There are a lot of reasons you might want to join your colleagues in Nashville, Tenn., for the National Onsite Wastewater Recycling Association’s 2013 Annual Conference & Expo, Nov. 17-20, 2013, at the Millennium Maxwell House Hotel. Here are 10 great ones:

1. Get ideas to help support your current business. Through education sessions, conversations with colleagues and meetings with many of the industry’s most progressive and innovative companies in the exhibit hall, you can get new ideas for building your existing business or pursuing new business opportunities.

2. Discover speed vending. This is sort of like speed dating, except the goal is to help you develop relationships with onsite industry product companies. We’ve set aside time for each exhibitor to help you better understand what they do through a brief (10 minutes maximum) overview of their products and services.

3. Find out the latest in high-strength wastewater. HSW is more than just restaurant wastewater. Most non-residential onsite systems address waste streams that qualify as “high-strength,” and this topic is not covered enough. You’ll learn the latest design, engineering and technological trends in the development of high-strength wastewater treatment. We are devoting a full day of sessions to this important but infrequently covered topic.

4. Meet your continuing education requirements. In most states, NOWRA’s conference curriculum qualifies for credit hours in licensing or professional certification programs. With more than 30 breakout sessions, general sessions and a field trip, you can probably satisfy your continuing education requirements right here.

5. Attend a field trip highlighting the wide variety of decentralized systems in Tennessee. The Nashville area offers a diverse mix of decentralized technologies and management regimes and the field trip is intended to provide attendees with a broad survey of that mix. Participants on the field trip will visit and discuss: decentralized cluster systems with a variety of management types in place – owners, government and private industry; different technologies for high-strength waste solutions; residential systems and decentralized clusters under construction.

6. Learn why the Chesapeake Bay cleanup may have an impact on the entire onsite industry. Without a great deal of fanfare, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has developed a detailed guidance document for management of onsite systems within the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Why does this matter to you if you don’t live in that watershed? Because this document may be the template EPA will use for watersheds around the country as they continue to require nutrient reductions for nitrogen and phosphorous. 

7. See how the lack of federal funding hurts our industry and what we must do about it. The onsite industry represents 25 percent of the nation’s wastewater infrastructure, yet receives little or no federal support, while public sewer systems receive billions of dollars. The time has come for our industry to fix this unfair situation. Hear about NOWRA’s plans to change this and why it matters to you.

8. Get back more than you put in. If you get one good idea that translates into more business or a better way to do things, you will more than justify your cost of attending. Attending this conference is an investment in you and your business.

9. See old friends; make new ones. Sometimes the best takeaway ideas at a conference come from the people you meet – a chat in a hallway, at lunch, over a cocktail. You’ll have lots of time to connect with colleagues at receptions, lunches and breakfasts. Plus we’ll provide shuttle service for a night on the town in Nashville’s awesome entertainment district.

10. Have fun in Nashville. Nashville offers a dazzling variety of things to do and see – museums, plantations, shopping and great dining – but the biggest attraction in Music City is, well, music! While Nashville is well known as the home of country music, you can find pretty much any kind of music and entertainment in the city, especially in the dozens of restaurants, clubs and music venues in the heart of the downtown Entertainment District.

To find out everything the NOWRA conference has to offer, visit www.nowra.org/AC2013 for full details. Hotel and early registration discounts end October 24.