
2026 Young Professionals Summit
March 22-24, 2026 | Charlotte, N.C.
Registration is officially open for the
WEF/AWWA Young Professionals (YP) Summit
.
Take advantage of Super Saver rates by registering early for YP Summit 2026. This event brings together peers from drinking water, wastewater, stormwater, academia, engineering, consulting, and more to build leadership capabilities and foster lasting connections.
Under the theme
The Next Wave: Navigating Water Sector Currents
, participants will develop practical leadership and communication skills, learn from innovative sector professionals, expand their national network of young professionals, and gain the confidence to lead through change, preparing them to shape the future of the water sector.
Space is limited and the
YP Summit
sells out every year. Don’t miss your chance to join this one of a kind experience.
Register Early to get a Discounted Rate!

- Gill Instruments , award-winning designer and manufacturer of meteorological and environmental measurement instruments, today announced the launch of TruMet PW100 , its new infrared optical rain gauge. For decades, rainfall measurement has relied on mechanical tipping bucket gauges. While trusted, these systems are prone to clogging, mechanical drift (requiring frequent calibration for reliable data), and under-counting during high-intensity rainfall, leading to maintenance demands and data uncertainty when accuracy matters most. Gill’s TruMet PW100 Optical Rain Gauge is meticulously engineered to overcome these long-standing challenges, ensuring true reliability and precision. A new approach to rainfall measurement The TruMet PW100 uses a solid-state optical measurement principle rather than mechanical collection. LEDs (light-emitting diodes) create a beam of light across a defined sensing area, and a receiver monitors interruptions in the beam caused by rainfall. By analysing the s


is a not-for-profit, nonpartisan organization providing water professionals with the latest in education and training. WEF is leading the transformation to the Circular Water Economy: reducing waste, recovering resources, and regenerating ecosystems. Founded in 1928, WEF's mission is to inspire its 31,000 members and 75 affiliated member organizations and the water community in pursuit of human and environmental well-being. WEFTEC, WEF’s premiere event, is the largest annual water quality exhibition in North America, attracting a diverse, global audience. More than 20,000 registrants and 1,000 exhibitors convene at WEFTEC to experience innovative solutions and gain expert insights that positively impact the future of water. For more information, visit wef.org.


enabling U.S. power grid engineers to save an estimated 19 million hours annually San Diego, CA — (Distributech) — Looq AI, a global leader in geophysical reasoning, today announced the launch of qPole. The AI-enabled solution is designed to make the power grid more reliable and resilient by training AI models to understand utility poles the same way experienced engineers do, based on physical structure, geometry, materials, and real-world context. The U.S. power grid consists of an estimated 180–200 million distribution poles—some aging, some in areas where extreme weather conditions exist. Utilities face growing pressure to comply with state mandates for wildfire risk reduction and storm hardening. Accurate pole data has become a critical foundation for grid reliability. Yet it is still largely collected and processed using a slow, manual, and inconsistent workflow. Currently, thousands of utility contract companies work around the clock to complete detailed Pole Load Analysis (PLA).


2026 Young Professionals Summit March 22-24, 2026 | Charlotte, N.C. Registration is officially open for the WEF/AWWA Young Professionals (YP) Summit . Take advantage of Super Saver rates by registering early for YP Summit 2026. This event brings together peers from drinking water, wastewater, stormwater, academia, engineering, consulting, and more to build leadership capabilities and foster lasting connections. Under the theme The Next Wave: Navigating Water Sector Currents , participants will develop practical leadership and communication skills, learn from innovative sector professionals, expand their national network of young professionals, and gain the confidence to lead through change, preparing them to shape the future of the water sector. Space is limited and the YP Summit sells out every year. Don’t miss your chance to join this one of a kind experience. Register Early to get a Discounted Rate!


