#861: Dr Nicholas Ashbolt 2017: Blackwater Demonstration Centre

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Changing our whole approach towards drinking water and sewer systems requires a brand new mindset.

So Dr. Nicholas Ashbolt is designing a large blackwater demonstration site to test the technology and its economic feasibility.

Dr. Ashbolt holds the Alberta Innovates Translational Health Chair in Water at the University of Alberta.

DR NICHOLAS ASHBOLT:   The way we’re dealing with this conversion and thinking is at multiple levels.   So we’re building an iconic development just here on the outskirts of Edmonton at St. Albert, where we are having our resource recovery centre.  We’re having this as an iconic thing.  So it’s somewhere where people are attracted to come and see and visit all the way from school age through university and consulting engineers and others so they can come and get a feel for a full scale operation of this type of technology.  They can get a sense of the regulatory frames that need to be modified, which concurrently I’m working on with various Provincial Government regulators.  And thirdly we can work then with the consulting engineers who need to sort of build some faith that these systems are reliable and robust.

Dr Ashbolt says these vacuum blackwater systems are taking hold in Germany, Sweden, and the Netherlands.

Thanks today to ALBERTA INNOVATES

FOR INNOVATION ANTHOLOGY
I’M CHERYL CROUCHER

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Alberta Innovates

Alberta Innovates is a provincially funded Corporation with a mandate to deliver 21st century solutions for the most compelling challenges facing Albertans. We do this by building on our province’s research and technology development strengths in the core sectors of health, environment, energy, food and fibre and platforms such as artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, and omics. We are working with our partners to diversify Alberta’s economy, improve our environmental performance and enhance our well-being through research and innovation. 

The Alberta Innovates system has roots stretching back almost 90 years

In March, 2016 the consolidation of Alberta Innovates was announced and on November 1, a single, integrated innovation powerhouse, Alberta Innovates, was formed. Two applied research subsidiaries – Innotech Alberta and C-Fer Technologies –  serve public and private sector interests.

The Alberta Innovates system was first created in January 2010, as part of an overall innovation framework developed within the Alberta Research and Innovation Act. At that time, four corporations were established:

  • Bio Solutions
  • Energy and Environment Solutions
  • Health Solutions
  • Technology Futures.

The Alberta Innovates system has a 90-year legacy. Our expertise is built on the successes of:

  • Alberta Institute for Agriculture
  • Forestry and the Environment
  • Alberta Agricultural Research Institute
  • Alberta Forestry Research Institute
  • Alberta Life Sciences Institute
  • Alberta Ingenuity
  • Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research
  • Alberta Research Council
  • iCORE
  • nanoAlberta
  • Alberta Water Research Institute (AWRI)
  • Alberta Energy Research Institute (AERI)
  • Alberta Oil Sands Technology and Research Authority (AOSTRA).

 

Program Date: 2017-04-13