The ISA Water/Wastewater Industry Division hosted its 6th Annual Water/Wastewater and Automated Controls Symposium at the Chase Park Plaza Hotel in St. Louis, Missouri, USA on June 22-23, 2011.

The two day symposium featured eight speakers from across North America, a keynote address, a training course on alarm management, and a tour of one of St. Louis’s largest wastewater treatment plants.  A post-symposium reception also went into the wee hours of the morning on the last day.

The symposium began with a day-long training course on Alarm Management taught by industry veteran Bill Hollifield. Having the focused short-course has long been a feature of the WWAC symposium.  This year’s course covered ANSI/ISA 18.2 (2009) Management of Alarm Systems for the Process Industries, and how it can be used as an effective tool for improving alarm performance at our plants.  The day concluded with a tour of the Bissell Point Treatment Plant.

On the second day, the keynote talk was delivered by Mr. Jeff Theerman, Executive Director of the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District (MSD).  Entitled “Technology and our Future in the Water Sector” Mr. Theerman’s talk focused on trends in our sector and how new technologies and equipment, especially in terms of automation/instrumentation, will be the key to securing our society’s future water security.

Speakers at the symposium presented a wide variety of topics on subjects ranging from case studies about system upgrades and commissioning strategies to new software/instrumentation technologies.  We also had several talks about control system standardization and how to effectively manage the processes of construction and plant optimization.  Turnout was good with all seats in the room being filled by attendees.

The day concluded with a reception where our attendees got to meet with each other informally and share their collective knowledge / experience in a social setting.

A bit thank you to the symposium organizing committee, ISA staff, our vendor partners, sponsors and the local St. Louis ISA section for a job well done!