January 27, 2023
Updates on the Biosolids Management Program at the MWRDGC, Ahmad Laban, P.E., Managing Engineer, Maintenance and Operations Department, and Theresa Johnston, Senior Environmental Soil Scientist, Monitoring & Research Department, MWRDGC

February 24, 2023
Converting Rectangular and Circular Primary Tanks into an AAA Settler, Dr. Bernhard Wett, ARAconsult Gmbh, Innsbruck, Austria

March 31, 2023
The 50 Year History of the Tunnel and Reservoir Plan (TARP), Patrick Jensen, P.E., Principal Civil Engineer, and Brian Wawczak, P.E., Senior Civil Engineer, Engineering Department, MWRDGC

April 28, 2023
USACE Planning Assistance to States, Chicago River Restoration Framework, Chuck Shea, P.E., PMP Project Manager, United States Army Corps of Engineers, Chicago District Office

May 26, 2023 
Revolving Algal Biofilm System for Nutrient Removal and Recovery, Dr. Zhiyou Wen, Director, Center for Crops Utilization Research, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa

June 30, 2023 
Understanding and Embracing Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence and Predictive Analytics, Dr. Kathryn B. Newhart, Assistant Professor, Department of Geography & Environmental Engineering, U.S. Military Academy, West Point, New York

July 28, 2023 
More Than Just Energy Savings: Understanding the Benefits of Low DO Operation Dr. Mark Miller, P.E., Senior Process Engineer, and Don Esping, Process Engineering Lead, Brown and Caldwell, Charlotte, North Carolina

August 25, 2023
Innovative City Adaptations to Climate Change, Dr. Şevin Yildiz, Assistant Professor, Department of Urban Planning and Policy, University of Illinois Chicago, Chicago, Illinois

September 29, 2023 
Relating SARS-CoV-2 RNA Measured in Chicago-area Wastewater Treatment Plant and Cook County COVID-19 Public Health Data, Dr. Niall M. Mangan, Assistant Professor of Engineering Sciences and Applied Mathematics, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois

October 27, 2023 
Near to Real-Time Flood Forecasting: Towards Digital Twins at Urban Scales

November 17, 2023
Updates on the MWRDGC’s Phosphorus Removal Efforts, Dr. Joseph Kozak, P.E., Principal Environmental Scientist, Environmental Monitoring and Research Division, Monitoring & Research Department, MWRDGC

January 28, 2022
Wastewater Surveillance for COVID-19 – A Regional Effort, Rachel Poretsky, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago

February 25, 2022
Regulating the Water Environment at the District and Beyond: A Brief Evolutionary History, Greg Yarnik, Supervising Environmental Specialist, Industrial Waste Division, Monitoring and Research Department, MWRDGC

March 25, 2022
Determination of Watershed Specific Release Rates, Greg Byard, Project Manager, Illinois State Water Survey, Champaign, Illinois

April 29, 2022
Use of Integrated Planning to Facilitate a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Permit Renewal, Rajeev Kapur, Water Resources Program Manager, Clean Water Services, Regulatory Affairs Department, Hillsboro, Oregon

May 27, 2022
Operating the Stickney Water Reclamation Plan to Meet the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Permit Limit for Total Phosphorus, Joseph Kozak, Principal Environmental Scientist, Monitoring and Research Department, and Joseph Cummings, Managing Engineer, Maintenance and Operations Department, Stickney Area, MWRDGC
 

June 24, 2022
How Are Biosolids Used and Managed in the United States? Results of the Second Comprehensive National Biosolids Survey, Ned Beecher, Special Projects Manager, North East Biosolids and Residuals Association, Tamworth, New Hampshire

July 29, 2022
Infiltration and Inflow Control at the City of Naperville, Tony Conn, Sr., Water Distribution & Collection Manager, Naperville Public Utilities-Water, Naperville, Illinois
 

August 31, 2022
Sustainable Water Supplies for Semi-arid Cities, Richard G. Luthy, Ph.D., Silas H. Palmer Professor, Department Civil Engineering, and Director, Engineering Research Center for Re-inventing the Nation’s Urban Water Infrastructure, Stanford University, Stanford, California
 

