Registration for the 2009 Plumbing Engineering and Contracting Technical Symposium Is Open!

ASPE and Plumbing Contractors of America (PCA) are proud to co-sponsor this unique educational and networking event for plumbing engineers, designers, and contractors on October 22–25 in Dearborn, Michigan. In addition to numerous technical and professional development workshops, this year’s Symposium features a Plumbing Engineering and Contracting Product Exhibition, where attendees can get up close and personal with hundreds of new products they specify. Click here to register now!

Register Now for the Next ASPE Webinar: Introduction to Graywater Systems

On Wednesday, June 3, at 1:00 p.m. CST, Winston Huff will present our next webinar on graywater systems, which will introduce the different types of water reclamation systems and what designers need to know before recommending them to clients. Cost is $69.95 for ASPE members and $129.95 for nonmembers. Participants can earn 0.1 CEU or 1 PDH. Click here to register.

PS&D Seeks Articles on Plumbing Engineering Topics

Have an idea for an article and want to get it published? Plumbing Systems & Design magazine is accepting article proposals on topics of interest to plumbing engineers, designers, and contractors. Articles must be technical in nature and completely nonproprietary. Contact PS&D Managing Editor Gretchen Pienta for more information or to propose an article.

ASPE E-Learning Is Now Available

If you're looking to increasing your skill set, learn a new procedure, or just want to increase your opportunities for advancement, ASPE E-Learning is the most convenient and affordable way to achieve those goals. We offer a complete set of e-learning courses to help you increase your knowledge or earn CEU/PDH credits.

ASPE Archived Webinars

Unable to participate in a live webinar? Miss a webinar you wanted to see? No problem. Access to ASPE archived webinars is now available, which allows you to view and listen to previously recorded events at a time that is most convenient for you. ASPE members can view archived webinars for free depending on if the webinar was sponsored during the original broadcast. 

Chapters: Want ASPE National and PS&D at Your Product Show?

If you would like ASPE national and PS&D represented at your next product show, contact Executive Publisher David Jern at 773-693-2773 or djern@aspe.org.

Congratulations Chicago Chapter

ASPE’s Chicago Chapter is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. One member is receiving his 30-year ASPE pin at the chapter’s May meeting. Julius Ballanco, president of Society national, but also a Chicago Chapter member, has been a member for 30 consecutive years.

Sponsors Make It Happen

ASPE’s Dallas/Ft. Worth Chapter would like to thank Page Southerland Page and our Platinum Sponsors—PVI North Texas Sales, Kohler Co., Mayco Sales, Dillard and Associates, Lubrizol, and Park Environmental—for their support in making its Lubbock Design Seminar a great event. Thanks to all participants of the class as well.

EDUCATIONAL AND NETWORKING OPPORTUNITIES

UPDATED: Tomorrow’s Phoenix Medgas Seminar Has Been Postponed

Visit www.aspephx.com for updates.

Tomorrow: Dallas-area Golf Outing

ASPE’s Dallas/Ft. Worth Chapter’s annual spring golf outing will be held at the Prairie Lakes Golf Course in Grand Prairie, Texas. Cost is $100 at the door or contact James Walls to register today.

May 13: San Francisco Product Show

ASPE’s San Francisco Chapter is holding its annual Technical Seminar and Tabletop Show at the Scottish Rite in Oakland, California. Click here for more information.

May 15: Dallas Clay Shoot

Registration closes tomorrow, May 8, for the ASHRAE Dallas and ASPE Dallas/Ft. Worth Chapter Clay Shoot at Elm Fork Shotgun Sports in Dallas. Cost is $100 per shooter. Contact Charles Crawford to register.

May 15: Raleigh Golf Tournament

ASPE's Raleigh Chapter is holding its annual golf tournament in honor of Norman Parks at the Riverwood Golf and Athletic Club in Clayton, North Carolina. Cost is $350 per foursome. Hole sponsorships are available for $150. For more information, contact Scott Sansbury at 919-772-4767.

NEW! Western Michigan Golf Outing Being Held May 19

ASPE’s Western Michigan Chapter is holding its annual golf outing at Quail Ridge Golf Course in Ada, Michigan. Cost is $85 per person (includes lunch and dinner). E-mail ASPEWestMichigan@gmail.com for more information.

May 20: Houston Product Show

ASPE’s Houston Chapter is holding its annual product show at the Sam Houston Race Park in Houston. For more information, contact Cyril Unger at 713-871-8484 or register at aspe-houston.com.

May 27: Quebec City Golf Tournament

The ASPE Quebec City Chapter will hold this event at the Grand Portneuf golf course. Click here for details.

