The following transcript is provided by YouTube. Mistakes are present. To hear the podcast episode, click HERE.
[Music]
Nation there’s so many reasons out there to start taking notes on the rocket book
I’ll list a few one it’s a reusable notebook when you’ve finished with your
notes and you’ve scanned them into their app you can simply just moisten the page
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again welcome to the scaling up H2O podcast my name is Trace Blackmore the
host of the favorite water treatment podcast out there Nation I love getting
your requests for what shows you like to hear what guests you want me to
interview what topics you want me to to uncover so the great team here at the
scaling up H2O podcast has made that even easier for you to get the
information that you have in your head to us so we can make that show that you
want us to make now I’ve always told people you can go to our page scaling up
h2o.com go over to our show ideas area and you can navigate that way however if
you just want to type in scaling up a h2o.com SLO idea that’s show idea s h w EA a
form will pop up and you can tell us whatever you like Nation this is how we
make sure that we have thousands of shows to come so as I always say don’t
keep that information to yourself keep that information coming to us and we will make sure that we deliver the best
and industrial water treatment podcast on the air today Nation as you know one
of my favorite things to do is Host this podcast and through hosting this podcast
I get to meet so many of you when I go to different functions that’s something
that I love to do and it’s something that I love to promote because I know when you know what’s coming up you are
able to enhance your career you are a able to enhance your network you’re able
to learn more and it’s just exciting and fun and I know this job can be a little
bit mundane when we’re driving from account to account sometimes we speak to very few people maybe we don’t see all
the people we need to at the plant so we do all of our work and then we got to drive to the next Plant I know how
important it is to talk about our day with people that understand our day so I
just want to talk about a few things that are going on in the industry to get
you to collaborate and work with other people within the industry the first
thing I’m going to mention is March 22nd it is World water day and World water
day is a day that celebrates water and inspires action to tackle the global
Water Crisis now World water day has been around for a while we celebrate it
each and every year but there is a mission around World water day and it is
sustainable development goals six which reads water and sanitation for all by
2030 just imagine everybody on this planet has clean drinkable Water
Sanitation included by 2030 that’s within our lifetime that’s a few few
years away and the only way we’re going to get there is to bring an awareness and who better to bring that awareness
than the scaling up Nation we are involved with water each and every day
so Nation what a great thing to celebrate World water day we’re going to
have information if you want to learn more about world water day on our web page and all the things that you can do
to help bring awareness so we can get water and sanitation to everyone that
resides on planet Earth by 2030 now one of the things that we do
each and every year is we talk about the global sixk this is put on by team World
Vision and it’s being held on May 18th Nation we’ve had several shows where we
talked about this but the whole purpose of this is to bring awareness to the world Water Crisis
and to get water and sanitation to All by 2030 so just by participating in the
global 6K you’re going to start bringing an awareness to people around you and for all of us that are in the industrial
water treatment industry it allows us to work with each other in a way that is
different and fun so we can celebrate that we are all working with with water
now why is it a 6K and not a 5k well the average person that does not have access
to clean drinking water has to walk 6 kilomet on average now this creates a
huge problem because that’s a long distance which means normally kids are
going out and getting and bringing back this water which means they aren’t in school it means they have to travel down
roads which puts them in potential danger and there are all sorts of
stories of human trafficking so just simply by getting clean drinking water
to where they are it changes everything
they’re now able to go to school they’re now able to concentrate on things that
are within their Community instead of walking six colomet a day to go get
water that most of us would never even consider drinking Nation it is a great cause and
it’s a great way to get people involved and it’s a great way to celebrate what we do every day with your co-workers and
you don’t have to go anywhere to do it we do it in our favorite Park and our company has a company event each and
every year we meet at a local park and we walk run jog whatever it is that the
person wants to do and we do the global 6K of course course we take some pictures we post that on our favorite
social media so the world can see what we’re doing and then we have a meal
together maybe we have a cake or something like that but we are enjoying being with each other over a fantastic
cause to find out more about the global 6K you can go to scaling up h2o.com
