Disinfection and Public Health Community

The goals of the community are to grow and assist the Federation, both domestic and international, in the educational aspects of these disinfection and public health issues.

Disinfection & Public Health Community members serve as WEF’s technical resource for all topics related to disinfection including, but not limited to:

• New approaches to disinfection, optimization of proven methods, and the use of existing technologies for new applications;
• Disinfection regulations, standards, and permit compliance;
• Disinfection byproducts and other challenges
• The design, operation, and maintenance of disinfection systems
• Wet weather and reclaimed water disinfection;
• Proper handling and environmental safety of disinfectants
• Community sanitation and clean drinking water efforts

Products
Volunteers share their knowledge of these and other topics by:

• Developing workshops and moderating technical sessions each year at WEFTEC;
• Sponsoring a biannual disinfection specialty conference;
• Authoring articles for WEF's technical journals;
• Participating in the development of educational materials such as books, webcasts, distance learning courses and more;
• Providing comments to WEF Government Affairs on Federation Position Statements and U.S. government regulations and policies.

Meetings
The Disinfection & Public Health Community meets at committee-associated conferences and each year at WEFTEC. Most committee business, however, is conducted via teleconference or email.

Chair
Brian Hilts, 2023 - 2025
Tel:  518-782-4500
Email:  hiltsba@cdmsmith.com 

Vice-Chairs
Rasha Maal-Bared, 2023 - 2025
Tel: 7804127617
Email: maalbaredr@cdmsmith.com

2nd Vice Chair
Jenny Reina, 2023 - 2025
Tel:  510-634-2001
Email:  jenny.reina@jacobs.com

Past Chair
Kari Brisolara, 2021- 2023
Tel:    504-568-5725
Email: kbriso@lsuhsc.edu

Staff Manager
Kira Bhattarai 
Tel: 703-684-5265
Email: kbhattarai@wef.org

Disinfection Focus Groups

Conferences and Events
Stan Shmia - Chair
Stanley.Shmia@denora.com 

Michael Watts - Co-chair
mjwatts@garverusa.com

Jenny Reina - Co-chair
Jenny.Reina@jacobs.com

Communications
Brian Hilts - Chair
HiltsBA@cdmsmith.com

Philip Block - Co-chair
philip.block@peroxychem.com

Bob English - Co-chair
bob.english@palintestusa.com

Membership
Stan Shmia - Chair
Stanley.Shmia@denora.com 

Maria Claudia Reed - Co-chair
mreed@brwncald.com

Todd Archer - Co-chair
archer.todd@gmail.com

Microconstituents
Jenny Reina - Chair
Jenny.Reina@jacobs.com

Gary Hunter - Co-chair
huntergl@bv.com

Pathogen Standards
Raul Gonzalez - Chair
rgonzalez@hrsd.com

Akin Babatola
ababatola@cityofsantacruz.com

Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WaSH)
Christine Yi - Chair
cyi@hazenandsawyer.com

Keerthi Palanisamy - Co-chair
palanika@mail.uc.edu

Maria Claudia Reed - Co-chair
mreed@brwncald.com

Pathogens and Indicators (formerly Waterborne Infectious Disease Outbreak Control (WIDOC))
Rasha Maal-Bared - Chair
maalbaredr@cdmsmith.com

Webcasts
Josh Goldman-Torres - Chair
goldmanje@cdmsmith.com

Workshops
Leonard Casson - Chair
casson@pitt.edu

Ajit Ghorpade - Co-chair
ajit.ghorpade@veolia.com

Keerthi Palanisamy - Co-chair
palanika@mail.uc.edu

Steering
DPHC Leadership

Nominations
DPHC Leadership