AQUATECH ONLINE BREAKOUTS
Water Quality Monitoring Challenges and Innovations
Join Aquatech Online BreakOuts, an interactive live event series that is set to shake up the traditional and crowded webinar circuit. Unscripted, live discussions with industry thought leaders. Audience voting and interaction will not be optional but required! Forget passive listening; instead think active engagement.
Huge amounts of money and time are being invested in reducing leakage in distribution networks worldwide. By comparison very little money or time is being spent looking at how we can measure and improve water quality. Why? This latest BreakOuts will explore if water quality measurement in distribution networks, as well as at the household level, needs to be given more emphasis and if so how do we do it?
Breakout Speakers 2021
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John Gaffney
Product Owner/BDM
Water Quality Analytics
SiemensJohn Gaffney is a trained hydro-chemist with a background of research, development, and commercialisation of sensor, monitoring technologies, and analytics solutions. This has included a foundation working within research institutes followed by 10+ years of working in product management and business development roles predominantly within the supply chain to the water sector. New product introductions have included numerous in to the global smart water market. Currently he has responsibility for developing digital solutions that combine existing and novel datasets, and subsequent insight generation, to assist water companies with better operating their potable water distribution and sewage collection networks.
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Katrina Flavel
Technical Specialist
Clean Water Networks
Innovation Team, Yorkshire WaterKatrina represents Yorkshire Water’s Innovation team, delivering cutting-edge projects in the clean water network. She works across several disciplines, and currently leads on projects that address challenges associated with both leakage and water quality. Katrina has a background in water quality in clean water production and networks, and has previously worked in an operational environment. She therefore understands well the real-world challenges of ensuring customers receive the highest quality drinking water. Prior to joining Yorkshire Water, Katrina completed a PhD in materials chemistry and spent several years as a researcher at the University of York. Her combination of academic and industry experience means she is well-placed to support innovation within the water sector.
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Megan Glover
Co-Founder & CEO
120WaterMegan Glover is the CoFounder and CEO of 120Water. A data and software veteran, prior to founding 120Water she spent nearly 15 years as an executive building and scaling various software as a service products in the midwest. With a passion and knowledge base for utilizing modern software technology to solve problems, 120Water provides modern software and tools necessary to solve our most complex drinking water challenges.
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Michael Strahand
Consultant at IDT
SWAN Forum AmbassadorImproving water for everyone by making knowledge and technology accessible.
A bilingual entrepreneurial scientist, Michael is a respected member of the global smart water
community, a well-regarded and respected water industry expert who fuses academic excellence with business acumen.Michael has founded and led several innovative companies from start-up to a position of market leadership. Michael takes a holistic, independent view and identifies how to collaboratively bring together people, technology, data and analytics to deliver results and add value to water utilities and
customers.Michael is passionate about water and especially the way that smart water systems can help us on our journey towards a world where everyone has equal access to water and sanitation. A father of three young children, Michael see water issues as a key part of the world they will grow up in.
Outside of the world of water, football, “real football”, and loud rock music are his other passions.
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Nicole M. Poncelet-Johnson
Director of Water Quality & Treatment Team
Denver Water
Nicole is 25+ year veteran of the water and wastewater industry, with a passion for public service, science, improving public health and environmental outcomes and developing high performing teams. She is a graduate of Purdue University's Lyles School of Civil Engineering.
To gain practical knowledge of the industry, she operated water and wastewater treatment plants and systems, manages construction of treatment plants and ultimately landed at Denver Water leading a team of 130+ passionate water professionals managing four treatment plants and water quality operations which support the health and livelihood of 1.5 million people in Denver, Colorado.
Recently Nicole was a principal investigator and lead negotiator of Denver Water's Lead Reduction Program Plan (LRPP). The LRPP demonstrated significant public health benefits while avoiding downstream environmental impacts associated with optimal corrosion control. The LRPP served as the basis of EPA's decision to approve a variance to the SDWA in December 2019.
Tom Freyberg
Content Director
Aquatech Global Events
UK
WHO SHOULD DEFINITELY ATTEND?
- Utilities: Chief Technology / Operating / Information / Innovation & Digital Officers & Asset Managers
- Engineering consultancies: International Operations Directors & Project Managers
- Solution providers / OEMs: Executive Management (SMEs) / Business Development Managers / Chief Strategy Officers / Project Managers
....OR IF YOU JUST LOVE WATER TECH!
