involved, progressive Mayors, Councilors and Citizens.

Often when talking with the end-users (town officials looking for solutions) they wanted to discuss the entire treatment cycle with a focus on the water.  They did not have a focus on regulations since many thought that Canada is lagging in that area when compared to rest of the world.

I was quite surprised at this, our culture can change quickly so be adaptable on how you manage your project planning.

Once again, if you were designing a sewage plant, imagine how different the approach becomes and who is involved in the planning if you looked at these two perspectives:
A) - mechanical design of the sewage technology that meets existing government regulations (Mechanical/technical perspective)
B) - solution design starting with understanding what can you do with the clean water once it is treated, then work backwards from there, involve the right people first, then get to the details second (Agrologist/water/soil/holistic perspective)

On your project, don't be afraid to involve people that are not normally involved in your project planning.

Work backwards and identify if their expertise can play a major role to give you new perspectives, then involve them more and focus on objectives before the deliverables.

Come up with solutions that help the end-user, not just systems that are driven by regulation. Diverse opinions drive innovation, both mechanical and Agrologist perspectives are needed but be patient and get feedback from each, and ensure you know when to involve them within the project planning lifecyle and steer the feedback in accordance with the objectives.

Congrats, April 22, another Earth day! I may be biased but would love more focus on water recovery from polluted sources (waste + innovation = resource). Also more focus on avoiding over-complicating things and breaking things down - tackle them one piece at at time (much like a project approach).

In SK we think we have abundant, clean water sources, and we do, but it is up North where most people do not live. Same goes for Canada.  We still are quite naive - but we are getting better.  I do not need to talk about  conflicts and social issues how people live (stay home from work to fill their water jugs) in areas of India, Middle East, E. Asia, etc.

Every year water and earth sustainability gets more attention, and is well deserved!

I recently spoke about water and sustainability at at a school in front of 4 classes of grades 7 and 8.  It is so nice to get back to the basics when facing such massive topics and challenges. The questions were amazing but also scary.  The kids were so great.  One of the questions asked was:  "This sounds like a lot of challenges ahead, what do you think we can do."  My reply was..... "I wish I knew - if things today are not doing so great I am hoping that future generations, decision makers and leaders which will be people like you, will be more innovative and find better balances and sustainable solutions"

It was so exciting to hear the questions they came up with, so open, transparent, simple and genuine with care.  They seemed to simplify things, breaking it down to small little things that we can do.  At least this way we can start, does not have to be a massive plan that takes too long to get off the ground.  Sometimes we adults complicate things and wait until every light ahead is green before we even start to move.  Great first steps.... are to continue to grow our awareness.  Another step is to take different perspectives to get to similar results..... e.g. try to not change things drastically for e.g.  don't have to "stop" irrigating a lawn, but use recovered water instead of potable water.

A great site to visit to learn more on water is of a United Nations member for Canada, Bob Sandford, can call or email him, he is a great speaker and really hits home with his material and passion, or can check him out at URL:     www.rwsandford.ca 

Another great URL gaining momentum in Canada is:
www.earthday.ca

Ow, ow, ow, when I hear people brag about how much water Canada has, I often bang my head on the wall - poor, poor wall.