6K and maybe you’re thinking you know I work alone or I’m not near the home
office but I still want to do this nation we have a team for you to join
each and every year we create teams scaling up we would love for you to sign
up on our team you can do the 6K wherever you reside and we of course
will celebrate together so all of that is at scaling up h2o.com
6K another item I will bring up is one of my favorite things to do and that is
the Hang we to hang every single quarter and this is where members of the scaling
up Nation get to meet each other on a zoom call but it’s not your ordinary
Zoom call it is where we get together and we have fun we get to meet new
people we even process a couple of issues uh we end that with a nice fun
game where we’re doing something that uh makes everybody laugh and that all takes place in one hour so that is April 11th
at 6:00 p.m. eastern time it will end promptly at 700 so you can plan before
and after that and Nation let me tell you for those of you that have attended before you know that you meet people
within this industry that understand your day-to-day so now you’re expanding your network you’re probably learning
some things from these people as you’re talking about what everybody does but
it’s been amazing to hear how people meet each other and then a problem will
come up at one of their accounts and they don’t know how to fix it they
remember oh this is a softener issue and I met somebody that was in the softener
industry they call that person they helped them troubleshoot it and they met
that person from The Hang there’s one story about a water softener where somebody was trying to fix this water
softener for almost 6 months everybody in this company was trying to fix figure out how to fix it they could not figure
out how to fix it they weren’t able to articulate as well as they should have been able to with the manufacturer so it
didn’t get fixed that way they mentioned the problem on the hang and the softener
professional said let me ask you a couple questions about that they got together off the hang and asked a couple
questions I think a couple photos were exchanged that softener was fixed within
a week the customer was ecstatic and that happened because somebody extended
their Network by attending the Hang so you can go to scaling up2.com
hang that’s h n scaling up2.com
slang and you can attend April 11th at 6: p.m. eastern time I hope to see you
there now one of the items that people say they love that we do is we talk
about all things water industry and we like to tell you what’s coming up in the
industry so you can plan for it so here are a couple of conferences that you
might want to put on your schedule and Nation I cannot underscore enough how
important it is to attend conferences like this and some might even be in your
backyard you get to learn things at a level that maybe you don’t know them you
might be able to reinforce things that you already know but guaranteed you will improve your network just like we do on
the hang you are going to meet people that understand your day-to-day and can
help you with potential issues that you might have in the future so the first one is the 2024 design build for water
and wastewater conference this is taking place April 15th through 17th in Cincinnati Ohio at the Duke Energy
Convention Center so if you are in the water Wastewater sector and you want to learn more about
this this is for both owners and practitioners and all people involved in
water and wastewater we’re going to have information about this show on our events page another one you might want
to put on your schedule is the 2024 ewts emerging water technology
Symposium this is taking place May 14th through 15th in Paradise Valley Arizona
this is co-hosted by the American Society of Plumbing engineers and the International Association of plumbing
and mechanical officials iapmo who has been a great organization to partner
with on the scaling up H2O podcast so this is the eighth time this conference
has been held and it is a way for you to learn more about Plumbing safety water
distribution water efficiency and all things the like we’re going to have all of that information on our
events page and the last one I’ll mention and we have listeners in Beijing China so if you want to go to Beijing
China or maybe you are already there the International Water Association conference on sustainable sludge
management so if you are in the Wastewater industry and want to learn all things sludge treatment and Disposal
you can go to Beijing China May 17th through 20th and we’ll have all of that information on our show events page
Nation you can go to our show events page Anytime by going to scaling up h2o.com navigating over to our events
section and you’ll hear the things that we talk about on the show and you will see dozens more that we just don’t have
time to talk about on the show so my request is you go to scaling up h2o.com
go over to our event section and figure out what you are going to do this year
now while you’re there a favor that you can do for me is if you see something or
rather don’t see something on our calendar let us know about it we’re trying to make this the most
comprehensive resource of all things water so you know what is going on once
again scaling up h2o.com navigate over to our events section nation in addition
to all of us becoming greater in our knowledge by going to all of these conventions we of course have an in
through our friend James McDonald where he tries to make us think just a little
