ASPE Announces a New Professional Development Opportunity: Regional One-day Workshops

Learn more about BIM and Revit as well as how to utilize the International and Uniform Plumbing Codes in your designs during ASPE’s one-day workshops being held around the country in May and June. Registration will open soon. Click here to learn more.

Increase Your Chances of Passing the CPD Exam by Enrolling in the CPD Review Webinar Series

During these webinars, presenter David DeBord will discuss the design methods and calculations that will appear on this year’s CPD Exam. The one-hour webinars will be held March 30, April 6, and April 13 at 1 p.m. CST. Register now to take advantage of this opportunity.

Don’t Miss Your Last Chance to Nominate an ASPE Member for the College of Fellows

Nominations for the ASPE Kenneth G. Wentink College of Fellows are due next Wednesday. Click here for the nomination forms and more information about the College.

2010 ASPE CONVENTION AND ENGINEERED PLUMBING EXPOSITION

What Do You Mean Green?

To maintain our status as an innovative leader in the plumbing industry, ASPE is eliminating much of the paper handed out at the 2010 Convention. How much? We plan to cut paper by 80 percent or more to eliminate waste.

How Can You Win a Piece of the Prize?

Attend the 2010 Convention, play ASPE Poker, and walk away a winner!

Some lucky attendees may win up to $1,000 on the spot. The best part is that everyone who plays wins. Also, one laptop will be given away on the EPE floor every 15 minutes. That’s almost 40 chances to win!

Help Ring in ASPE’s Future

Want to help shape ASPE’s future? At the 2010 Convention, the delegates will elect the 2010–2012 ASPE board of directors. Now is your chance to run for national office. Click here for more information and the required forms. Want to be a delegate? Let your chapter officer know today.

Show Off Your Expertise at the ASPE Convention

ASPE is soliciting presentation proposals for the 2010 Convention. Click here for more information or to submit a proposal online.

EDUCATIONAL AND NETWORKING OPPORTUNITIES

April 7: Cleveland Wastewater Treatment Plant Tour

ASPE’s Cleveland Chapter will be touring the Southerly Wastewater Treatment Plant in Cuyahoga Heights, Ohio from 9–11 a.m. Contact John Varga to RSVP by April 2.

April 7: Houston Product Show

ASPE’s Houston Chapter’s Product Show will be held in the Pavilion Center of the Sam Houston Race Park from 4:30–8:30 p.m. Technical seminars offering CEUs will be held all day. Pre-register at aspe-houston.com and get three extra door prize tickets.

April 14: Portland Product Show

The ASPE and ASSE Portland chapters are holding a Product Fair at George Morlan Plumbing. Contact Chris Scott for more information.

April 14: Northern California Trade Show and Seminars

ASPE’s Northern California Chapter and PHCC’s Sacramento Valley Chapter are holding this event at the Scottish Rite Center in Sacramento, California. The free tradeshow runs from 3–7 p.m., and the seminars ($50 for both) are at 1 and 3 p.m. Click here for more information.

April 15: Chicago Product Show

ASPE’s Chicago Chapter will be holding its annual Product Show with more than 90 exhibits at the White Eagle in Niles, Illinois, from 3:30–8 p.m. Technical seminars offering CEUs will start at 11:30 a.m. Contact Frank Sanchez for more information or go to aspe.org/Chicago for free show tickets.

NEW! Central Florida Golf Outing Being Held April 30

ASPE’s Central Florida Chapter is holding its event at the DeBary Golf and Country Club in DeBary, Florida. Click here for a registration form.

April 30: Baltimore Golf Outing

ASPE’s Baltimore Chapter will hold its annual Golf Outing at the Timbers at Troy in Elkridge, Maryland. All proceeds go toward the John Jung Memorial Scholarship, given to a worthy local engineering student. Contact David Goodell for participation and/or sponsorship information.

May 6: New Jersey Golf Outing

ASPE's New Jersey Chapter's annual golf outing will be held at The Architects Golf Club in Phillipsburg, New Jersey. All teams that register as Platinum Sponsors will be entered in the Corporate Challenge. The team that finishes with the lowest net (Calloway) score will be crowned the Tournament Champion and receive the coveted Maloney & Curcio-PVI Perpetual Cup. Contact Fred Holzapfel for more information.

May 11: Central Florida Product Show

ASPE’s Central Florida Chapter, in conjunction with ASHRAE, will be holding its annual Product Show at the Orange County Fairgrounds. Click here for more information.

May 21: Denver Golf Outing

ASPE’s Denver Chapter is holding its annual outing at Eagle Trace Golf Club in Broomfield, Colorado. Hole sponsorships are available. Contact Tim Butts (720-217-8771) for more information.

June 4: Raleigh Golf Tournament

ASPE’s Raleigh Chapter is holding this fundraising event at Riverwood Golf Course in Clayton, North Carolina. For more information, contact Scott Sansbury.

NEW! Atlanta Golf Outing Being Held June 23

ASPE’s Atlanta Chapter’s golf event will be held at the Golf Club at Bradshaw Farms in Woodstock, Georgia. Proceeds help the ASPE Scholarship Fund. Contact Dominic Radosta for more information.

