
March 2022
E-News Quick Reference Time’s Running Out to Register for April’s Plant Operations and Lab Workshop OWEA President Jason Tincu featured in WEF Blog One Water Registration is OPEN We need YOU for the Buckeye Bulletin Cybersecurity Advisory WEF Brings Two National Conferences to Ohio Upcoming Events 2022 Sponsors E-Newsletter Announcement Contact Us Upcoming Events SWOWEA March Section Meeting 2022 03/24/2022 Plant Ops & Lab Workshop 04/05/2022- 04/06/2022 April Webinar 04/13/2022 NESOWEA Innovation Seminar 04/14/2022 May Webinar 2022 05/11/2022 Collections Workshop 05/19/2022 One Water Technical Conference 07/25/2022-07/28/2022 Exhibitor registration Attendee registration Golf registration coming soon 2022 Sponsors E-Newsletter Announcement An E-Newsletter Announcement will allow you to share an announcement with the membership including new services and equipment, staffing changes, or upcoming events. The possibilities are infinite! More Information Contact Us OWEA info@ohiowea.org 614.488.5800 Twitter: @Ohio_wea LinkedIn: OWEA We have moved! Please update your records. 1505 Bethel Rd. Suite 200 Columbus, OH 43220 Send our Revised W-9 to your billing department.	Time’s Running Out to Register for April’s Plant Operations and Lab Workshop Do you want to hear about recent modifications at Akron’s WWTP that increased MGD from 90 to 280? How about how dewatering optimization can help you combat sludge tipping fees? Do you know how to audit your lab? Learn about all of this and much more at the upcoming Plant Operations and Lab Workshop, slated for April 5-6 at the Embassy Suites in Dublin, Ohio. In addition to the ability to obtain up to 12.25 CH/PDhs, this workshop will provide plenty of networking opportunities. The discounted sleeping room rate will be honored through 3/18 and online registration will close 4/1. You can check out the full agenda and other details including sleeping room options HERE. OWEA President Jason Tincu featured in WEF Blog Wastewater and water professionals are the first line of defense in regards to public health and the safety of our communities. We all know this, but due to COVID-19 and wastewater surveillance becoming commonplace on the nightly news, the world is also starting to see this. Hear more how wastewater plays an essential role in the monitoring of public health from OWEA President Jason Tincu in the latest Water Environment Federation blog HERE. One Water Registration is OPEN We are thrilled to announce attendee registration is now open for one of the largest gatherings of water and wastewater professionals in the Midwest! One Water will be held July 25-28 at the Huntington Convention Center in Cleveland, Ohio. This event is brought to you by OWEA and OAWWA and will feature exciting technical sessions, an exhibit hall where you can see the latest in products and services, plenty of networking opportunities and great social events. You can see the full schedule, hotel information and register HERE. We need YOU for the Buckeye Bulletin Has your plant recently undergone a renovation or major change? How are you handling an employee shortage? Has your firm designed a cutting edge solution for a WWTP in Ohio? These are all great subjects for a technical article for the Buckeye Bulletin. Readers love to hear what’s going on at other plants, how problems are being solved, and the latest in technical advances. If something new is happening or you are part of an exciting project, chances are it would make a great article. For questions and to submit articles contact Megan Borror. Cybersecurity Advisory Recently the Department of Homeland Security has issued an alert Warning of Potential for Cyber Attacks Targeting the United States in the Event of a Russian Invasion of Ukraine. As you know water and wastewater are considered prime targets in cyber warfare. The full documents detailing the risk and recommendations are available below. Warning of Potential for Cyber Attacks Targeting the United States in the Event of a Russian Invasion of Ukraine U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY-WaterISAC ADVISORY A summary of the important key actions that Water and Wastewater systems should now take and vigilantly continue to implement is below: 1) Require Strong, Unique Passwords. Malicious cyber actors repeatedly use stolen or easily guessed credentials. Consider forcing a global reset of all passwords in your environment before staff begin taking time off. 2) Implement Multi-Factor Authentication. After changing passwords, make implementing multi-factor authentication (MFA) a priority. MFA significantly reduces your risk from almost all opportunistic attempts to gain entry into your systems. 3) Address known exploited vulnerabilities. This could include patching and/or additional controls such as network segmentation to protect vulnerable devices that cannot effectively be patched. CISA maintains a catalog of Known Exploited Vulnerabilities that utilities are encouraged to review to identify vulnerable systems. Also, prioritize network segmentation to prevent unauthorized access to your operational technology (OT) systems from the internet and to reduce connectivity between OT and vulnerable information technology (IT) systems. 4) Surge Support. Identify surge support for responding to an incident. Malicious cyber actors are known to target organizations on weekends and holidays when there are gaps in organizational cybersecurity. 5) Network/Systems Awareness. Be alert for unusual behavior in OT and IT systems, such as unexpected reboots of digital controllers and other OT hardware and software, and delays or disruptions in communication with field equipment or other OT devices. Enhance logging to investigate anomalous activity – including collecting more logs and increasing storage capacity and retention time. 6) Backup Data. Implement and test data backup procedures on both IT and OT networks and ensure copies of backups are isolated (stored offline) from the network. 7) Incident Response Plans. Create, maintain, and exercise a cyber incident response and continuity of operations plans. 8) Manual Operations. Have a resilience plan that addresses how to operate your system if you lose access to or control of critical OT or IT systems – including the ability to sustain manual operations for extended periods. WEF Brings Two National Conferences to Ohio Buckeyes have a great opportunity to attend two different WEF specialty conferences right in our own backyard! *Public Health and Water Conference & Wastewater Disease Surveillance Summit* March 21-24, 2022 Duke Energy Convention Center Cincinnati, Ohio You can join water resource and public health professionals, public health practitioners, and policymakers, and share ideas on how to address some of the most pressing health issues of our time You can find more information including the program and how to register HERE. *Residuals and Biosolids Conference* Mary 24-27, 2022 Greater Columbus Convention Center Columbus, Ohio This three-day event offers 20 technical sessions, four pre-conference workshops, and for the first time this year, we are hosting a facility tour. Hear from professionals as they highlight new technologies, successful innovations, and current best practices. Get a real-world look at projects implemented, and participate in an interactive experience with equipment, technology, and service vendors that continue to improve efforts in providing high-quality infrastructure throughout the country. Check out the draft technical program and register by April 8 to take advantage of the Super Saver rate HERE.
OWEA Member E-Newsletter - March 2022