PARC Innovation Flow

PARC Innovation Flow

Interview-style podcast featuring the latest in wastewater technology research and treatment pilot studies. Guests include South Platte Renew staff, consulting engineers, technology developers, and university partners who are involved in projects through SPR's innovative Pilot and Research Center (PARC).

Episodes

December 9, 2025 16 mins

Episode Notes

In this live episode from WEFTEC 2025, we sit down with Per Henrik Nielsen of VCS Denmark, a distinguished leader with 40 years in wastewater innovation. Per shares our belief that public utilities have an obligation to drive change where vendors and consultants cannot. Learn how VCS Denmark became an energy-positive utility, the challenges and calculated risks involved in pursuing ambitious projects, and why...

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Episode Notes

In this episode, recorded live from WEFTEC 2025, Jamie Lefkowitz and Mahesh Lunani explore how data science and artificial intelligence (AI) are fundamentally changing the future of the water industry. First, we tackle the urgent challenge of PFAS with Jamie Lefkowitz, Innovation Development Leader at Brown and Caldwell. Jamie shares details on a pioneering research project that uses machine learning algorith...

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Episode Notes

What is the “money value of time” in wastewater master planning, and how is it fueling innovation at South Platte Renew?

In this episode, we talk to Deena Davidson, Municipal Operations Manager at Tetra Tech Water, who describes building flexibility into South Platte Renew’s latest Master Plan. The model allows utilities to intentionally delay critical spending decisions in order to ensure the most current, p...

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September 9, 2025 27 mins

Episode Notes

What’s going on at the Pilot and Research Center (PARC) at South Platte Renew (SPR), and what does it take to be a good innovator? This episode features Anna Schroeder, Engineering and PARC Manager at SPR, sharing what’s new and exciting about the PARC program, from groundbreaking pilot projects to the rewards she's experienced through the process. She and host, Blair Corning, discuss how treating water holis...

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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...

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August 12, 2025 21 mins

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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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January 29, 2025 28 mins

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...

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October 30, 2024 31 mins

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...

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