As promised, the fall road schedule has indeed been long and illuminating. It’s been nice connecting and reconnecting with people.
IWC, in Orlando, was held for the first time out of Pittsburgh and drew a larger crowd as desired. Dave Teorsky, executive director of event organizer, the Engineering Society of Western Pennsylvania, said, he was “pleased to report a 25% increase in total attendance, to 501!” The program went beyond IWC’s traditional power industry focus to add desalination/membrane separation and water treatment for hotels & resorts as topics. I was particularly impressed with the international sessions which targeted rebuilding Iraqi water and sanitation infrastructure. Regardless of how the struggle in Iraq proceeds, these rebuilding efforts should be expanded to improve the quality of lives in an area torn by decades of war and deprivation - if only as a bulwark against future terrorist recruiting. Ironically that morning, though, USA Today published a front-page article pointing out how progress was stunted due to the fact 25 cents on every dollar spent has gone toward project security.
In Washington, DC, WEFTEC.05 nearly broke an attendance record at 18,132 people, continuing its dominance as the largest U.S. water industry event. Highlights included the Post-Hurricane Katrina/Rita session, Stockholm Water Prize winner Sunita Narain of India, and the federal water policy outlook. We chose this event to unveil the newly redesigned format of Industrial WaterWorld - from tabloid to standard size - with our last issue. It also served as the venue for the magazine’s inaugural Editorial Advisory Committee Roundtable. The committee’s overall consensus was positive regarding the new look. Members felt we should focus more on end-users and information they can use to do more with less, particularly ways to reduce system footprints, increase water and energy efficiency, and cut costs. Because of high fuel prices and a tight economy, more people are wearing more hats than ever before and need to better understand how instrumentation advances can streamline operations and save them time - not to mention maintain improved water quality. We thank Water Environment Federation industrial liaison Rob Schweinfurth for participating in the meeting as well.
In New York that same week, a number of the same exhibitors were also displaying their wares at the ChemShow, which was celebrating its 90th year. Only a few exhibitors at this show dealt exclusively in water/wastewater issues. Some did a little. Some did none at all - focusing on processing of other fluids. Some concentrated on air treatment for VOCs and other offgas components that fall under increasingly strict MON-MACT rules governing emissions from process vents, storage tanks, transfer operations, wastewater sources, leaks, and heat exchanger systems at organic chemical manufacturing facilities. As such, business was booming. One company that makes transfer pumps and meters reported sales up 24% in 2004 and 30% in 2005.
Other recent trade shows attended by PennWell Water Group representatives include AMRA’s Autovation 2005 in Los Angeles, the Association of Water Technologies convention in Palm Springs, CA, ISA 2005 and the 2005 World Wide Food Expo, both in Chicago, and Aquatech Asia in Singapore.
We’ll see you next at POWER-GEN International!
