Our water industry professionals attend a myriad of conferences every year. One of our favorite annual events is the Water Environment Federation’s Technical Exhibition and Conference (WEFTEC), which was held in October in New Orleans, LA. We sponsor the annual Ops Challenge, host an event for our clients, lead and attend technical presentations, and enjoy opportunities to network with nearly 18,000 clean water colleagues. This year, our professionals also rolled up their sleeves to give back to the host community in a meaningful way.
Zach Henderson, who has been a WEF member since 2007, joined the community service project, an event organized annually by the WEF Students and Young Professionals Community. This year’s conference attendees banded together to tackle drainage issues at Saint Mary’s Academy, a private Catholic preparatory elementary, middle, and high school for young women. During rain events, stormwater runoff from the school buildings created areas of pooled water, causing safety concerns. One solution to address such an issue is a rain garden that both collects and treats stormwater runoff. Zach joined a group of volunteers tasked with installing a rain garden designed to capture 5,000 gallons of runoff. The effort included carving out garden space, spreading soil, adding native plants like Louisiana irises, and installing rain chains to help stormwater runoff flow towards the rain garden.
“As the stormwater practice leader for Woodard & Curran, stormwater is my thing. I’ve been working in this field my whole life,” said Zach. “I’ve built rain gardens before and have them on my property because managing stormwater is a passion of mine and this is a nice way to be in the community we’re visiting for WEFTEC and get engaged.”