bit harder about what we do each and every day on his weekly segment called
drop by drop with [Music]
James welcome to drop by drop with James the podcast segment where we wonder
explore think about imagine and learn IND duster water treatment you guessed
it drop by drop together in this week’s episode I offer
up another challenge for you challenge accepted this week’s challenge
is to send handwritten notes to those who have helped you I mean truly
handwritten notes in this digital world we live in with emails voicemails text
messages social media posts and so forth actually taking the time and effort to handr write a sincere note to someone
takes on a lot of meaning I am a note writer I’ve handwritten notes to my employees telling them how much I
appreciate them I’ve handwritten notes to mentors and those who have influenced my professional and personal development
over the years I’ve handwritten notes to operators for doing a good job or taking the extra time to help me I’ve
handwritten notes of condolences to those who have lost loved ones and congratulations to those who have
brought new life into the world I’ve handwritten notes on Christmas cards so it’s more than just a pretty card with a
signature I once had a customer pull me into his office and gesture at all the tens and boxes of cookies and treats he
had been sent at Christmas from various vendors he sincerely told me that all of that didn’t mean as much to him as my
handwritten Christmas card hanging on his wall I was once on assignment and put Rico for 3 months and sent a handwritten
postcard back to one of my customers that postcard hung on their bulletin board above their testing area for 15
years even better I’ve gotten handwritten notes back I still have many of them because they remind me of that
person that event those times and all of the above you never know when your kind
sincere words may be just what that person needs to get through that particular day or week words mean things
actions mean things handwriting a note to those who have mattered to you combines both words and
actions I’m James McDonald and I want to encourage you to be like water by forming bonds with those around you
dissolving new knowledge and making worthy ripples drop by
drop I absolutely love this challenge James has done this challenge a couple of times I think it’s one of my favorite
ones that he does say send a handwritten note to someone who has helped you the
handwritten note is something that I think is undervalued people will send off an
email or send a text and there is just something when you go to the mailbox and
you see a handwritten hand addressed envelope and you open it up and somebody
has put pin to paper and written you a note about something you did for them
and how they are gracious for that Nation I think I have kept every single
one of those notes like that in fact I’ve read several of them that people
have sent to me about something that I help them with on this podcast nation
that is one of the best things you can do to say thank you and I hope everybody
sends at least one handwritten note and I’m sure there’s some people saying out
there oh a text is just the same thing trust me it is not and I have a drawer
full I have a special box I keep them in of handwritten thank you notes because they do mean so much more than just a
text Nation water touches everything everybody it can bring us together it
can tear us apart the scaling up h2l Podcast is all about sharing knowledge
but it’s also about a community that’s built around water when we work learn
and grow as a community amazing things can happen and nation that is the
perfect setup for our next [Music]
guest my lab partner today is Dr Professor dragon savic dragon welcome to
the scaling up H2O podcast thank you for inviting me I have just been fascinating
doing research for for this interview you you’ve had an amazing career and such an impact on the water industry I’m
super excited to talk to you more about it but before we do would you mind introducing yourself to the scaling up
Nation thank you my name is Dragon saage I’m a civil engineer by uh training by
background I worked both in practice you know as a consultant for the
universities and uh currently I’m the CEO of kwr water Research Institute in
the Netherlands which is water utilities Collective research agency in the
Netherlands we also have a water company from from Belgium from Flanders so when you were figuring out
what you wanted to do with your life how did you end up deciding on water oh how
much time do we have now yeah I um I was very much interested
in civil engineering um I have to say at that time at the age of 18 I didn’t know
all the Specialties you can take you know apart from Structural Engineering you can go into transport you can go
into water engineering uh but throughout the undergraduate education I I really
started to love water and uh water related subjects and um that stayed with
me until today now you mentioned the kwr water Research Institute can you tell us
about that institution well we are non for-profit Research Institute we are
knowledge Institute generating knowledge and working for the benefit of the water
sector and and the society as I say we work with 11 Water Utilities in the
Netherlands and Flanders but we work much beyond that group because we now
have social scientist we we have water treatment uh Asset Management water
infrastructure so we support the entire water cycle although we focus a little
