Meeting Minutes
October 2, 2003
7:00 - 8:00am
Restaurant
Courtyard by Marriott
Moorhead, MN
Members Present:
Yasser Abouaish
Jon Eaton
Mindy Erickson
Doug Lubben
Cliff McLain
Karla Peterson
Lih-in Rezania
Introductions
Committee members introduced themselves.
Minutes
Minutes were approved.
Concurrent Session on Research and Poster Session at Annual Conference
Doug Lubben and Ray Hozalski organized the concurrent session on Thursday, October 2, 2003, during the annual conference. The session will focus on a variety of research topics. The proposed schedule includes 45-min presentations by each speaker and is follows: Arsenic Occurrence - Mindy Erickson, University of Minnesota; Arsenic Removal - Marc Edwards; Optimization of Systems for Iron/Manganese Removal - Delvin DeBoer, South Dakota State University; Membrane Fouling - Yu Chang, HDR; Taste and Odor Control - Dave Schuler, St. Paul Regional Water Services; Disinfection By-Products - Ray Hozalski, University of Minnesota; and TOC/AOC and Distribution Systems - Troy Hall, Moorhead Public Service. Since the research committee did not sponsor a workshop in 2004, the committee can pay travel costs and honorarium for speakers from academia. It appears that this session is going to be successful, and the committee would like to continue sponsoring concurrent research sessions, as well as a poster session, at future annual conferences. Thanks again to Doug and Ray for their work.
2004 Annual Plan and Budget
Attached is the committee budget that was approved for 2004. Since the committee hasn’t been able to fully utilize and distribute reference materials, the committee may want to remove this line item from next year’s budget.
2004 Surface Water Treatment Workshop
The planning committee for the workshop will meet at the Moorhead Water Treatment Plant in November 2003. The workshop will be held Tuesday, April 27 through Thursday, April 29, 2004, at the Courtyard by Marriott - Moorhead Area Conference Center.
Radionuclides in Drinking Water Workshop
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources has indicated that they are not interested in participating in a radionuclides workshop, so the research committee may want to delay or reevaluate the need for a workshop.
Proposed 2005 Membrane Workshop
Since there are several Minnesota utilities currently using membrane filtration, and it is anticipated that there will be many more in the future, it was suggested that the committee sponsor a membrane workshop in 2005.
Utilization of Website
The committee is working to include more information from the research committee on the section website. Now that a new technical committee has been created, the section website should see several future improvements.
Database of Utility Information
It will be several years before the Minnesota Department of Health will be able to make water quality results for public water systems available on-line. In the interim, the Minnesota Section may want to post individual Consumer Confidence Reports or create some type of link on the Minnesota Section website.
AWWARF Committee Participation
Again, the committee encourages section members to volunteer for AWWARF committees, and the existing appointments can be listed on the Minnesota Section website.
Next Meeting and Agenda
The spring committee lunch meeting will be held Thursday, April 1, 2004, at the Thunderbird Hotel in Bloomington. Agenda items include discussion of the upcoming workshops, utilization of the website, participation in the annual conference and poster presentations, research needs, and participation on AWWARF committees.