The meeting this week certainly flew right by. It was a great turnout, probably thanks to the weather not fulfilling it's promised 0-6 inches of snow that everyone had talked about for a week. The meeting was held in the basement of a great venue, and I expected to come out to my car covered in snow. I was so happy to be totally wrong in my expectations.
The presentations all focused around adaptive management programs to help with low phosphorous limits. This isn't a new topic, but it seems like we're coming from what was once a 20,000 mile up look down on phosphorous management to about a 5,000 mile up look down - still not totally implementing programs yet, but getting closer and closer to that point.
As a result, the operators in attendance were all very well versed and asked great questions. While this is a tough challenge for a lot of wastewater plants, I can say I'm very confident in the operators ability to provide stewardship through the process. It's always so motivating to be in a room of professionals who are actively seeking workable solutions.
Wausau is a great meeting location! I'm sure we'll meet there again - here's to another four years that will hopefully fly by just like the last four have.