bit more on the urban water cycle because in this day and age we have more people living in cities than
outside the term that you are professor of is hydroinformatics can you tell us
what that means yes uh it probably means different things to different people but if you if
you look into various informatics kind of ation areas you must have heard of
bioinformatics and few others and in the water sector informatics is or the name
the moner hydroinformatics has been invented by Professor Mike abot late
professor Mike abber who used to teach at IH Del in the Netherlands and um in
the early 90s he came up with a term and it actually for quite a lot of people it
it is a synonym for ICT technology applications in um in the water sector
for me it’s more than that really for me it’s kind of management philosophy that
is being enabled by the technology not the technology itself and I think uh
Professor abber subscribed to that because he was calling it socio technology you know something that is
applied in a society and it has that human computer interaction to help
better manage Water Resources so something that I learned doing research of for this interview
you’ve done a fantastic job of bringing so many different sectors together
within the water industry and to name a few there’s computer science environmental science the historical
information that we have from running water facilities I’m curious when when
you do all of that how do you start how do you bring all these separate ideas
and get them to start working in the water industry well it didn’t start that
complicated we started with the baby steps first and you know worked with a
group of computer scientists learned ourselves uh water Engineers had to
learn a bit more on computer science computer scientist had to be trained in the water at the University of exiter in
the UK we also managed to get the funding to run a doctoral Center so for
training over 80 I think PhD students who were trained or that boundary
between water and computer science so that they can competently apply and
develop some of those AI tools and computer science tools and apply them to a concrete challenge in the water
industry well you just brought up Ai and AI of course is sweeping every industry
you can’t buy a a feed pump without having an option for AI which is just fantastic because now it can actually
make decisions so you don’t have to be on site every time something needs to be
changed what are some of the things that you’re doing with artificial intelligence in the water sector well
there are quite a lot of people working in this sector and trying to apply AI
what I’ve been doing for over 30 years now was looking into numerical
optimization and using AI tools like evolutionary Computing genetic
algorithms and such and those applications in real kind of for real
challenges in the water sector for example master design of water Distribution Systems where you have to
plan for years ahead and you know you don’t know what the demand is going to be so how do you deal with that type of
uncertainty but the municipality needs to know what the plan is going to be
over the next 20 30 50 years so I’m currently working on a project with the
three international Partners it’s called watered Futures and we’re looking into
how deep uncertainty like what is climate change going to bring us in terms of demand in in terms of changes
in temperatures changes in precipitation and also how can we design
something that is flexible enough so it can be adapted to whatever future
happens but also something that is cost efficient and also robust to deal with
small changes you know every day changes temperature changes during the day or
during the week and so on so we are working with something that is quite interesting and then we’re using
artificial intelligence tools there so we are borrowing from computer science
in order to be better better prepared for that flexibility so for example we’re using something called
reinforcement learning which is one of those AI techniques that allow the
dynamic adaptation to changing environment would you say that until
recently a lot of the data we had was really going unused as far as how do we
improve all things water well I would say that until recently we’ve collected
data previous it was in analog format so it was on a piece of paper somewhere
stored and um only the Specialists only those that knew the data existed
somewhere could access it with digitalization that is becoming more
kind of democratic within organization more people can access data so first of all
we had to go through digitalization of the data you know
collect the data in digital format but also try to get some of that historical
data into digital format so that then it can be made available to larger number
of people and also people who uh may not had the knowledge of the existence of
the data but have the ability have the technology have the expertise to use
data in much better way the data that’s collected is it more localized or more
Global who can get access to it so somebody’s working at a plant here in Atlanta Georgia can they get access to
the data that you have where you are normally no that’s the key issue I’m
talking more about the situation when within the same organizations you would have silos of data and I’ll give you an
example you think about uh water supply distribution system from the intake to
the treatment to the distribution and you would have people
