Rhodes Trussell to Receive 2013 Clarke Prize
Source NWRI
Civil and environmental engineer R. Rhodes Trussell, Ph.D., P.E., BCEE, NAE, was selected as the 20th recipient of the National Water Research Institute (NWRI) Athalie Richardson Irvine Clarke Prize for excellence in water research. Trussell is chairman and chief executive officer of Trussell Technologies Inc., an environmental engineering consulting firm based in Pasadena, Calif.
Consisting of a medallion and $50,000 award, the NWRI Clarke Prize is given out each year to recognize research accomplishments that solve real-world water problems and to highlight the importance and need to continue funding this type of research. Trussell was selected as the 2013 recipient because of his accomplishments in using fundamental scientific principles and current research findings to solve challenging water quality problems and improve the designs of new water treatment plants and technologies.
Trussell has worked for over 40 years as a consulting engineer. He is considered an authority on a vast number of treatment technologies, ranging from conventional treatments such as filtration, disinfection and biological processes, to advanced treatment such as membranes and advanced oxidation. He is the author of peer-reviewed articles and technical reports on all of these topics, including the textbooks MWH's Water Treatment: Principles and Design and Principles of Water Treatment. He has also worked on hundreds of water and wastewater engineering projects across the globe, and has developed the process design for treatment plants ranging in size from 1 to 900 million gal per day in capacity. Because his focus is on implementing practical solutions to improve water quality and meet regulatory and public health needs, his efforts have resulted in better water policy and the widespread adoption and acceptance of many new treatment technologies.
More recently, Trussell has been engaged in assisting water and wastewater utilities with managing complex water supply projects involving the use of advanced treatment technologies for applications such as desalination, groundwater replenishment, and potable reuse. He has also taken the lead on a groundbreaking project funded by the WateReuse Research Foundation to develop treatment process combinations necessary to employ the direct potable reuse of highly purified wastewater as a new and reliable method to meet future water needs. One of the outcomes of this project is a 2013 report by an NWRI expert panel on Examining the Criteria for Direct Potable Reuse.
At present, Trussell serves on the NWRI expert panel to review the development and implementation of the Orange County Water District’s Groundwater Replenishment System, the largest indirect potable reuse project of its kind in the world. He is also chair of the National Research Council Committee on Water Reuse, which published the report Water Reuse: Potential for Expanding the Nation’s Water Supply through Reuse of Municipal Wastewater (2012).
The Clarke Prize will be presented to Trussell on Friday, Nov.15, 2013, at the Twentieth Annual NWRI Clarke Prize Lecture and Award Ceremony, to be held in Newport Beach, Calif.
Trussell plans to donate the $50,000 award to his alma mater, the University of California, Berkeley, to support the Trussell Fellowship in Environmental Engineering, which was established by his family in 1991. The fellowship provides annual financial support to one or more outstanding graduate students in the Environmental Engineering Division of the College of Engineering.
More information about the Clarke Prize Conference and Award Ceremony can be found at http://www.nwri-usa.org/upcomingClarkePrize.htm.
Source: NWRI