June 2: St. Louis Golf Tournament

ASPE’s St. Louis Chapter’s golf event will be held at the Warrenton Golf Course. Cost is $85 per player. Hole sponsorships are available for $75. Contact Dave Bujnak for more information.

NEW! Kansas City Golf Outing Being Held June 8

ASPE’s Kansas City Chapter is holding its annual golf outing at Sunflower Hills Golf Course in Bonner Springs, Kansas. Cost is $90 per person (includes dinner). Visit www.kc-aspe.com for more information.

June 12: Pittsburgh Golf Outing

ASPE's Pittsburgh Chapter is holding its annual golf outing at the River Forest Country Club in Freeport, Pennsylvania. Cost is $85 per golfer or $340 per foursome. Hole sponsorships are available for $50. For more information, contact Joe Starr at 412-782-3357 or Don Ditter at 412-209-2903

NEW! Ft. Worth Basic Design Class Being Held June 12–13

ASPE’s Dallas/Ft. Worth Chapter, in partnership with PVI North Texas Sales, is holding a Basic Plumbing Design course tailored to assist new plumbing designers. Terminologies, trade tendencies, history of the profession, basic calculations, and several other critical areas of design will be covered. Classes will consist of 16 total hours of training, and each attendee will receive a copy of the DFW ASPE Course Handbook and a certificate for 1.6 CEUs or 16 REUs. Contact Rick Lobb for an application.

June 15: Buffalo Golf Tournament

ASPE’s Buffalo-Niagara Chapter’s annual golf outing is being held at the Bridgewater Country Club in Ft. Erie, Ontario. (Participants are reminded of the new border crossing requirements.) Cost is $75 per golfer (includes lunch). Contact Irv Garleck at 716-316-3545 to register. For hole and door prize sponsorships, contact Joe Eppolito at 716-633-5300.

June 17: Southern California Golf Tournament

ASPE’s San Diego Chapter is holding its golf outing at the Carlton Oaks Lodge and Country Club in Santee, California. Cost is $99 per golfer, and hole sponsorships are available. Click here for more information.

June 23: Salt Lake City Golf Tournament

ASPE’s Intermountain Chapter is holding its annual golf tournament at Mt. Dell Golf Course in Parley’s Canyon, Utah. Cost is 75$ per person, and hole sponsorships are available for $175. Registration deadline is June 5. For more information, contact Suzanne Kocherhans at 801-322-0487.

June 23: Central Ohio Golf Tournament

ASPE’s Central Ohio Chapter is holding its annual golf outing at the Links at Echo Springs. Receive 10 percent off if you register before May 30. Click here for a registration form (page 8).

June 24: Atlanta Golf Tournament

The ASPE Atlanta Chapter’s annual golf outing is being held at The Golf Club at Bradshaw Farms in Woodstock, Georgia. Click here to register.

July 18: Cleveland Minor League Baseball Outing

Join the ASPE Cleveland Chapter in watching the Lake County Captains take on the Greenville Drive. Cost is $9 (includes a box seat and post-game fireworks). Request tickets from Mitch Clemente no later than June 12.

August 6: Cleveland-area Golf Tournament

The joint ASPE/ASSE golf outing will be held at Fowlers Mill Golf Course in Chesterland, Ohio. Cost is $115 per golfer (includes dinner). Click here for a registration form (page 11).

INDUSTRY NEWS

American Water Confirms Water Quality Is Not Impacted by Swine Flu

American Water Works Company, the largest investor-owned U.S. water and wastewater utility company, communicated to its customers that influenza viruses, including swine flu, are effectively removed by filtration and disinfection. According to Dr. Mark W. LeChevallier, director of Innovation and Environmental Stewardship for American Water, “In the United States, federal and state drinking water regulations require filtration and disinfection of all surface water supplies. These regulations specify specific treatment requirements for removal and inactivation of viruses. Because influenza viruses, including swine influenza, are more susceptible to disinfection than most enteric viruses, and the influenza viruses are slightly larger and more effectively removed by filtration, current drinking water treatment barriers provide a high degree of protection from swine flu."

Athens, Georgia, Okays Graywater Use for Landscape Irrigation

According to the Athens Banner-Herald, the Athens-Clarke Commission is set to legalize the outdoor use of graywater. Georgia state legislators changed the plumbing code last year and now the county is following suit.

ICC to Initiate Green Code Development Project

The International Code Council has announced its intent to initiate a Green Building Code Development Project targeted at the commercial market. The objective of this new project is to develop a green building code for traditional and high-performance buildings that is consistent and coordinated with the ICC family of codes and standards. The code will provide a new regulatory framework built with leading recognized rating systems in mind and provide criteria to drive green building into everyday practice.