We believe in the power of bringing people together and want to continue that with BreakOuts. Aquatech Online is a global hub for water professionals, driven by likeable, shareable and engaging content. The live event series will augment our strong online presence with regular, interactive discussions on key topics.
Annette Bos
Director water, RAI Amsterdam
Avishek Chaudhuri
Water industry advisor, Tata Consultancy Services
Dr Benjamin Tam
Managing director UK, Isle Utilities

Dr Richard Vestner
Senior Director | Digital Cities, Bentley Systems
Emma Weisbord
Digital Water Consultant, Royal HaskoningDHV, the Netherlands
Eva Martinez Diaz
Head of smart services, Aqualia
Frank Zamora
Director of technology & IT, Acciona
Jan Gooijer
Innovation manager, Vitens
Jon McClean
VP of Technology and Innovation, Evoqua Water Technologies
Mark Kaney
Director of asset management, Black & Veatch
Matt Rolls
Regional director, Municipal EMEA, Evoqua Water Technologies
Miguel Angel Sanz
Director of Strategic Development, Suez
Paolo Zacchi Cossetti
Director Open Innovation, Xylem
Paul O'Callaghan
CEO, Bluetech Research
Prof Dragan Savic
CEO, KWR Watercycle Research Institute
Tom Freyberg
Content director, Aquatech Global Events
Will Sarni
Founder & CEO, Water Foundry, US
Yossi Yaacoby
Director, WaTech Mekorot
Discover how new technologies are creating amazing breakthroughs in water technology.
Gain knowledge and insight through the high-level workshops and discussions.
Network and mingle with other water technology thought leaders.
Connect with water technology experts from leading universities and water technology companies.
Resilient Cities: Innovative Urban Solutions for Urgent Challenges
- How can they be redesigned to face water challenges of the future?
- What innovative solutions can be accelerated, scaled and replicated across multiple cities?
- How can we integrate smart water and plan smarter, greener and healthier urban spaces?
Log into your MyAquatechtrade account (or register for free) to watch previous editions of BreakOuts.
Going Circular: Water & Resource Recovery in the New Normal
- With scarcity increasing around the world, recycling and reusing water makes economical and environmental sense. How will water reuse enable circularity within industries, such as breweries?
- How can water utilities go beyond water recycling to recover resources, such as fertiliser and proteins?
- How are start-ups in the decentralised market disrupting traditional centralised treatment?
Log into your MyAquatechtrade account (or register for free) to watch previous editions of BreakOuts.
Blockchain in water: the past, the present and the future
- How is blockchain being used to connect the federal governments to communities in securing water quality data?
- How will blockchain ensure water trading and governance is transparent and not opaque?
- What potential does it have for water utilities to secure consumers’ data?
Log into your MyAquatechtrade account (or register for free) to watch previous editions of BreakOuts.
How Covid-19 is Shaking Up & Transforming Water Innovation
- How will water innovation look in a landscape radically shaken and transformed as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic?
- How have digital tools become essential, not optional as communication and monitoring lifelines for water utilities teams being forced to work remotely?
- Progression of digitalisation: what is in the pipeline?
- How are engineering teams progressing infrastructure projects without face to face interaction?
- Is investment into water start-ups being throttled and slowed down?
Log into your MyAquatechtrade account (or register for free) to watch previous editions of BreakOuts.
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Anusha Shah
Director Resilient Cities
Arcadis
UK -
Arnoud Molenaar
Chief Resilience Officer
City of Rotterdam
The Netherlands -
Carolyn DuBois
Director Water Program
The Gordon Foundation
Canada -
Emma Wattie
Director
Atlantic Water Network
Canada -
Emma Weisbord
Digital Water Consultant
Royal HaskoningDHV
The Netherlands -
Jesper Kjelds
Chief Digital Officer
Aarhus Vand
Denmark -
Julia Braune
General Manager
German Water Partnership
Germany -
Katrina Donaghy
Co-founder and CEO
Civic Ledger
Australia -
Kelly Trott
Vice President
Imagine H20
Canada -
Meriem Riadi
Chief Digital Officer
SUEZ Group
France -
Orianna Bretschger
Founder & CEO
Aquacycl
USA -
Rik Thijssen
Business Dev. Manager
Vitens
The Netherlands -
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Søren Nøhr Bak
Expertise Director
NIRAS
Denmark -
Yossi Yaacoby
VP of Engineering
Mekorot
Israel