Leading by Design: Sarasota County’s Bee Ridge WRF AWT Conversion for a Sustainable Water Future

Webinar Summary

Sarasota County is implementing actionable measures that protect local waterbodies through the expansion and conversion of the Bee Ridge Water Reclamation Facility (BRWRF). Designed by Carollo Engineers and delivered with Garney Construction, the project represents one of the most ambitious upgrades of its kind in the state. The project features Florida’s largest membrane bioreactor (MBR) and allows the facility to meet Florida’s Advanced Wastewater Treatment (AWT) standards, significantly reducing nitrogen and phosphorus discharges. The project also incorporates robust climate resilience strategies including Category 5 hurricane-resistant construction, expanded stormwater basins, elevated structures, and redundant power systems. The project’s advancements and resilience have been recognized with a WIFIA loan and a Institute of Sustainable Infrastructure Gold Envision Award.

Speaker Profiles

Matthew Love graduated in 2000 with his BSCE from the University of Akron, Ohio, has been a professionally licensed engineer since 2007 and currently holds the title of design manager. His experience includes water treatment, solid waste management, stormwater, wastewater treatment, permitting, collection systems, master planning and reclaimed water management. Matt has spent the bulk of his 26-year engineering career analyzing and designing wastewater treatment systems at 25+ facilities all over the US that range from 100,000 gpd to over 100 MGD with various processes such as conventional, step feed, contact stabilization, MLE, A2O and 5-stage BNR. He has also been involved in many facets of the wastewater treatment unit operations which includes headworks, equalization, aeration, process, clarification, MBR, filtration, disinfection, high service pump station, sludge holding, anaerobic digestion, thickening and dewatering.

Laura Rodriguez Gonzalez has a bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering and a master’s degree in Environmental Engineering from the University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez. Laura earned her PhD in Environmental Engineering from the University of South Florida, where she researched topics such as: Recirculating Aquaculture Systems, Biological Nitrogen Removal, Ion Exchange, septic systems, and Advanced Oxidation Processes. Laura is currently a Lead Engineer at Carollo Engineers, Inc. in San Antonio, Texas. Her work involves many aspects of water/wastewater engineering including regulation review and compliance, disinfection by-products, integrated contingency plan updates, pilot testing for reverse osmosis plant improvement, TOC removal, PFAS assessments and sustainability assessments through Envision.

Webinar Format

This webinar will include a moderated Q and A session following the speaker’s presentation. The session is open to environmental engineering and science professionals across all sectors and career stages. Our objective is to offer special insights on leading edge solutions for graduate and undergraduate students as well as early to mid-career environmental professionals who are considering specialty certification.

AAEES Board Certified Individuals: Attend this event and earn 1.5 PDHs towards your PDH requirements for maintaining your specialty certification.

Click here to register for this event.