Editorial

It was with profound sadness that I learned that Peter Laughton had passed away. I first met Peter in the mid-1970s when he was...

At the time of writing, U.S. President Donald Trump had just announced a 25% tariff on Canadian steel and aluminum products. This would be...

By Steve Davey For a number of years now, many water, wastewater and environmental industry associations have committees and activities for new and young professionals....

Thirty-five years ago, at WEFTEC 1989, the unthinkable happened — an earthquake reaching 6.9 on the Richter scale.

The IWA World Water Congress & Exhibition is the global event for water professionals covering the full water cycle. As the Congress rotates through cities and countries, each event has an extra emphasis on issues of specific interest to the region.

Many, many years ago, I attended my first OWWA conference and noticed that a significant number of attendees had also been at the WEAO conference. So, I asked, “why in Ontario were there two separate water and wastewater associations?” For the rest of Canada, associations included both water and wastewater members. Due to this year being the first time that OWWA and WEAO have held their conferences together, I was recently asked this same question at an association meeting. My impromptu answer, based on what I could remember was, “it’s complicated.”

It is heartwarming to know now that optimism about the future of the “dirty” Don River in 1970 was not in vain. For over a decade now, work has been done to reroute the Don, clean polluted soil, create new parks and flood-proof the area to unlock a swath of land, including the old Unilever plant site, for redevelopment.

In January, my wife and I were blessed with a second granddaughter, making us three-time grandparents. A wonderful time of our lives indeed, but one that we have found brings the return of protective paternal and maternal instincts. Myself, I experienced a new anxiety over the state of the global environment.

Attending the Water Environment Federation’s annual WEFTEC event has been an important part of my career and professional development. This began in 1987, when we formally announced the launch of Environmental Science & Engineering Magazine. As I first found out in 1987, these events truly reveal the scale and importance of the wastewater sector, especially to young professionals.

ES&E Magazine sat down with Toronto Water and CIMA+ to discuss how asset management is benefiting from, and supporting, Canada's water sector.

The year 2023 is indeed a milestone year. It marks Environmental Science & Engineering Magazine’s 35th birthday and 130 years of environmental journalism in Canada. It also marks the 40th anniversary of a research project I did to commemorate Water & Pollution Control Magazine’s (W&PC) 90th birthday in 1983.

Toronto will host the 2023 America Water Works Association Conference and Expo on June 11 to 14, and while the association can be proud of its continued mission to advance the water industry and operations for both consumers and water companies, there’s still much to do, here and abroad, to improve water management, protection and even access.