The Big Room Talks: Water/Wastewater

Speaker: Michael Nunley, CEO and President | MKN   

Key Points:  

• Overview of new regulations, technological advancements, environmental drivers, and the workforce needs that successful agencies and companies must address  
• Water regulations/challenges  
• Deep dive into sea level rise, wildfire impacts, salt and salinity, water conservation, and microplastics in drinking water  

Speakers: Aaron Floyd, Director of Utilities | City of San Luis Obispo 

Brent Patera, Principal, Business Development, PG&E   

Key Points:  

• How City of San Luis Obispo manages drought and additional challenges that affect public service operations and energy efficiency goals  
• How City of San Luis Obispo successfully manages their water, wastewater, resiliency, and emergency operations  
• Overview of water resiliency, wastewater capacity and ADUs, and professional development/community outreach 

Speakers: Julia Hall, Senior Legislative Advocate | Association of California Water Agencies 
Nick Blair, Regulatory Advocate | Association of California Water Agencies  

Key Points:  

• Overview of regulatory and legislative changes for water  
• New laws from the 2020 legislative sessions, predictions about the 2021 legislative year, and regulatory development overview  
• Association of California Water Agencies regulatory and legislative changes that affect water (what did not change; what changed)  

Speaker: Jon Hanlon, Principal Engineer | MKN   

Key Points:  

• Energy challenges and opportunities in water  
• Energy efficiency (pumps/pumping systems, SCADA/controls, VFDs, time of use management, lighting and HVAC, other equipment, etc.)  
• Energy recovery/generation (cogeneration, pipelines, etc.)  

Speaker: Mark Vilchuck, Senior Project Developer | Southland Energy   

Key Points:  

• Energy savings: energy intensity of water and wastewater treatment  
• Electricity and energy use for wastewater utilities  
• Opportunities for improving energy efficiency (equipment upgrades, operational modifications, and modifications to facility buildings)  

Speakers: Todd Jackson, Vice President Utility Sales | PowerSecure, Inc.  
Nicola Guarnieri, West Coast Business Development Manager | PowerSecure, Inc.  

Key Points:  

• How facilities nationwide mitigate risk with microgrids  
• How the microgrid obtains a return on investment  
• Healthcare microgrids (business continuity, financial benefit, and corporate social responsibility and sustainability)  

Speaker: Alex Handlers, Principal and Vice President | BWA   

Key Points:  

• Summary of financial management practices to help position agencies for issuing debt/overview of debt financing options  
• Financing stewardship for debt issuance; financing options and current rates  
• Financing alternatives (revenue bonds, Certificates of Participation [COPs], bank loans/private placements, state/federal funding programs)  

Speaker: John Garnett, Principal Product Manager | Energy Consulting Group, PG&E  

Key Points:  

• Overview of Sustainable Solutions Turnkey program (one-stop solution for customers)  
• Long-term partnership options  
• Project development and execution