who only work with the treatment so that data is stored on local machine or a
network but it’s accessible and understandable only to those people then
you have the people within distribution system who are dealing with um say leakage with losses and they have their
own data then you would have people who deal with water quality and and so on
and so on and those silos existed for a long time because of the nature of the
data because n of the nature of the business itself but now with the
utilities going for platforms data platforms which will host all of the
data that availability is much better and you avoid duplication doing the same
work or collecting the same data so you get cost efficiency on one side and also
the ability to analyze and utilize more of that data unfortunately whenever we
try to make things better there are always people out there that try to create chaos so security and hacking is
an issue how is that being dealt with and what’s at stake if somebody maybe
does do something sinister with this information oh we know that some people
have tried and have done some uh damage to to Water Systems in the past but I
think the industry has wisen up to that and things have changed you know not
leaving 000000 as the PIN code and and a few other things but yes the industry is
very conscious of the possibilities and I think each and every
utility water utility nowadays has a cyber security setup what we do on the
on the so and that’s mostly within the it kind of departments in uh but what we
water Engineers are doing is that we are assessing what are the potential
consequences to our systems if something goes wrong cyber security wise so there
was a project that kwr was involved that was called stop it which was working on
assessing scen various scenarios and see what what are our physical
infrastructure not the Cyber infrastructure but physical infrastructure that is
susceptible to those challenges if something goes wrong with cyber
infrastructure so I think the it departments are very well dealing with
the external threats but we are dealing more with kind of what happens to our
system if something goes wrong I can’t think of a better name than stop it that’s a very well-named
program absolutely I’m curious you you’ve had a lot of time in the water
industry what is one of the major breakthroughs that you’ve seen in your
career well there are quite a few but I can tell you for example that taking
Asset Management in water infrastructure to a professional level asset planning
maintenance long-term planning and everything that was one of the key issues and that area has benefited quite
a lot from the development of digital Technologies because you know we’re
talking about hundreds and thousands of miles and kilometers of networks uh
managed by a single uh utility or several smaller utilities and to do that
to try and manage that just on paper with a pen and paper is not possible
anymore and that has happened over the last 20 30 years also leakage management
has benefited quite a lot from new technologies not just you know digital
but also physical gadgets widgets being developed and and implemented uh in that
area uh Energy Management in the water sector has also improved over the years
particularly when we had those spikes with um energy costs going up very
quickly and that really puts the pressure on the utility yeah those are I think water quality was always high on
the agenda and um I have to say it’s it’s been one of the first kind of uh
issues that utilities deal with when they’re in operation kwr puts a very
strong emphasis on water and the circular economy can you tell the scaling up Nation a bit about
that yes I think we generally humans we
mod than humans I would say we think linearly these days we kind of buy
something use it and then dispose of it without thinking what happens to it and I think that attitude is changing and in
the water sector because water is naturally circular we we work with the
same kind of water same amount of water that’s been here for ages and the problem with with that is
that if you pollute more of that water we have less of it to use for our
societal needs so that’s where the circularity comes in we have to do it in
a natural way like it’s happening over the millions of years and one thing that
uh is happening is that water companies have uh again taken that up I can tell
you for example when kwr came up with with this idea and um we we kind of look
what are the shortterm and long-term goals and at one. five 10 years ago we
were looking into circular economy and there was not much interest from the water sector in it but today we have a
specialist program that they fund to look into I can tell you that in the
Netherlands for example there are no residues from treatment of drinking
water this is not waste water but drinking water everything is recycled there is a company that collects that
waste from the treatment works and creates it into commercial products even
to the point when one of those products is um facial cream that is made using
some of those ingredients so you must have heard about the beer that was made out of waste water this is not what
we’re talking about here but again recycled waste water recycled used water
can also be recycled and used again you have an audience in front of you of an
IND industrial water treaters many are dealing with utility water cooling towers boilers closed loop systems for