Sprinkler Lawsuit Rejected in Wisconsin

According to The Daily Reporter, the Wisconsin Supreme Court rejected a Wisconsin Builders Association appeal in a lawsuit challenging Wisconsin Department of Commerce rules requiring sprinklers in residential buildings with more than three units.

Reports Predict Decreased Flow for World Rivers

According to researchers at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, scheduled deliveries from the Colorado River system will be missed 60-90 percent of the time by the middle of this century if human-caused climate change continues to make the region drier. In another report due to be released on May 15, scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) found that rivers in some of the world's most populous regions also are losing water. The NCAR study attributes these changes to dams and water diversions as well as to climate change.

EPA Releases Drinking Water Infrastructure Needs Assessment

Local water utilities must make significant investments to install, upgrade, or replace equipment to deliver safe drinking water and protect public health. Every four years, EPA conducts a survey of the anticipated costs of these investments and reports the results to Congress. The results are also used to help determine the amount of funding each state receives for its Drinking Water State Revolving Fund program. In the most recently released report, based on data collected from utilities in 2007, EPA found that the nation's 53,000 community water systems and 21,400 not-for-profit noncommunity water systems will need to invest an estimated $334.8 billion between 2007 and 2027.

Proposed Standard 189.1 Begins Third Public Review

The nation’s first standard for high-performance green buildings began its third public review period May 1. Comments on the draft standard will be accepted through June 15. Proposed Standard 189.1: Standard for the Design of High Performance, Green Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings is being developed by ASHRAE in conjunction with the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America and the U.S. Green Building Council. This is the first such green building standard in the United States. Compared to the previous draft, this draft provides increased energy savings over ANSI/ASHRAE/IESNA Standard 90.1. Eliminated in this version is the requirement for 30 percent additional ventilation beyond Standard 62.1 in classrooms and office spaces, with instead an emphasis on source contaminant control to improve indoor air quality.

New England States Receive Recovery Funds to Improve Water Quality

To improve water quality and create jobs, the U.S. EPA has awarded $2,506,000 to the New England states of Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. A total of $39 million will be awarded nationally to states for Water Quality Management Planning (WQMP) grants, which will keep and create jobs to help prevent water pollution and protect human health and the environment. Click here to learn more about the EPA’s role in the Recovery Act.

Air and Water Pollution Top List of Environmental Concerns

According to a new poll by BBC American and Harris Interactive, a majority of Americans say that they are paying attention to environmental issues, but only three in ten or less are paying a great deal of attention to these issues. Three in ten are paying a great deal of attention to air pollution (31 percent), water pollution (30 percent) and water shortages (29 percent) with 25 percent of Americans saying they pay a great deal of attention to combating global warming. Only two in ten adults say they pay a great deal of attention to the extinction of certain species (21 percent), deforestation (21 percent) and reducing Americans’ carbon footprint (20 percent).

Two New University of Wisconsin–Madison Continuing Education Courses Announced

The UWM Department of Engineering Professional Development is offering “Energy Modeling for High-performance Buildings” on September 1–2 and “Shoreline Protection: Practical Coastal Engineering Design and Practice” on September 9–11. For further information on either course, visit epd.engr.wisc.edu.

CSA B214 (Hydronic Heating Systems) Approved as Enforceable Standard

At the National Building Code’s Standing Committee for Part 9 (Housing and Small Buildings) meeting in Vancouver, British Columbia, the Committee voted in favor of referencing CSA B214: Installation Code for Hydronic Heating Systems as an enforceable standard. The enforceability of CSA B214 is expected to greatly improve the quality of hydronic heating installations across Canada. The decision means that any jurisdiction in Canada that adopts the next edition of the National Building Code (to be released in 2010) will have the ability to inspect and reject installations that do not meet the minimum standard.

PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT

New Waterless Urinal Introduced

Acorn Engineering has introduced a new waterless urinal designed to combine attractive looks, vandal resistance, and versatility. Constructed of 95 percent recycled stainless steel, the urinal requires no water and has a removable strainer. Options include ADA rim height and custom powder coat finishes.

New ASSE 1017-approved Master Tempering Valves Released

Watts has introduced Series N170-M3, the next generation of master tempering valves for hot water distribution in commercial and institutional facilities. It is listed to ASSE 1017 and replaces the current Series N170-M2. The N170-M3 has also earned CSA B125.3 compliance through IAPMO and carries the cUPC seal. Performance enhancements include greater control range and superior low flow control

Booster System Hits North American Market

Armstrong Limited recently introduced the Design Envelope 6800 IVS Booster System to the North American market. It uses vertical multistage pumps and variable-speed technology, and the unit does not work against a pressure regulating valve, so there is no wasted energy. There is a no-flow shutdown and optional tank, allowing the pumps to be turned off when there is no demand.