INDUSTRY NEWS

Is the Economy Hurting LEED?

According to “Fourth Annual Green Building Survey,” in 2009, 92 percent of design and construction professionals supported building green. However, support for LEED certification slipped 4.7 percent from 2008, to 62 percent. Cost is a major driver for green building in this economic downturn, with the gap between support for green construction and LEED certification growing over the past two years. Over half of all respondents indicated that a LEED Gold rating increased project costs by 4 percent or more.

How to Stop Killer Water

A new United Nations report, “Sick Water? The Central Role of Wastewater Management in Sustainable Development,” says two or more billion tons of wastewater are being discharged daily into rivers and seas, spreading disease to humans and damaging key ecosystems. The sheer scale of dirty water means that more people now die from contaminated and polluted water than from all forms of violence, including wars. The report underlines that reducing the volume and concentrations of wastewater will require multiple actions ranging from reducing runoff from livestock and croplands to better treatment of human wastes. Some solutions may involve water recycling systems and multi-million or multi-billion dollar water sewage treatment works, as well as investing and re-investing in nature's natural purification systems, including wetlands, mangroves, and salt marshes.

Is Your State Hitting the Bottle?

Despite radical measures to reduce expenses across the country, some states still are wasting up to $475,000 per year on bottled water. Some experts wonder if such money is better spent on upgrading public water systems to restore consumers’ interest in drinking tap water. As part of its “Think Outside the Bottle” campaign, Corporate Accountability International has released two reports outlining bottled water spending in certain states and current trends in public water system investment.

California Farmers to Use Wastewater to Irrigate Their Crops

The Westland Water District, which encompasses more than 600,000 acres of farmland in western Fresno and Kings Counties, is developing an integrated drainage water treatment facility that will use conventional desalination technology with a new salt conversion technology that converts high-salinity drainage water into fresh water for irrigation and carbon dioxide-negative products derived from the waste salts. When fully deployed, the $3.2 million project will desalinate approximately 240,000 gallons of drainage water per day and convert approximately 5 tons of waste brine salts into carbon-neutral and carbon-negative chemicals such as acid, caustic soda, and solid carbonates like limestone and soda ash. In addition, the project will trap approximately 2.8 tons of carbon dioxide daily.

Do Residential Fire Sprinklers Save Lives?

According to "U.S. Experience with Sprinklers and Other Automatic Fire Extinguishing Equipment," the death rate per fire in sprinklered homes is 83 percent less than properties without automatic extinguishing equipment. For most property uses, damage per fire is lower by 40–70 percent in sprinklered properties. Unfortunately, sprinklers were reported in only 4 percent of occupied homes (including apartments) in 2007 and in only 5 percent of reported fires in homes (including apartments) in 2003–2007.

Deriving Electricity from Wastewater Sludge: Does It Work?

A new technology that turns wastewater sludge into electricity, developed by University of Nevada, Reno researchers, will be put to the test at the Truckee Meadows Water Reclamation Facility. The experimental carbon-neutral system will process 20 pounds of sludge per hour, drying it at modest temperatures into solid fuel that will be analyzed for its suitability to be used for fuel through gasification and, in a commercial operation, ultimately converted to electricity.

What the Clean Water Act Has Achieved…and Failed to Accomplish

The Water Environment Federation just released “Considering the Clean Water Act,” a summary of discussions held during a conference of 30 U.S. water experts held last October. Participants concur that while the Clean Water Act has catalyzed the cleanup of many of our nation’s waters, the outlook for continuing progress under the Clean Water Act has been diminished in the face of modern pollutants, aging infrastructure, the Act’s limited tools to address nonpoint sources, and increasing stresses from unregulated development, population growth, and climate change.

Energy Star Testing Standards to Receive Upgrade

In addition to third-party testing already underway, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy have launched a new two-step process to expand testing of Energy Star-qualified products. The DOE began tests this week on six of the most common product types (freezers, refrigerator-freezers, clothes washers, dishwashers, water heaters, and room air conditioners) and will continue testing at third-party, independent test laboratories over the next few months. The EPA and DOE also are developing an expanded system that will require all products seeking the Energy Star label to be tested in approved labs and require manufacturers to participate in an ongoing verification testing program that will ensure continued compliance.

South Carolina Moves Closer to Adopting the 2009 IRC

Last month, the South Carolina Building Code Council voted 6–3 to approve the adoption of the 2009 International Residential Code, which requires new homes to be equipped with residential fire sprinklers starting January 1, 2011. The measure has moved to the state legislature.

Georgia Sustainable Construction Standards Go into Effect This July

Energy Efficiency and Sustainable Construction Standards for State Buildings, also called the Georgia Peach Green Building Rating System, become effective on July 1 and shall apply to design agreements for major facility projects started on or after that date.

EPA Wants Your Opinion on How to Protect U.S. Water

The U.S. Environmental Protection agency has launched an online forum to receive input from water professionals, advocates, and anyone interested in water quality issues about best solutions—from planning, scientific tools, and low-impact development to green infrastructure and beyond—in controlling water pollution and how resources can be better focused to improve these efforts.