Oldcastle Precast Offers Environmentally Sound Treatment Solutions

Steve Kingsland, national sales manager for Oldcastle Precast, sat down with Water Online Radio for this live interview from the show floor at WEFTEC 2011 in Los Angeles. Topics covered included energy reduction, nutrients removal, water reuse, stormwater harvesting, and government regulations. Listen to learn more.

Todd Schnick: We are back, broadcasting live from the Los Angeles Convention Center and the tradeshow floor of WEFTEC. I am Todd Schnick, joined by my colleague, Todd Youngblood. Todd, we are knee-deep in hour six and having a ball.

Todd Youngblood: Knee-deep, I tell you. You should not say “knee-deep” in this kind of a tradeshow because it has implications that we really do not want to be discussing on the air.

Todd Schnick: Ok. It is probably time to move on to our guest. We are joined by the national sales manager of Oldcastle Precast, Steve Kingsland. Welcome to Water Online Radio.

Steve Kingsland: Thank you for having me.

Todd Schnick: It is a pleasure to have you. Before we get into a conversation, Steve, why don’t we take a second and have you tell us about you, your background, and what you are doing for Oldcastle.

Steve Kingsland: I have been in precast all my life, and I have been with Oldcastle since 2000. And then, in 2007, I actually took on a new role with the company to look at and develop and promote national water-related products that we can take to market around the country from our various facilities.

Todd Schnick: What do you guys see as the emerging trends and issues in the water/wastewater industry going into 2012?

Steve Kingsland: A few key things. Obviously, energy reduction in treatment processes is key; reduced carbon footprint; and things for effluent quality in stormwater and wastewater would be nutrient removal – things along those lines. And even water reuse.

Todd Schnick: Steve, what kind of things are you doing to help address those trends and issues?

Steve Kingsland: We have a few products that we are launching nationally – a couple that we are really promoting here. The first being – we have a wastewater system called the AlgaePac system. It has a very unique treatment process that would take me probably an hour to tell you about, but the key element is that it uses algae as the primary treatment mechanism and, by using algae, we use sunlight for energy. We have a significantly smaller energy requirement system for our tertiary treatment system. It is approximately 50% energy requirement.

Todd Schnick: So the algae, then, is the actual source – I mean, ultimately, the sun – but the algae is the source of the energy?

Steve Kingsland: The sunlight is the energy for the algae. Algae uses that – and it’s a plant; it grows through photosynthesis – and, as it grows, it requires nutrients – nitrogen and phosphorous – to grow. So it takes the nitrogen and phosphorous – which are kind of the buzz words in wastewater – it takes those directly out of the wastewater and converts them into algae biomass. And, as well – because it is a plant – through photosynthesis, it is also producing oxygen as it grows. And that oxygen feeds the bacteria that’s in the system, so we don’t have the high-energy blowers required of most treatment systems.

Todd Schnick: Energy reduction and reducing carbon footprint has been a common theme for virtually everybody sitting in that chair. It does sound like Oldcastle is well positioned to help its customers achieve those objectives?

Steve Kingsland: Absolutely. We are really excited about it. It is such a unique treatment process. We have a couple of systems we have brought online this year really doing well. We are really fired up about it.

Todd Youngblood: Steve, talk a little bit about technology. You talked a little bit about biotech a minute ago. What other kinds of technology are you looking at in terms of engineering and products?

Steve Kingsland: Another kind of product line we’re looking at has to do with stormwater, specifically for stormwater harvesting. There are some issues with clean, potable water in certain locations, and when you have this rainwater as basically a free resource, the idea with harvesting is we take that water, store it, treat it a little bit, and pump that back to use for things like irrigation or toilet flushing, etc.

Todd Schnick: Help us educate the Water Online audience, with thousands of professionals, really truly understand the value that you are bringing in the marketplace by sharing a very specific story of a recent win or victory that you achieved on behalf of one of your customers.

Steve Kingsland: Actually, regarding the harvesting, we have a system we are putting in right now in New York City. New York City has a kind of unique situation where they have combined sewers, so their stormwater and sewer water mix together. So when they have a heavy rainfall, typically, the sewer gets overwhelmed and raw sewage gets into the harbor.

So New York City has a program where they are actually fostering harvesting and reuse options. So we have a system that is going in where we’re harvesting rainwater in an all-precast building – brand new development, eight-story – we’re harvesting the water, treating it, and putting it back into a hydroponic system that is on the roof of this brand new building that the developer is putting up to grow vegetables.

Todd Schnick: You just touched on, it had to be six different industries.

Steve Kingsland: Absolutely.

Todd Schnick: We had a farmer, we had a real estate agent, we had wastewater treatment, and it is New York City. It just strikes me that it is a three-ring circus with 18 rings. How on Earth do you coordinate all of those different interest groups and constituencies?

Steve Kingsland: Good question and when we figure that out I will let you know. It takes a lot of juggling and, you know, we have to bring in expertise in certain areas – other than our straight, precast-level guys. We have other guys we work with.

Todd Schnick: I see by your badge, speaking of experts, that you are a speaker. What is the subject you talked about here?

Steve Kingsland: I talked about a project called BioTown, which is a wastewater plant that came online about two years ago in Indiana, and that is using the algae-based process, and it basically replaced a treatment system for a town – Reynolds, IN.

Todd Schnick: I’m thinking – just on this theme of all the different constituencies that you have to deal with – I mean, it’s not like there’s not enough regulation in the water/wastewater industry. I am back to New York City again – everything that moves in that place is regulated. Talk a little bit how you deal with all the different regulations from the different governments all over the place that you are dealing with.

Steve Kingsland: Well, that is very difficult, because it can be very regional – everybody has got their own spin on it; and it really just takes a lot of effort researching local regulations – you know, getting to the right people. Obviously, there is layer upon layer of regulatory bodies you have to get to, and it is just legwork – that is what it takes.

Todd Schnick: It sounds like you are doing a lot of that legwork on behalf of your customers, and I would expect that is a heck of a value to them.

Steve Kingsland: Oh, absolutely. We are trying to make their job easy and bring a whole value package to them.

Todd Schnick: Oldcastle is exhibiting here, yes?

Steve Kingsland: Yes, we are at booth 3029 in the South Hall.

Todd Youngblood: What is your principle objective of attending an event like this?

Steve Kingsland: It is really to promote our broad range of solutions for the water environment.

Todd Schnick: Steve, I hate to say it, but we are out of time. But before we let you go, share with the audience how they can contact Oldcastle and learn more about the good works that you are doing.

Steve Kingsland: Well, we have a website: www.oldcastleprecast.com, and we have a wealth of information on there, including a learning center – a Knowledge Center tab – where there is a lot of the latest information.

Todd Youngblood: Outstanding. Steve Kingsland, it was a pleasure to have you. Thank you for joining us today.

Steve Kingsland: Thank you for having me. I have enjoyed it.

Todd Youngblood: Thanks, Steve.

Todd Schnick: That wraps up this episode. On behalf of Todd Youngblood, I am Todd Schnick. Water Online Radio will be right back.