World’s largest heavy lifting and transport company to load out heaviest three substations bound for the North Sea. Mammoet has signed an agreement with Seatrium to execute the load-out of three substations for TenneT’s 2GW Program, which will connect large-scale offshore wind farms to the European mainland. The innovative project will install a total of 15 (eight in the Netherlands, seven in Germany) high-voltage direct current (HVDC) offshore grid connection systems in the North Sea by 2032 - each with a capacity of two gigawatts (2GW). Installing higher capacity connection systems at sea will significantly contribute to Dutch, German and wider European climate targets, and also reduce environmental impacts, as fewer offshore facilities will be needed overall. Seatrium, leveraging its One Seatrium Global Delivery model and international footprint, will be undertaking topside fabrication across its key yards. Each topside is expected to weigh above 30,000 tonnes. Mammoet will be on si


ASPE Pipeline1 min readEffective immediately, Brian South, MSME, MSTC, has been promoted to a newly created role: Director of Product Engineering | Business Development for McWane Plumbing Group. In this role, Brian will lead enterprise-wide efforts across product design, testing, compliance, and documentation—serving as the single point of accountability for product testing, technical accuracy, and adherence to industry standards. Working cross-functionally with Business Development, Technical Services, Marketing, Technology, Operations, Sales, and key partners, he will help ensure product integrity, mitigate risk, and strengthen market credibility. Brian joined ASPE is 2022 and is affiliated with the Denver, Intermountain, Omaha, and Phoenix Chapters. He currently is service as Vice President, Legislative, of the Denver Chapter. Please join McWane in congratulating Brian on this well-deserved promotion and expanded leadership role. Source: McWane


MP Katie White visited Vaillant’s UK heat pump production facility at Belper, Derbyshire. This comes as the UK government has published the details of its £15bn Warm Homes Plan. The scheme includes £5bn earmarked for home upgrades, alongside grants of up to £7,500 for households transitioning from gas boilers to heat pumps. The MP toured Vaillant’s heat pump production line, which opened in 2021. During the visit, she saw the manufacturing line in operation and discussed future plans with Vaillant’s senior management team. Vaillant stated that they focused on how production capacity can continue to scale in line with the rollout of the Warm Homes Plan nationwide. Katie White also met with some of Vaillant’s apprentices, including its Low Carbon Heating Apprentices, Engineering Apprentices and Business Apprentices. She learned more about their training and development pathways and answered questions on the future of heating and the role of apprenticeships in building the skills pipeline


ASPE Pipeline2 min readNavien Inc., the number one manufacturer of gas tankless water heaters and condensing boilers in the United States and Canada, successfully concluded its presence at the 2026 AHR Expo, where the company showcased its latest HVAC and water heating innovations with a focus on hybrid solutions. Navien’s redesigned booth drew strong engagement throughout the show, featuring new and upcoming products that reflect the industry’s growing demand for flexible, high-efficiency, and dual-fuel-ready systems. Attendees were able to see and discuss the new NAE Hydro Air Conditioner, NAA Air Conditioner, and got a first look at the upcoming NXW Dual-Fuel Hybrid Heat Pump Water Heater, which was previewed as part of Navien’s expanding hybrid water heating portfolio. The hybrid solutions booth theme demonstrated how Navien’s HVAC and water heating technologies can be integrated to optimize performance across multiple energy sources. In-booth system displays highlighted dual-fuel configurations combinin


high solids, sand, fiber, bedding material, and debris—SEEPEX Easy Maintenance solutions reduce downtime and extend component life. Smart Conveying Technology (SCT) features a patented two-piece stator and rotor design that allows maintenance without removing pipework, cutting downtime by up to 85 percent. The integrated re-tensioning mechanism adjusts the sealing line as wear progresses, often doubling component life and lowering operating costs. SCT retrofit kits support economical upgrades of aging facilities. NEW: Expanded BN and BTEX Pump Sizes for High-Volume RNG Operations SEEPEX now offers flow capacities of 20–90, 40–180, 80–360, and a new high-capacity model delivering 180–700 gallons per hour at 60 to 120 psi. These pumps provide stable, high-capacity transfer even during seasonal peaks or intensive feed cycles, making them ideal for large dairy digesters, food-waste co-digestion projects, and municipal sludge operations with fluctuating feedstock volumes. The robust design