transporting heat you’ve got other people that are dealing with waste water and making sure we’re taking things out
of the water before we send it to the the next leg what’s the message that you want to send to
them well I I think quite a lot of research has been done my my key Point
here would be Partnerships recycling or you know circular economy cannot be achieved just
in one sector or in parts of the sector so it cannot be just Wastewater
utilities for example when we’re talking about cold digestion that’s where you
have waste or residues from wastewater treatment Oran with lots of organic
matter if you bring food waste and then do it in a digestor huge amounts of
energy can be generated there and the solid part of the waste can be minimized
or almost eliminated but then you have to bring water and Food Industries uh
together so with those Partnerships we can t
circular economy in that case with everything you know about water or
infrastructure and all other things is the Outlook positive oh absolutely I
think um I’ve seen over the last 30 years I’ve seen huge changes in the
water sector in embracing circularity more and more for example the company
that I was telling you about Aqua minerals in the Netherlands with kwr we are now working in France to create the
same structure so they can recycle that material the same thing is happening in
the UK and in Denmark so it is spreading
I think quite nicely and healthily one of the issues we have in
every sector of the water industry is a lot of people are retiring and we’re not
necessarily replacing people with the Next Generation that is a passion of
mine with this podcast I know you share that passion what are some things that
we can do to help with that what are some action steps we can take what should we be doing yes that’s a that’s a
big thing and there are several kind of directions or several Dimensions that we
have to act in one is also preserving some of that knowledge of the people who
may leave the industry and that’s where Ai and digitalization can help but we
also have to look into the next generation of water leaders those who
can take the mantle and then take it forward so that’s the educational training bit and then the worry that AI
will kind of get more people out of jobs in the water sector I have completely
different view I was looking for example in the transportation industry um the
situation with the aviation industry and Boe and introduction introduction of
automation for me more automation means more training we need to train people to
use these Advanced systems so the jobs will change in terms of the nature but I
think we will we will need more more people because water is so essential for
human survival but also Commerce industry we cannot drop the
when I’ve had the opportunity to interview people on this podcast many have said that they were introduced to
even the possibility of a career in water early on in grade school what are
some things that we can do to help with that well one thing as I said at the
very beginning I wasn’t aware of uh the potential kind of professional path in
in the water sector when I entered University and that’s fairly late to
catch somebody and get them ined about that so we have to work with the younger
generations and even within organizations like kwr I pay very much
attention to early career colleagues because those are the ones that will
grow through the ranks and become the next experts Professor or people who are implementing the new scheme so I think
we need to start early and the problem is with water is that is ubiquitous but
we we feel we are all entitled to it and um also I think the public knowledge
about what goes into bringing that one liter of um River or groundw or surface
water to your home clean 24 hours a day
seven days a week it’s a manufacturing process and most of the general public
is unaware of it I I have lots of issues with the value and the cost of water if
you ask somebody is their water bill if their water bill is too high they would definitely say yeah particularly in the
UK I I live there for over 25 years and the situation is that a cubic meter of
water which is 1,000 liters one meter by 1 M by one meter weighs a ton brought to
your house no question ask cost2 you know maybe that’s two and a
half $3 you go to a pub a pint of beer is
four or five pounds but you know in people’s mind water is expensive Point
well taken and something I’ll share with you that I’m really proud of our County
so I’m in Gwynette County Georgia and we have a building called the Environmental
inheritage Center and it was built just to educate elementary middle and high
school students and it’s actually about the history of water in this County and
how infrastructure uh eventually came what they can do to their part uh they
even have uh some interactive tools that the the students can use one is on
leakage and drips and how important that is for everybody to take
responsibility oh that’s it’s really brilliant because we have similar examples in the Netherlands because
Netherlands has a long Coast which is quite full of Junes which are good for
infiltration infiltrating water and then using that water as sources so those
water companies that are along the coast they also have visitor centers closed
because people come to the beach and they use the environment because they need to maintain the environment clean
obvious ly um so the The Visitor Center which is near the car park you know you
