Garver selected for Water World Film Festival

Garver’s Operations Challenge documentary was chosen for the Water World Film Festival that took place at Columbia University in New York City the weekend of November 16-17, 2024. The two-day festival, hosted by the Columbia Water Center’s Climate School, highlighted the global challenges and advancements being made in the water and wastewater industries through the lens of over 20 short and feature films.

Scheduled events also included a panel discussion about PFAS, following the film “Sludge” which detailed the impacts of land application of PFAS-containing biosolids on Maine farmers. Garver’s Water Technology Team Manager Ashley Pifer, PhD, PE, joined a group of other distinguished industry leaders on the panel; she talked about industrial and municipal sources of PFAS and the upcoming requirements for water systems to remove PFAS from drinking water, which will help keep them out of wastewater and biosolids. The panel also included Scott Firmin, Director of Wastewater Services of the Portland (ME) Water District, who discussed the challenges his utility is facing with biosolids disposal, and Dania Valvi, MD, PhD, MPH, a professor at Mount Sinai Medical School, who addressed the health effects of PFAS.

Creative Communications Leader Guy Choate represented Garver’s Video Team at the screening of Garver’s documentary and participated in a Q&A afterwards. The film followed competitors in the Rocky Mountain Region of the Water Environment Federation’s Operations Challenge throughout the year to show the difficult journey of becoming a national competitor in the Operations Challenge at the Water Environment Federation's Technical Exhibition and Conference (WEFTEC).

Garver’s Director of Water Services Jeff Sober, PE, BCEE, has served as the national WEF Operations Challenge chairperson for 2024 and believes that the Ops Challenge is the most important tool for workforce development in the water industry.

Safe, reliable water couldn’t be delivered to communities without the hard work of water/wastewater operators, and Garver’s documentary brought well-deserved attention to these unsung heros.