August 2012, Vol. 67 No. 8

Newsline

New research project aids better communication among utilities

The Water Environment Research Foundation (WERF) has recently launched WATERiD, an on-line living knowledge base that permits utilities to easily share their experiences, information and lessons learned in managing the nation’s water infrastructure.

Developed by Dr. Sunil Sinha, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at Virginia Tech, WATERiD will help the nation address the challenges associated with the aging and deteriorating wastewater and water infrastructure. WATERiD is unique in that it allows utilities to share their “lessons learned” and thus avoid repeating mistakes, explains Dr. Daniel Woltering, WERF director of research.

This sharing is accomplished through a “wiki”-like capability for utilities to submit their information on cost, performance and capability of various technologies. Then, utilities can easily access all of the information necessary to assess whether a practice or technology is right for their application.

WATERiD can be accessed from the WERF website at www.werf.org or at www.waterid.org.

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