come with the kids to the beach you go through the visitor center and you will see the same thing you know what is the
leakage how do we pump water do we treat water and so on so I think that’s a
really good way to popularize something about the water cycle and how we uh
prepare it for homesteads if you could only get one point across to our
listeners today what would you want that point to be well I would say compare your utility
costs and see what percentage of your total outgo is water and I’m sure you’ll
be convinced that water is not expensive for what you get water is health and we
again we forget that but we remember that during the covid pandemic that was a big thing wash your hands you know
personal hygiene even if you were kind of locked into your houses you know that
that water is coming clean and you can use it so I think that was Awakening for
quite a few people I love that message one of the ways that many people sell
industrial water treatment wears is how much water they’re going to save and nine times out of 10 they’re spending
less money on the treatment of that water and they’re saving way more on the water so it’s paying for the program so
just making sure we’re taking care of this vital resource and we can do it with with all the things that our people
are so equipped of of helping customers with and and talking with other people
sharing their message I love that final message if somebody wants to learn more
about you and the institutes that you are affiliated with where should they go
well they can find us on the on the web obviously on the internet you know it’s
www kw. NL uh very simple all our emails are
public so I wouldn’t mind anybody contacting by via email and uh I still
have my position at the University of exter so my exitor emails work as well we’ll make sure to have your contact
information on the show notes page thank you so much for coming on the scaling up H2O podcast and sharing with us thank
you it was a pleasure it’s all about collaboration I am so
inspired by Our Guest today not only for him sharing all the information but how
he collaborates with other people around that information and through that he’s
making all things water better I love that I was able to be introduced to him
because of this podcast and this podcast of course course proves that we have a
community called the scaling up Nation we are all trying to be better at what
we do dayto day in a community that understands what we do dayto day so I
absolutely love being able to host this podcast to meet so many wonderful people
and I hope our guest today inspired you to even further that collaboration I
remember when I first joined the volun unteer leadership of the association of water Technologies I was amazed at how
other members would help other members even members that the members competed
against that was just amazing to me and that was well over 20 years ago and that
is going strong in that organization and so many other organizations that I am a
member of nation as we collaborate with each other as we talk with each other as
we’re friendly with each other as we challenge each other our industry gets
better I’ve seen it for the past 20 years with awt I’ve seen it in so many
other organizations and that’s why we’re so gun-ho about making sure that you know
about all the conferences that are out there all the different associations out there and try to encourage you to do
things to network with your peers because magic happens
when two or more people get together to talk about water you know if they didn’t
they would miss out on fully understanding new technologies or maybe
if we’re not collaborating with each other we wouldn’t even know about those Technologies we would miss out on
knowing specific items like maybe new laws that are coming to our area and how
to work within the confines of those laws there’s just so many things that we
have to know within this industry it is impossible to know it all it is impossible to do it alone and it is
imperative that we work as a community we collaborate with each other and we
support each other that’s why I just love James’s challenge for us today
where we are to handwrite a note to someone or a few someone’s that have
helped us Nation I can tell you that every single note that I wrote today were all people
that I met as a result of being a volunteer leader in the association of
water Technologies these are people that ultimately became my mentors people that
gave me so much more than I had any right to ever ask for and people that
made me the water treater that I am today Nation we cannot do this job on
our own we definitely cannot aspire to the levels that we want to on our own
and it’s through us helping each other that we get there it’s through us
helping each other that we make what we started with better throughout our
entire career so I really want you to take a moment and embrace that you are
in the most wonderful industry on the planet as James challenged us to do take
a moment handr write that note to someone that has inspired you I promise that is going to inspire them to do even
more and remember that we are a community of industrial water treaters
we are the scaling up Nation a nation that I could not be prouder of nation I
can’t wait to talk with you next week on a brand new episode I can’t wait to hear about your letter experience
I can’t wait to hear all the things that you’ve learned within this next week and
I will talk with you next Friday have a great week [Music]
folks