2024 Keynote Speaker

Damon S. Williams, PE, BCEE, F.ASCE, Managing Member of DSW Water Strategies, LLC

  • BS, Civil Engineering, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, 1978
  • BS, Physics, Roosevelt University, Chicago, Illinois, 1969
  • Registered Professional Engineer in seven states, as well as a licensed water and wastewater treatment plant operator in two states.
  • Board-Certified Environmental Engineer (BCEE) of the American Academy of Environmental Engineers and Scientists and a Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers.
  • A Life Member of AWWA and the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE).

Awards

Many of the projects Mr. Williams was involved with were award-winning projects, including projects for the City of Phoenix, Arizona; Scottsdale, Arizona; Portland, Oregon; the US Army Corps of Engineers and other

Mr. Williams has also received personal recognition for his accomplishments in the following awards:

  • University of Illinois Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Distinguished Alumnus Award (2004)
  • University of Illinois Grainger College of Engineering Alumni Award for Distinguished Service (2022)
  • University of Illinois Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Chi Epsilon Chapter Honorary Member (2022)

Current Professional Assignments

Mr. Williams currently serves on the following three professional assignments:

  • City of Phoenix, Arizona, Water and Wastewater Rate Advisory Committee
  • University of Colorado at Boulder, Water Reuse Advisory Board
  • Arizona Department of Environmental Quality, Technical Advisory Group for Direct Potable Reuse

Experience Summary

Mr. Williams has been involved in planning, design, research, operation and maintenance, and construction administration of municipal water, wastewater, and recycled water facilities for over 40 years. Mr. Williams was the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Damon S. Williams Associates, LLC (DSWA) for 23 years, and played a key role on every project the company undertook. The projects included basic research, facility planning, conceptual design, preliminary design, detailed design, construction services and startup and commissioning. A brief sampling of the type of water, wastewater and recycled water projects in which Mr. Williams played a key role are as follows:

  • Water Treatment Plants
  • Wastewater Treatment Plants
  • Recycled Water Treatment Facilities
  • Water Lines
  • Sewer Lines
  • Water Storage Reservoirs
  • Granular Activated Carbon Reactivation Facilities
  • Major Pump Stations
  • Constructed Wetlands
  • Disinfection Research Projects

Lecture title:  “The New Face of Water Research“

ABSTRACT

Today’s Environmental Engineers are faced with numerous challenges that are met with innovative approaches and new technologies. This is amply demonstrated in the water sector to address issues of water scarcity driven by climate change and threats to the safety of drinking water brought about by modern industrialization. In the past few decades, water research has shifted from treating drinking water and wastewater as separate domains into embracing the “One Water” concept that includes both.

Moreover, we are recognizing that the limited availability of resources of our planet demand that we look for opportunities to reduce water consumption, reduce wastewater treatment residuals, reuse treated wastewater, and wherever possible, recover resources and energy from wastewater treatment processes.

Mr. Williams will discuss a few representative water projects that demonstrate sustainability on a large scale and his own development as a consulting engineer. He will also discuss some areas he feels would be important to those seeking to pursue a career in consulting environmental engineering.