Next month in Edmonton, the Consulting Engineers of Alberta will be hosting their annual Transportation Connects Alberta Conference that will bring together a wide range of stakeholders and professionals involved in the growth of the province’s transportation infrastructure. Associated Engineering is also once again pleased to be involved in this year’s gathering, as a gold-level sponsor of the two-day event and sharing our experience and expertise through several sessions in the technical program on March 3rd and 4th.

We invite all attendees to hear from our subject matter experts and their work on important projects improving transit, infrastructure containment systems, transportation structures, and traffic efficiency and safety.

Monday, March 3rd

Tuesday, March 4th

The post Proudly supporting transportation infrastructure in Alberta first appeared on Associated Engineering.

Next week in Toronto, thousands of leading water organizations and professionals are gathering at the Internation Water Association World Water Congress to share and learn from each other about shaping and delivering solutions across the full water cycle. Associated Engineering is pleased to be a gold sponsor of the Canadian Pavilion, as well as supporting the Young World Water Camp featuring 30 future leaders representing 14 countries!

In the technical program on Monday, in Session 2.35 at 1:30pm is our presentation titled “Pharmaceutically Active Compounds in Wastewater: A Review of Occurrence, Regulatory Framework and Removal Methods”, authored by Shahab Minaei, Soubhagya Pattanayak, and Dean Shiskowski.

Pharmaceutically active compounds (PhACs) have become an emerging public concern because of their prevalence and persistent nature. These compounds are engineered to exhibit significant activity even at minimal concentrations, which raises alarms about their potential adverse effects on exposed organisms over extended periods. With the advancement of analytical techniques, a growing body of literature is addressing the presence of PhACs in various environments and their associated toxicological effects. Nonetheless, there is a gap in thorough understanding of regulatory landscape to establish the discharge limits as well as the effectiveness of the existing wastewater treatment technologies in reducing PhAC concentrations to non-toxic levels. In this context, this review will provide an overview of PhAC occurrence, current regulatory frameworks, and removal methods.

Also in the same program session (2.2), a pair of our posters will be featured:

Enlarged Anaerobic Zone – Evolution of EBPR Design in MBR | Soubhagya Pattanayak, Dean Shiskowski, Daniel du Toit

Undersizing anaerobic zones has led to poor performance of enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) in many wastewater treatment plants. In a greenfield 70 MLD membrane bioreactor (MBR) project in central Alberta, an important objective was to meet stringent P limits. Simulations to evaluate the impact of different anaerobic zone mass fractions on EBPR were conducted and a large anaerobic zone (mass fraction ~ 15%; volume fraction ~ 23%) was chosen for final design.

Effect of Extended Solids Retention Time (SRT) on Enhanced Biological Phosphorus Removal (EBPR) Kinetics in a Membrane Bioreactor Process | Rony Das, Soubhagya Pattanayak

There is an ever-increasing demand from Water Resource Recovery Facilities to optimize solids production and subsequent processing. The enhanced biological phosphorus removal process (EBPR) operated at extended solids retention time (SRT) could be an attractive and sustainable in-situ treatment solution to achieve low sludge yield. We investigated the performance of a membraneassisted EBPR process for a set of SRTs (25, 40, 60, and 80 days) in a dual-train parallel system fed with municipal wastewater. The objectives of the study were to (1) determine sludge yield at different SRTs, (2) characterize P-removal performance at extended SRTs, and (3) determine if distinctive microbial populations are associated with “normal” and “extended” SRT systems.

The post Join us at the 2024 IWA World Water Congress! first appeared on Associated Engineering.

Associated Engineering was proud to be a supporting sponsor of the Canadian Coalition of Women in Engineering, Science, Trades, and Technology (CCWESTT) conference held last month in Victoria, BC! Our Jonathan Musser and Lianna Mah co-presented in a session and spoke about our internal Women In Science & Engineering Retention (WISER) initiatives and the work we are doing to create a better experience for women in science and engineering roles within our organization.

Our sponsorship of the conference also provided two local students to attend the four-day event. Tamara (2nd from left) is studying mechanical engineering technology at Camosun College, and Michaiah (3rd from left) is a second year computer engineering student at the University of Victoria. We are so pleased both could attend the conference and grateful to receive the following reflection prepared by Tamara about her experience.

I was very lucky to be given the opportunity to attend the 2024 CCWESTT conference last month, and found it very eye-opening. On my first day, the presenters hosted a panel that was open, friendly, and collaborative. This set the tone for the next two days, and was a good example of what a more inclusive future may look like.

Something that stood out to me was that the conference felt incredibly friendly and open. I was comfortable sharing my thoughts and experiences, and I noticed that many others were as well. This feeling of community and support was very different from other STEM related events I have attended in the past.

The theme of the conference was Navigating Systemic Change. Throughout the two days of presentations, there was a strong emphasis on both systemic change and the importance of recruiting more women and girls into STEM fields and the trades. Some presentations, such as the one done by Associated Engineering, focused on keeping women from feeling pushed out of their workplace, and covered ways to retain the women in their workplace. Others discussed the barriers that prevent girls in middle school and high school from pursuing a career in STEM.

As a college student studying mechanical engineering and preparing to enter the workforce, I found it helpful to get a realistic idea of what my future workplace might look like. It was encouraging to see practical solutions being shared and to hear success stories from companies prioritising gender equality, though it was clear that there is still much to be done. It provided me with a clearer vision of the kind of work environment I hope to find once I start my career, and gave me a better idea of what I need to be aware of.

I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity to attend this conference. It gave me a better understanding of the challenges women face in STEM, as well as the various strategies used to overcome said challenges. I hope to look back on and learn from the experiences and insights shared by the presenters as I continue my own journey in mechanical engineering.

The post Reflecting back on CCWESTT 2024 first appeared on Associated Engineering.

We’re pleased to be a supporting corporate sponsor for the 2023 Joint Conference hosted by ITE Canada/CARSP In Winnipeg, MB from June 4-7. Also, we invite attendees to hear from our co-presenters on June 6 at 11:40am, as they share their experience working with the City of Saskatoon on their shared use path audit project.

The post Associated sponsors and presents at ITE Canada/CARSP 2023 Joint Conference first appeared on Associated Engineering.