More than 125 people traveled to Blacksburg, Va., March 9-10 to attend a joint UIM Water/Wastewater Conference and Trenchless Road Show, sponsored by Benjamin Media and in conjunction with Virginia Tech.
The university, one of the leading civil engineering schools in the country, provided an ideal backdrop for these unique educational programs. The two-day Trenchless Road Show kicked off the event on March 9, while the UIM Conference and Trenchless Road Show were held concurrently on March 10. The Trenchless Road Show is a combination exhibition, presentations and demonstrations, while the UIM Conference features executive level presentations in a classroom setting.
The Trenchless Road Show featured presentations from Matt Stolte, sanitary sewer engineer with the Town of Blacksburg, who presented a case history, and Sunil Sinha, associate professor at Virginia Tech, who covered asset management principles for water and wastewater systems.
The UIM Conference included nationally recognized experts in the field of asset management, including Steve Allbee, U.S. EPA, who presented on ?Multi-Sector Infrastructure Asset Management,? and Duncan Rose, GHD, who spoke about ?End of Life Estimation for Water Infrastructure.? Other presenters including Water Graf, Water Environment Research Foundation; Stephanie Hooker, National Institute of Standards and Technology; Griff Machinski, Fluid Conservation Systems; Jamie Hedges and John Kingsbury, Fairfax (Va.) Water; Jim O?Dowd and B.J. Hutchinson, Western Virginia Water Authority; Sunil Sinha, Virginia Tech; Dave Sklar, Malcolm Pirnie; Mark Wallbom, UIT; Mark Holley, Pure Technologies; Gregg Horn, Ductile Iron Pipe Research Association; and Grant Whittle, Ultraliner. Prof. Sinha developed and organized the agenda.
The next UIM Conference is scheduled for Dec. 6-7 in Cleveland, Ohio, in conjunction with the Buried Asset Management Institute-International and the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District. For more information, visit www.uimonline.com.
