NEW YORK — Mark your calendars!
The annual Design-Build for Water/Wastewater Conference is fast approaching. It will take place in San Jose, Calif. in mid-March (17-19th) — just in time for the professionals within the water/wastewater sectors to take in the local celebration of Saint Patrick’s Day.
This year, the annual conference is being co-hosted by the American Water Works Association and the Water Environment Federation.
According to Lisa Washington who is the executive director/CEO of DBIA, “The DBIA/AWWA/WEF partnership builds on our shared dedication to providing the highest quality educational and networking opportunities to serve our members and the water/wastewater industry. As part of ongoing efforts to lower costs, utilities are looking at a wider variety of options for project delivery and all three organizations are committed to provide information for our members to help them assess these options.”
The 2014 corporate sponsors of the Conference reflect an impressive collection of companies. The sponsors include: AECOM, ARCADIS, CDM Smith, CH2M HILL, Gannet, HDR, MWH, Gannett Fleming, HDR, MWH, Parsons, Brown and Caldwell, Black & Veatch, FILANC, Kiewit, Schneder Electric, Skanska, URS, Western Summit and Garney Construction.
And the Water Design-Build Council is also recognized as special co-sponsor of the Design-Build for Water/Wastewater Conference.
The speaker line-up for the 2014 program is impressive. It is worth noting that Tony Parrott who is the executive director of the Metropolitan Sewer District of Greater Cincinnati will be delivering the opening keynote address of the Conference. Additionally, Carlton Ray who is the director of the Clean Rivers Project that is being implemented by DC Water will be delivering the general session address of the Conference.
The Design-Build for Water/Wastewater Conference will include a number of interesting sessions over the three day period of the event. There will be some sessions focused on the concept of the progressive design-build approach. There will be sessions focused on the benefits of implementing a design-build approach. And there will be sessions that will offer specific case studies on water projects and/or wastewater projects.
A number of sessions will examine the importance and benefits of PPP partnerships when it comes to moving forward a water or wastewater project.
One of the sessions of the conference will address the difference between design-build and design-build-operate contracts. There are clearly benefits connected to both type of contracts.
There will also be an interesting session at the Conference that will focus on the ability of the design-build approach to be tailored to meet the needs of small to medium sized capital projects.
And there will be a session that will focus on co-generation project initiatives and the role of the design-build approach.
It is also useful to note that one session will address the role of the design-build approach within a U.S. international territory, Guam.
Speakers at these various breakout sessions include senior management from companies like Brown and Caldwell, HDR Engineering, CH2M HILL, Black & Veatch, CDM Smith, Tetra Tech and Parsons.
And it is important to note that the 2014 Conference will include an off-site project tour — the Bart Silicon Valley Project Tour.
Finally, it is critical that municipal leaders (not just private sector engineering and equipment companies) attend the conference program. It will enable municipal leaders to learn more about the benefits of the D-B approach and to hear about successful case studies. More importantly, there is actually a time period on the opening day of the annual Design-Build for Water/Wastewater Conference that has been set aside for municipal leaders/municipal water and wastewater leaders/water authority representatives to get together to share views about the benefits of the D-B approach and the role of DBIA as an organization to help cultivate more support for this approach as a legitimate option for development/building/implementing water and wastewater projects in municipalities around the country.
The annual Design-Build for Water/Wastewater Conference is an event not to be missed for any individual and/or company involved in the development, construction and implementation of a municipal water and wastewater project/operation.
To learn more about the upcoming 2014 conference program and to register, please visit http://www.dbia.org/Conferences/water/Pages/default.aspx.
See you in San Jose, Calif.!