a mill-applied, high performance, dry lubricant that simplifies handling, eliminates traditional thread and storage compounds, and enhances operational reliability and safety. “We are pleased to continue our collaboration with the TPAO on their most technically demanding offshore project to date,” said Olga Volkova, Tenaris Commercial Senior Director for Eastern Europe and the Caspian Sea. “Tenaris’s offshore solutions, used in projects like the Sakarya Gas Project, enhance efficiency and safety by providing run-ready pipes without entering the rig floor red zone.” For more information about Tenaris, please follow us on Facebook, X, LinkedIn, and Instagram. About Tenaris Tenaris is a leading global manufacturer and supplier of steel pipe products and related services for the world’s energy industry and other industrial applications. Our customers include most of the world’s leading oil and gas companies and our revenues amounted to $12.5 billion USD in 2024. Employing around 26,000 peo


making them increasingly attractive for mapping, digital twins, infrastructure monitoring, simulation, and situational awareness. Gaussian splatting is also being quickly adopted in many other markets including photojournalism, media and entertainment, robotics training, cultural preservation, and is poised to bring 3D capture and display to social media. At the same time, generation, training, rendering, and compression techniques continue to evolve and improve. Without standardization, this rapid evolution could easily lead to fragmentation. In January 2025, the Metaverse Standards Forum initiated a series of public Town Halls to explore whether Gaussian splatting was ready for standardization. Stakeholders identified strong overlap across use cases and interoperability challenges that could be meaningfully addressed through open standards—specifically by enabling splat storage in glTF assets. A key conclusion was the importance of enabling Gaussian splats to integrate cleanly into e


ASPE Pipeline2 min readRegistration is now open for the 2026 ARCSA International Technical Symposium , their premier annual gathering for rainwater and stormwater professionals across the country. It will be held May 20–21, 2026, in Brookshire, Texas (Greater Houston Area). Join system designers, engineers, policy leaders, researchers, utility professionals, installers, and sustainability practitioners for two full days of advanced education and industry collaboration. You will gain: Whether you work in design, regulation, installation, consulting, or community resilience, this event is your opportunity to deepen your expertise and connect with leaders shaping the future of water reuse. If you’ve been looking for an event that truly advances professional knowledge and brings the entire rainwater and stormwater community together, this is it. Full event details, schedule updates, and registration are now live at arcsainternational.org/news/arcsa-international-technical-symposium . This year’s Symposium will a


Philadelphia, PA – Progressive Railroading has announced honorees for the magazine’s second annual Women of Influence in Rail recognition program with Urban Engineers, Inc.’s (Urban) Associate Vice President and Senior Project Manager, Kelly Pilarski, PE, LEED AP, named to the 2026 list for her leadership and contributions to advancing the rail industry. “I’m honored to be recognized as a 2026 Woman of Influence and to stand alongside so many exceptional women in the rail industry,” said Pilarski. “For communities to truly thrive, we need reliable, diverse transportation options. Ten years car-free, I live and breathe this work, and I am excited about the meaningful projects our Urban team will continue to support in the future.” “We are incredibly proud of Kelly and the example she sets every day,” said Urban’s President and CEO, James A. Bilella, II, PE. “Her passion for improving transportation and building stronger communities embodies what Urban stands for, and this recognition is


The American Great Lakes Ports Association (AGLPA), including members Ports of Indiana, the Illinois International Port District (IIPD), and Port Milwaukee, in partnership with the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation (GLS), announced today that they will begin a comprehensive market analysis aimed at expanding cargo movement between the Great Lakes and Inland Waterways system. Together, the Great Lakes and Inland Waterways move close to 700 million tons of cargo each year, supporting critical American industries including steelmaking, agriculture, energy, manufacturing, and other cargo. At the intersection of these two systems is one of the most important industrial and freight hubs in the United States. Despite being two of the world’s busiest inland shipping corridors, only a small percentage of cargo currently moves between the Great Lakes and inland rivers. The study will examine opportunities to increase waterborne commerce by leveraging this river–lake connect


Simpson Strong-Tie , the leader in engineered structural connectors and building solutions, is extending its lineup of RFB retrofit bolts with new diameters and additional lengths in Grade 36 rod, as well as launching Grade 55 and 105 and Stainless Steel 304 and 316. The precut and pre-cleaned threaded rods come fully assembled with nut and washer to save time on the jobsite while providing seamless anchoring, when paired with anchoring adhesives, into existing concrete and masonry. What sets the RFBs apart is the clear marking of their product specs: Each end of the threaded rod is stamped with rod length in inches (for 1/2” diameters and greater) and color-coded to indicate the grade or type of steel for quick and easy identification. When used with a Simpson Strong-Tie adhesive, they offer a complete engineered anchoring system. “Any field engineer or specifier who has ever struggled to verify anchor specs post-installation will appreciate how our RFB retrofit bolts are stamped and


