The 5^th MEWE an International Conference that takes place every 4 years implemented at Ann Arbor Michigan this year between the 7^th and 10^th of July.

MEWE is a conference focusing mainly on trends of microbial communities and dynamics in water and wastewater treatment processes; a fundamental topic for environmental engineers working with bioreactors and treatment systems as these communities interact, compete and co-exist with direct effects to the system performance.

The attendance was quite high with more than 170 participants from all over the globe but mainly from U.S.A. and Asia (Japan, Korea and China).

Newcastle University had 5 contributions (3 posters and 2 oral presentations – one presentation from both Newcastle and Tokyo University).

The vast majority of the topics were related to biological nutrient removal and recovery. Many highly recognised on this field of science names were present as Prof. T. P. Curtis (from our university, known for his work on cell immigration theories), Prof. L. Raskin (known for her work on water treatment and also P.I. to low temperature anaerobic digestion, topic that is under investigation in our department as well), Prof. P.H. Nielsen (known for the studies on cell interaction in wastewater treatment plants), Prof. H.Daims (known for his work on FISH, technique we extensively use in our labs), Prof. S. Wertz (known for his work on metabolomics), Prof. David Stahl (known for his work on linking communities with functions), Prof. Jenkins (well known for the decades of time invested studying wastewater treatment plants) etc.

It is also important to mention that Glenn Daiger (IWA CH2M) the IWA President was present.

Personally as this was my 1^st conference in U.S.A. I can say that it was well organized and it was worth the jet lag that hit by biological timetable after landing in both continents. We look forward to the 6^th MEWE which might be in 2 years rather than 4 after Prof. T.P. Curtis’ suggestion.

Evangelos Petropoulos

Each summer, one of the five partner universities in STREAM bring together all the research engineers (REs) across the cohorts for a week of socialising and solving water-based challenges. This year the event was fantastically put together by Jaime and Justine at Newcastle University. The venue was Longhirst Hall and we were set the task of deriving an integrated flood plan for nearby Morpeth. The 35 REs were split into 6 groups to consider the flood plan from the perspective of a flood action group, Northumberland Country Council, EA, Halcrow (the engineering consultancy), NWL and the insurers. The task was set by Geoff Parkin, who suffered from the flooding in Morpeth in 2008. To break up the task, we ventured back in to Newcastle briefly for a conference in the Devonshire, with excellent presentations from Cohort 1 (and a few from Cohort 2), as well as posters from all REs. Following this, we continued to work on our presentations for Thursday. The morning saw informal flipchart presentations from each group to the ‘public’, to gain feedback for the formal afternoon session outlining each group’s approach to the integrated flood plan. Being in the insurance group was pretty tough and lead to some intense questioning from the ‘public’, but it almost paid off, with our group coming second (to the county council) in the task.

But STREAM is far from all work and no play; the first day was spent at Kielder Water canoeing, kayaking and sailing. Although the weather was fantastic – minor ailments were common, with REs suffering sunburn, mozzie bites and the odd trip to the RVI for an x-ray and a sling.  From a water engineering perspective, the STREAM team also got to experience the UK’s largest man made reservoir. Wednesday night saw the arrival of Donna and Nigel to umpire a rounder’s tournament that was greatly anticipated by all… Despite the eagerness of Cohort 4 (with star member Justine), it seems matching t-shirts do not help to win matches. On the final night we were taken to a local pub for a meal and prize-giving. I’ve been informed this is usually quite low-key with the challenge week winners and the best student from the induction semester (based on exam results) announced. This year, it resembled the Oscars. Prizes were flowing left, right and centre and I was pleased to receive a gorgeous bunch of flowers for the ‘best fall into Kielder Water’.  Overall, Challenge Week was a huge success with most saying it was the best yet… Cranfield have a lot to live up to next year.

Also note- Sarah has her own individual blog related to her work called  ‘Prototypes, Pipedreams and Power from Poo… snippets from a sewage engineer on STREAM’

http://powerfrompoo.wordpress.com/

A group of 32 EngD Researchers from across the UK including our very own Sarah Cotterill, Gregg Iceton and Ziye Dai stayed at Longhirst Hall near Morpeth from 8^th to 12^th July, for a residential week of activities hosted by Newcastle University.

The “Challenge Week” is held annually as part of the national STREAM programme funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and various Industrial Sponsors, including Northumbrian Water Limited, Scottish Water, United Utilities, Wrc plc, and various others (see attached link for full details http://www.stream-idc.net/ ) which provides water-related research relevant to the water industry. The Challenge Week gives the researchers the opportunity to get together, talk about their research, and address a challenge set by their host university.

This year, Newcastle University set the very topical challenge to produce an Integrated Flood Plan for Morpeth, which has suffered severe flooding twice within the last 5 years. Hopefully we will hear from some of those students on their experiences at the event soon!

Welcome one and all! My name Ruth and I am going to be coordinating the Environmental Engineering blog for Newcastle University. The aim of which is to share with you our experiences, research and opinions!

Look forward to posting to you all some more soon.