September 30, 2022
Side-stream Enhanced Biologic Phosphorus Removal (S2EBPR) Pilot Test at the Calumet Water Reclamation District, Cindy Qin, Senior Environmental Research Scientist, Monitoring and Research Department, MWRDGC
 

October 28, 2022 - VIRTUAL
Digital Twin Development Implementation and Results for the Changi Water Reclamation Plant, Singapore, Bruce R. Johnson, Jacobs, Denver, Colorado
 

November 18, 2022 - VIRTUAL
Flood Reduction from Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago Regional Stormwater Projects, Greg Koch, Principal Civil Engineer, Michael Cosme, Senior Civil Engineer, Justin Kirk, Senior Civil Engineer, Engineering Department, MWRDGC
 

December 9, 2022 - VIRTUAL
Water Quality in the Calumet Waterway System after the Thornton Composite Reservoir Went Online, Dustin Gallagher, Associate Aquatic Biologist, and Nicholas Kollias, Aquatic Biologist, Monitoring and Research Department, MWRDGC
 

January 24, 2020

Pursuit of Energy Neutrality at the Downers Grove Sanitary District, Nick Menninga, General Manager, Downers Grove Sanitary District, Downers Grove, Illinois
 

February 21, 2020

Update on the District’s Stormwater Management Program, Joseph Kratzer, Managing Civil Engineer, Engineering Department, Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
 

September 25, 2020

The Response of Microbial Communities in the Chicago Area Waterway to Major Infrastructure Changes in the Region, Dr. Cristina Negri, Argonne National Laboratory, Lemont, Illinois, and Dr. Jack Gilbert, Professor, University of California, San Diego, California
 

October 30, 2020

Advances in Kinetics, Mechanisms, and Detection of Viral Pathogens toward Developing Smart Water Disinfection Systems, Benito J. Mariñas, Ph.D., Ivan Racheff Endowed Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
 

November 20, 2020

Leading Water and Wastewater Utility Innovation, Jason Carter, Water Strategy and Innovation Leader, Arcadis, Birmingham, Alabama

December 11, 2020

Fox River Water Reclamation District’s Efforts on Reducing Phosphorus Discharge Load, Beth Vogt, P.E., Technical Services Director, Fox River Water Reclamation District, South Elgin, Illinois

January 25, 2019

The Development, Implementation, and Recent Progress of the Fulton County Nutrient Loss Reduction Program Under the Illinois Nutrient Loss Reduction Strategy, Guanglong Tian, Ph.D., Principal Environmental Scientist, Monitoring and Research Department, Environmental Monitoring and Research Division, Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
 

February 22, 2019

Lessons Learned on Erosion Control in Shoreline Restoration, Robert J. Kirschner, Director of Restoration Ecology, Chicago Botanic Garden, Glencoe, Illinois
 

March 29, 2019

Green Infrastructure Implementation at the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago, James Yurik, Principal Civil Engineer, and John Watson, Associate Civil Engineer, Engineering Department, Stormwater Management Section, Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
 

April 26, 2019

Operating a Membrane Facility for Decades at the Orange County Water District and Groundwater Replenishment System, Michael R. Markus, P.E., D.WRE, BCEE, F.ASCE, General Manager, Orange County Water District, Fountain Valley, California
 

May 31, 2019

Taking Ammonia-Based Aeration Control to the Next Level, Wendy Anderson, Senior Engineer, Technology & Innovation Division,   Metro Wastewater Reclamation District, Denver, Colorado
 

June 28, 2019

Biosolids Market Analysis for a Strategic Long-Term Biosolids Management Program at Charlotte Water, Irene Teshamulwa Okioga (Tesha) P.E., Ph.D., LEED AP, ENV SP, Senior Engineering Project Manager, Charlotte Water, Charlotte, North Carolina
 

July 26, 2019

Assessing the Impacts of Return Activated Sludge Fermentation on Enhanced Biological Phosphorus Removal Performance and Associated Microbial Ecology, Erik R. Coats, P.E., Ph.D., Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Idaho, Moscow, Idaho
 

