Steve is a Water-Use/Water Loss Management Consultant operating as the sole proprietor of Infrastructure Initiatives.  He has 20 years of experience managing the implementation of projects and reporting on equipment that he will often temporarily install himself to monitor flow and pressure in water or wastewater systems.  He focuses on data collection along with validation while reporting on these systems or individual end-uses.  He is experienced in analyzing demand characteristics to recognize excess such as: inefficient water-use, irrigation, water loss, inflow, infiltration, overflows, outfalls, or instability in supply pressure.

 

Steve has completed numerous water balances, water audits, and municipal leak detection projects.  He is experienced in using a variety of monitoring and leak detection equipment. He has used different strategies to survey distribution systems in order to localize and pinpoint the locations of recoverable leakage.  He has installed and programmed equipment on pressure-reducing valves to reduce and/or stabilize local supply pressure using each flow-modulated, time-based, and fixed-outlet control to reduce background losses as well as the frequency of water main breaks.

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Steve worked for Veritec Consulting Inc., leaders in operations enhancement, between 1997 and 2015. Between 1998 and 2006 he managed and performed all the day-to-day activities as well as reported on leakage savings throughout York Region’s Temporary District Metering and Leakage Control Program.  At the same time he participated in directly measuring savings from water-use efficiency programs in both the residential and commercial sectors in the GTA.  In 2008 Steve started to participate in international projects to support Veritec’s parent company, Miya.  He has worked on water-loss projects across Canada as well as in the USA, Honduras, Trinidad, and the Bahamas.  He attended exhibitions and conferences representing Veritec as well as Miya.  And had opportunity to travel to Austria, for example, to evaluate new technology that might have been used in North America.

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Steve has practical knowledge of the operation of water and wastewater systems gained from collaborating with a number of leaders in water loss management, civil engineers and water operators while recognizing and overcoming challenges to successfully quantify leakage as well as savings following leak repairs.  He completed specific courses on the IWA/AWWA Standard Water Balance methodology, and hydraulic modeling for example.   As a consultant he has not been able to be certified as a licensed operator however he has passed provincial examinations in Ontario including Operator-In-Training, Water Treatment (Level 1), and Water Distribution (Level 1).  He also completed training as relates to Traffic Control Planning, Confined Space Entry, Working at Heights, Fall Arrest, Fall Prevention, WHMIS, Emergency First Aid + CPR, etc.

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Steve has applied his Honours Degree in Geography/Urban Studies.  Having first focused on the applications of geographic information systems (GIS) he used these systems while designing and implementing district-metered areas (DMAs).  Today he also uses GIS to prepare maps, query system characteristics, or update existing models.  He has had the opportunity to create small models of DMAs, for example, but has moreso been involved in planning and implementing field-testing so that others could calibrate larger models of both distribution and transmission water mains.  Steve himself has then used these calibrated models to recognize how to optimize system performance.  His earlier employment experience as a database specialist, for example, has been useful in mining data from various sources.  Steve has successfully combined his experience with regards to water-use, water loss and wastewater discharges to analyze flow profiles and estimate excess water consumption, or real losses from both breaks and background leakage.

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Since Veritec ceased operating in 2015 Steve has continued developing professional relationships and collaborating with colleagues.  Leveraging his knowledge, experience, and work ethic, he creates opportunities allowing him to work as well as continue to learn about emerging technologies offered by different companies.  Operating as Infrastructure Initiatives Steve is able to collaborate with diverse groups collecting, validating, and reporting on data quantifying excess water-use or water loss as well as reductions in water-use, water loss, non-revenue water, or other improvements in system operations while new initiatives are undertaken.