Wastewater Treatment Plant Resiliency – Lessons Learned from Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans

Presentation Synopsis:

Veolia will be presenting a case study on disaster preparedness and response from their experience as the wastewater treatment plant operations and maintenance contractor during Hurricane Katrina for the City of New Orleans. The presentation will include how Veolia planned for the disaster, lessons learned on how they responded during the storm and in the immediate aftermath to quickly restore critical treatment services, and how Veolia and the City of New Orleans rebuilt a sustainable and resilient WWTP over the past 10 years to prevent a recurrence of the extensive damage that occurred during the super storm.

Bill Naughton Bio:

Bill Naughton is a registered professional geologist with 25 years of federal government program and project management experience focused on water resources, infrastructure, and environmental remediation. Bill is Veolia's Director of Federal Markets responsible for development and management of water, wastewater, energy, and environmental projects for the Air Force, Army, and Navy.

Steve Kruger Bio:

Steven Kruger, Vice President of Operations for Veolia’s South Region, has 40 years of civil/sanitary engineering experience providing reliable, resilient, and sustainable water and wastewater treatment O&M services. He has provided leadership for wastewater and water treatment O&M throughout the Eastern United States and, based in Tampa, FL, has directed Veolia’s South Region operations for the past 10 years, overseeing operations at 49 treatment plants in 11 states, including disaster response coordination. Since 2005, Steven has been actively leading the restoration and resilient upgrading of the New Orleans, LA wastewater treatment plants that were severely damaged by Hurricane Katrina.