“Where we bridge the gap between water plant operators and engineers”

In episode 42 of the Water Break Podcast, Heather Jennings, PE, discusses wastewater laboratory testing with Jane Leatherland. Jane was born in Yorkshire, England and started her career at a coal testing facility that also conducted water, gas, and air analysis.

Jane emigrated to the USA in 1986 and worked for Metro Denver Wastewater for 16 years as a lab analyst. She then moved to Michigan and later to Tennessee, where she was employed by Humboldt Utilities. Jane earned her Grade 4 WWTP certification within one year and her Grade 2 water certification four years later. Now semi-retired, she enjoys traveling with her husband of 38 years.

“Where we bridge the gap between water plant operators and engineers”

In episode 41 of the Water Break Podcast, Heather Jennings, PE, is discussing the Operations Challenge with actual participants: Kevin Wegener and Skyler Edmison of Clean Water Services.

Operations Challenge is a premier event for wastewater operators, testing skills in process control, maintenance, laboratory procedures, and more. The Challenge happens first at the State level and then winners of the State Competitions go to the “Super Bowl” of Operations Challenge at WEFTEC where you face 50+ other teams. These events simulate real-world challenges faced in the operation and maintenance of wastewater treatment facilities. Today we want you listeners to hear from the challengers what they learned, the challenges they faced, and how the experience impacted their skills and career.

“Where we bridge the gap between water plant operators and engineers.”

In Episode 40 of the Water Break podcast, host Heather Jennings, PE, is in conversation with Ibrahim Teres from Emco Engineering Inc. to dive into an intriguing case study involving a tannery in the United Arab Emirates. Ibrahim is a water solutions expert who serves as the head of the industrial division at EMCO group.

Ibrahim holds a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Sciences and a Masters degree in Environmental Engineering from UoB. Over the past 10+ years, Ibrahim has successfully designed, executed, and started up numerous municipal and industrial water and wastewater treatment projects covering beverage, food processing, and oil & gas industries.

Before moving to Arizona, Ibrahim worked on projects located in the middle east and Africa, thus bringing in a wealth of international experience and a proven track record of delivering innovative and effective water treatment solutions to his new role.

“Where we bridge the gap between water plant operators and engineers.”

In episode 39 of the Water Break podcast our host Heather Jennings, PE, is continuing the conversation with Christopher Hatch to dig even deeper into Anaerobic Digestion and applications. They will cover processes, troubleshooting and safety.

Christopher has almost 3 decades of experience in wastewater treatment and biological systems and he leads the Riverbend division of Chemtron Riverbend as the Senior Director of Biotech and Engineering. He has a degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Iowa with an Environmental Minor and a Degree in Physics. He has operated nearly all types of biological driven processes in wastewater, as well as dewatering and thickening and many chemical processes as well. He has a huge passion for anything biological and environmentally related.

“Where we bridge the gap between water plant operators and engineers.”

In episode 38 of the Water Break podcast our host Heather Jennings, PE, is in conversation with Christopher Hatch to dig deep into Anaerobic Digestion and applications. Christopher has almost 3 decades of experience in wastewater treatment and biological systems and he leads the Riverbend division of Chemtron Riverbend as the Senior Director of Biotech and Engineering. He has a degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Iowa with an Environmental Minor and a Degree in Physics. He has operated nearly all types of biological driven processes in wastewater, as well as dewatering and thickening and many chemical processes as well. He has a huge passion for anything biological and environmentally related.

In episode 37 of the Water Break podcast our host Heather Jennings, PE, is in conversation with Jim Huchel to talk about nitrification and denitrification. They discussed this topic in 2020 and are revisiting it after nearly four years.

With 4 decades of years of work experience in the wastewater industry, Jim shares his insights, advice and more with our listeners.

“Where we bridge the gap between water plant operators and engineers.”

In episode 35 of the Water Break podcast, our host Heather Jennings, PE, is in conversation with Frederick Tack to discuss membranes in water and wastewater treatment. Frederick serves as a Technical Director, Project Director, and Associate with GHD, based in Phoenix, Arizona, where he leads a team of engineers, operators, and designers, in the planning, engineering, operations, management, and compliance of water and wastewater treatment infrastructure across the U.S Southwest.

With over 21 years of experience, he is a field to finish, multi discipline professional who has led the design of over 135 projects including 32 water treatment and 37 wastewater treatment facility expansions, optimizations, or rehabilitation and has sealed over 290 final design documents in the past 10-years.