What role does research and development play at public utilities? According to Jay Bernas, General Manager and CEO at Hampton Roads Sanitation District in Virginia, and Pieter Van Ry, Director of South Platte Renew, the rationale boils down to keeping rates low in the face of growing water treatment and funding challenges. In this PARC Innovation Flow Bonus Episode, Jay Bernas, Pieter Van Ry, and Blair Corning sat down at the recen...

Episode Notes

How do we execute ideas for pilot projects at PARC? Here, we learn from Brianna Miller, Engineer II at South Platte Renew, who responded to an infrastructure-related challenge with a question: Can we concentrate biosolids in the wastewater treatment process without polymer? By adjusting polymer usage, Bri sought to reduce chemical costs and improve plant efficiency. This is a story of persistence, trial, erro...

Episode Notes

How can we begin to break down the PFAS cycle in the wastewater treatment process? Andy Safulko at Brown and Caldwell says: Biochar! In this episode, Andy and host Blair Corning unpack the growing challenges that these “forever chemicals” pose to land application and what innovative alternatives might be on the horizon. What is the potential of transforming biosolids into biochar as a PFAS treatment? Can we b...

Episode Notes

In this episode of Innovation Flow, host Blair Corning taps into the story behind Project Green 2025 with Innovation Brewer Justin Fisher of Breckenridge Brewery, which was crafted with 100% purified water from the Colorado School of Mines’ Direct Potable Reuse trailer while hosted at SPR’s Pilot and Research Center.

Timed with World Environment Day on June 5, 2025, Project Green 2025 is part of a larger cele...

Episode Notes

Pure Potential: Colorado’s Path to Sustainable Water explores the challenges, research, and social acceptance surrounding potable reuse through the lens of a first-of-its-kind direct potable reuse (DPR) pilot trailer.

Blair Corning is joined by Dr. Tzahi Cath with the Colorado School of Mines to break down the science behind carbon-based advanced treatment (CBAT) and reverse osmosis (RO), creating a “testbed...

Episode Notes

In this episode of Innovation Flow, we are introduced to a trailblazing new tool that could help utility managers throughout the industry. Host Blair Corning interviews Pieter Van Ry, Director of South Platte Renew, and Ben Stanford, Associate Vice President at Hazen and Sawyer, to discuss the Utility Diagnostic Tool (UDT) development and the benefits it can have on utility leaders and organizations.

They ta...

Episode Notes

This episode dives into a partnership between South Platte Renew (SPR), the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), and the University of Virginia (UVA) researching the low temperature CO2 methanation for biogas-to-renewable natural gas conversion via advanced nickel based catalysts.     The team has been working on using a catalyst to convert the carbon dioxide fraction of biogas into methane, producing...

Episode Notes

This episode explores a recent Reaeration (RA) Basin Denitrification Pilot at South Platte Renew's Pilot and Research Center (PARC), conducted in partnership with Laws Whiskey House. Shannon Harney, Engineer II at SPR, sits down with host Blair Corning to discuss how SPR utilized the carbon-rich waste produced by the distillery combined with existing microbial populations to promote denitrification.

The goa...

Episode Notes

The first episode of PARC Innovation Flow podcast was recorded live from the WEFTEC showroom floor. The episode explores how the South Platte Renew Pilot and Research Center (PARC) was created and constructed. The mission of PARC and its reach throughout the water industry is also discussed. The plan for future PARC podcast episodes is also shared with listeners. Guests include: Pieter Van Ry, Director of Sou...