Monday, November 9, 2026
Technical Sessions
Time: 1:15 – 5:00 PM
M5: All About Water for Data Centers
IWC Rep: Ashwin Thakkar, Aquatech, Canonsburg, PA
Session Chair: H.G. Sanjay, Bechtel, Reston, VA
Discussion Leader: Brian Lowes, P.E., Jacobs, Columbus, OH
You want to know about the water needs for data centers. Come join this session. We promise that this will give you a much better sense than “hey Google, Alexa, how much water does a data center use”?
M6: Old Water, New Tricks: Creative Approaches to Recovery and Reuse
IWC Rep: John Yen, Marmon Water, Warren, NJ
Session Chair: Andrew Erickson, Sargent & Lundy, Kansas City, MO
Discussion Leader: Shannon Brown, HDR, Omaha, NE
Water reuse may sound simplistic, but these projects have plenty of drama: rising demand, tight disposal limits, scaling headaches, corrosion risk, high costs, and the occasional moment when a wastewater system decides to become everyone’s full-time job. This session will first explore case studies in the food & beverage and municipal industries that show how teams increased recovery, reduced freshwater withdrawals, minimized brine, and kept complex treatment systems running reliably. The session will then transition to ZLD systems, highlighting the intricate balance of operational considerations and the factors that should be evaluated to tailor a system to specific needs. Join us for an engaging session discovering both the challenges and opportunities of water reuse.
M7: PFAS Treatment in Practice: Full Scale Solutions, Dirty Matrices, and Short Chain Challenges
IWC Rep: Kristen Jenkins, Kiewit, Alpharetta, GA
Session Chair: Karen Budgell, WSP, Athens, TX
Discussion Leader: Cristina Piekarz, GFT, Greenwood Village, CO
PFAS treatment is moving from pilot studies to practical, high-stakes implementation across some of the water sector’s most challenging applications. This session examines side-by-side technology evaluation in organic-rich groundwater, full-scale low pressure reverse osmosis for municipal drinking water, source-control and destruction strategies for landfill leachate, and next generation ion exchange for short- and ultra-short chain PFAS. Together, these presentations highlight how utilities and industry are selecting, scaling, and stress testing treatment systems while confronting the residuals, concentrates, costs, and liabilities.
M8: When Wastewater Gets Complicated
IWC Rep: Jay Harwood, ZwitterCo, Inc., Scotland, ON,Canada
Session Chair: Thomas Igou, Watertectonics, Everett,WA
Discussion Leader: Andrew Hunt, ZwitterCo, Inc., Woburn, MA
This session examines treatment challenges where environmental, regulatory, thermodynamic, chemical, and process integration constraints intersect. Driven by case studies focusing on heat-balance modeling, multi-pass RO, electrochemical metal recovery, and electrocoagulation, presenters will walk attendees through the fundamental engineering and creative approaches involved in managing complex wastewaters and systems integration in the field.