Agentic AI platform automates geospatial workflows, enabling faster, explainable, mission-ready intelligence through natural-language interaction HOLLYWOOD, Fla., February 3, 2026 – NV5, the world’s leading provider of geospatial software and services, today announced the launch of GeoAgent™, an agentic AI platform that automatically discovers and analyzes data and produces geospatial intelligence using natural language interaction. GeoAgent marks a major advancement in how organizations transform geospatial data into actionable insights, moving beyond traditional software-specific tools and AI copilots to offer autonomous geospatial workflows. “Our vision is to make geospatial intelligence faster, more accessible, and more impactful. GeoAgent brings that to life by eliminating the challenges of going from data to decisions,” said Kurt Allen, president of NV5 Geospatial. “In this new era, NV5 is at the forefront with GeoAgent, automating complex analysis, broadening access to insights


New research from MCS has revealed a 95% satisfaction rate among customers of the Boiler Upgrade Scheme (BUS). All installations under the BUS must be MCS certified, which means they have been completed by an MCS installer using MCS certified products. Since July 2022, MCS has conducted a BUS outreach programme on behalf of Ofgem. This involves contacting BUS recipients and completing a verification survey about their installation, typically within a few months of the installation being completed. MCS reported that the majority of those contacted had received a heat pump, with a small handful using the BUS for a biomass installation. The outreach programme, while primarily focused on monitoring for fraudulent activity, allowed MCS to assess the homeowner’s experience of the installation. As part of the survey, consumers are asked if they ‘are happy, overall, with their installation’. To date, MCS has contacted 72,142 customers, 10,380 in the last quarter of 2025 alone. The overall sati


the buckle’s wing collapses inward—when proper tension is reached, eliminating some of the guesswork that can result in bands being secured at a wide range of tensions. The metal buckle reduces band installation time and improves the reliability of secure banding. Benefits: Company: Brightpave Markers , Littleton, Colo. Product: Brightpave Lane Marker – The Brightpave Lane Marker is a solar-powered LED pavement marker designed to improve lane lines visibility at night and in rain, fog, or snow. The recessed installation design makes these markers plowable, allowing lane visibility to be maintained in snow conditions. The markers are powered by a lithium-ion battery pack that charges via a solar cell during daylight. The LEDs automatically light up at dusk and turn off at dawn. This marker is designed to improve upon first-generation LED lane markers through greater ease of installation, more intense light and better battery life. The marker also includes additional system capacity wit


ASPE Pipeline6 min readThe U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), the global developer of the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) rating system, and Green Business Certification Inc. (GBCI), the premier organization independently recognizing excellence in green business industry performance and practice globally, have announced the annual Top 10 Countries and Regions for LEED ranking outside the United States for 2025. While the U.S. remains the global leader in LEED adoption, mainland China once again takes the top spot on the annual list outside the U.S., followed by India, with Vietnam securing a spot in the top 10 for the first time. LEED certification continued to grow globally, with more than 7,500 LEED-certified commercial projects in 2025, equaling more than 147 million gross square meters (GSM). The U.S. remains the world’s largest market for LEED, with more than 50 million GSM of certified space. USGBC will announce the Top 10 States for LEED ranking in the U.S. later this month. Thr


Key Highlights Coordinate hydronic system design early in the schematic phase to align with timber framing, structural elements, and architectural features Follow engineered hole charts and limit penetrations near load-bearing members to preserve structural integrity and aesthetics Implement expansion loops and humidity control measures to accommodate wood movement and prevent system stress or damage Plan manifold placement and zoning carefully to maintain visual appeal while ensuring even heat distribution in open-concept spaces Contractors who want to integrate hydronic heating into timber-frame construction should be aware that these projects demand more front-end coordination than a typical stick-built project. However, the payoff is a quiet, even, high-comfort system that matches the premium aesthetics of exposed wood structures. When contractors plan for cross - linked polyethylene ( PEX ) routing, structural constraints, and thermal movement together with the frame and floor sys