August 23, 2019

Challenges of Delivering Drinking Water to the City of New York, Paul V. Rush, Deputy Commissioner, Department of Environmental Protection, Bureau of Water Supply, New York City, New York
 

September 20, 2019

Sludge-Fermentation Based Side-Stream Enhanced Biological Phosphorus Removal Enables Sustainable Nitrogen and Phosphorus Removal with Carbon/Energy Recovery, April Gu, Ph.D., Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York
 

October 25, 2019

Let the Water Flow:  Lessons Learned from the Startup of the new Westside Aerated Grit Facility and Primary Settling Tanks at the Stickney Water Reclamation Plant, Paul D. O’Brien, P.E. Principal Civil Engineer, Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago
 

November 22, 2019

Enhanced Biological Phosphorus Removal at the Kirie Water Reclamation Plant: A Holistic Workplan with Step-By-Step Implementation to Achieve Treatment Goals with Minimum Infrastructure Investment, Fenghua Yang, P.E., BCEE, Senior Environmental Research Scientist, Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago
 

December 13, 2019

Mainstream Short-Cut Biological Nitrogen Removal Coupled with Biological Phosphorus Removal, George Wells, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Northwestern University, McCormick School of Engineering, Evanston, Illinois
 

January 26, 2018

Water Quality Monitoring in Illinois Rivers, William A. Battaglin, Research Hydrologist, United States Geological Survey, Denver, Colorado
Presentation

February 23, 2018

Assessing the Load Reduction of Endocrine Active Compounds After Disinfection at the Terrence J. O’Brien and Calumet Water Reclamation Plants and the Biological Effects on Fish, Dr. Heiko L. Schoenfuss, PhD, Professor of Anatomy, Director, Aquatic Toxicology Laboratory, St. Cloud State University, St. Cloud, Minnesota
Presentation

March 23, 2018

Nutrient Trading as A Useful Tool for Nutrient Management at Watershed Scale, Cy Jones, Senior Fellow with the World Resources Institute, Washington D. C.
Presentation

April 27, 2018

Development and Implementation of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago’s Resource Recovery Ordinance, Gregory Yarnik, Supervising Environmental Specialist, Dr. Joseph Kozak, PhD, PE, Supervising Environmental Research Scientist, and Matthew McGregor, Principal Engineer, MWRDGC, Chicago, Illinois
Presentation

May 25, 2018

Impact of the Enhanced Biological Phosphorus Removal Processes on Digested Sludge Dewatering, Dr. Matthew J. Higgins, Ph.D, Professor, and Claire W. Carlson, Chair in Environmental Engineering, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Eng., Bucknell University, Lewisburg, Pennsylvania
Presentation

June 29, 2018

Selection of Thermal Hydrolysis Pretreatment Technology for Anaerobic Digestion at Louisville Metropolitan Sewer District, Ms. Zonetta English, Research Manager and Alex E. Novak, P.E., Treatment Facilities Director, at Louisville and Jefferson County Metropolitan Sanitary District, Louisville, Kentucky
Presentation

July 27, 2018

Climate-Resilient Water Management in New York City, Alan Cohn, Managing Director, Integrated Water Management, New York, New York
Presentation

August 24, 2018

Crisis Communication and Management, Jason Hughes, Director, Utility Services (Water), Department of Water Services, DC Water
Presentation

September 14, 2018

Microalgal Bioprocesses for Nutrient Recovery from Wastewater, Dr. Jeremy Guest, Assistant Professor, Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois
Presentation

October 26, 2018

Searching for Life and Habitability in the Solar System, Bobak Ferdowsi, Systems Engineer, National Aeronautics and Space Administration Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California
Presentation

November 30, 2018

Microplastic in Urban Streams: Abundance, Source, and Microbial Interactions, Timothy Hoellein, Associate Professor, Department of Biology, Loyola University, Chicago, Illinois
Presentation

December 14, 2018

Update on the District's Stormwater Management Program, Joseph Kratzer, Managing Civil Engineer, Engineering Department, MWRDGC, Chicago, Illinois
Presentation