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WEF's membership newsletter covers current Federation activities, Member Association news, and items of concern to the water quality field. WEF Highlights is your source for the most up-to-the-minute WEF news and member information.
May
2012, Vol.
49, No.
4
Top Story
Around the World in 6 Days
‘Global Marathon’ connects women engineers on six continents
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The biggest challenge facing entrepreneurial-minded women engineers in the Middle East isn’t a lack of finances; it’s a lack of confidence. Women who muster the courage to start their own businesses can leapfrog over obstacles that have held others back.
That’s just one of the lessons shared at the recent Global Marathon, held for, by, and about women in engineering and technology. The annual event links women engineers from around the world in a 6-day virtual conference with presentations from North and South America, China, India, the Middle East, Africa, and Europe.
Despite the exclusivity the conference’s description suggests, men are welcome, too, said Leslie Collins, executive director of the National Engineers Week Foundation (Alexandria, Va.), which organizes the event. But make no mistake, Global Marathon’s purpose is to connect women engineers worldwide and to channel their creative thinking on tackling global challenges.
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| Katherine Alfredo, engineering graduate student from the University of Texas, Austin, works with students in Ghana while investigating naturally occuring fluoride in groundwater. Alfredo shared her experience during a panel discussion at the 2012 Global Marathon. Photo courtesy of National Engineers Week Foundation (Alexandria, Va.). Click for larger image. |
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California Wastewater Utility Makes History as Net-Energy Producer
East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD; Oakland, Calif.) is making history. The district, which had been working to achieve net-zero energy consumption, has raised the bar. In addition to its program of collecting such organic wastes as restaurant grease, cheese waste, poultry blood, and winery wastewater from the surrounding area and using it to produce clean energy, it unveiled on April 3 a turbine that nearly doubles its capacity to produce energy, according to an EBMUD news release. |  | | East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD; Oakland, Calif.) has installed this 4.6 MW biogas turbine. Added to three existing clean-burn engine-generators, the facility has an 11-MW capacity. Photo courtesy of EBMUD. Click for larger image. |
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Thousands Celebrate Girl Scouts’ Anniversary by Improving the Environment
 | Girl Scouts around the country are rolling up their sleeves and working to improve the environment. To celebrate the organization’s 100-year anniversary this year, the Girl Scouts of the United States of America (GSUSA; New York) launched the Girl Scouts Forever Green Take Action Project in July 2011.
Making a difference through local environmental projects and outreach
Through December, Girl Scouts will take action in three main project areas: reducing waste, conserving energy, and building rain gardens, according to a GSUSA news release.
Starting in 2009, the organization worked with 39 of its U.S. offices, known as councils, to develop the project, identifying the project areas as “relevant and of most interest to girls … at various grade levels,” said Jodi Stewart Schwarzer, GSUSA implementation consultant and membership and volunteerism project manager. “They were also replicable, scalable, and would raise visibility for Girl Scouts.” |
| Girl Scouts of San Jacinto plant a native shrub as they build a rain garden at the Houston Arboretum. Photo courtesy of Jodi Stewart Schwarzer, Girl Scouts of the USA project manager. Click for larger image. |
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Kartik Chandran, WEF and Water Sector Leader, Appointed to Stockholm Water Prize Nominating Committee
Kartik Chandran, a member of the Water Environment Federation (WEF; Alexandria, Va.) Board of Trustees and a leader in the water sector, has been appointed to the Stockholm Water Prize Nominating Committee for a 3-year term. The prize is a prestigious international award for extraordinary achievements in saving the world’s water resources. |  | | Kartik Chandran is a member of the Water Environment Federation (Alexandria, Va.) Board of Trustees and new member of the Stockholm Water Prize Nominating Committee. Photo courtesy of Oscar Einzig Photography. |
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WEFTEC Service Project Leaves Green Footprint That Continues To Grow