Smarter Solutions.
Better Water Today.
Complete summary of 16 technical and business sessions from the WQA 2026 Convention. Click any card to explore its full slides.
Own Your Influence in Water Quality
Storytelling, social media, and building industry authority through authentic content.
Water Softeners & Water Heater Performance
TDS, anode rod comparison, corrosion, odor, and heater lifespan under softened water.
Rethinking Whole-House Water Treatment
Why whole-house RO is the next frontier — field data, system design, and rental models.
Activated Carbon for PFAS
GAC design to commissioning — sizing, hydraulic loading rate, EBCT, and startup.
Reimagining Commercial Applications
Identifying and winning public water system and commercial/industrial opportunities.
Brine Additives & Iron Fouling
Ion exchange, iron fouling mechanisms, and lab data on brine additive effectiveness.
PFAS Reduction Landscape (NSF/ANSI 53&58)
New challenge levels balloted Jan 2026, UCMR5 status, and PFAS surrogate research.
Five Tips to Find and Keep Better Employees
Recruiting, onboarding, people problems, accommodations, harassment, and HR tools.
Fix Your Marketing in 45 Minutes
Google Business Profile, AI search, WQRF content tools, and follow-up automation.
Navigating the Supply Chain
Tariff landscape, pricing clauses, force majeure, and renegotiation strategies.
The Next Wave 2026
Market data, consumer targeting, and growth insights for the water quality industry.
Blending Valves as a Chloride Strategy
MMSD pilot: blending valve effectiveness, consumer attitudes, and salt reduction data.
WET Trial: Waterborne Disease Prevention
First RCT globally studying UV treatment of private wells and AGI in children.
Beyond the Tank: Tankless RO Systems
Market growth, technology evolution, smart features, NSF 58 changes, mineralization.
Microplastics – Emerging Contaminant
Classification, polymer types, exposure routes, testing challenges, and analytics.
Own Your Influence
in Water Quality
How water quality professionals can harness storytelling, social media, and authentic content creation to build real industry authority — and ultimately influence the communities they serve.
Michael Bonner presents across multiple platforms including the Conversations Unleashed podcast, The Bonner Brief newsletter, and the Always Anonymous series — all distributed under the Bonnerville brand.
Effective change requires three forces working together in sequence:
- Beliefs — what you hold to be true about your work and its value
- Actions — the concrete steps your beliefs drive you to take
- Systems — the repeatable structure that sustains action over time
- "What problem do I solve?"
- "What do people misunderstand about my job?"
- "Myths vs. reality about your career"
- "If water could talk…"
- "The day that changed everything…"
Start with the WQA Conference App → post to your social platforms. The conference community is your first audience.
The take-home guide summarizes: What to Post (prompt starters), How to Structure It (Problem + Details + Solution), and Where to Post (platform-by-platform breakdown).
Final thought: "If your industry disappeared tomorrow… what would the world lose?"
Water Softeners &
Water Heater Performance
Managing odor, corrosion, and warranty implications in low-to-high TDS environments. A deep dive into powered vs. sacrificial anode rods, and why water softener dealers should care.
Session presented at the WQA Convention & Expo 2026 — "Smarter Solutions. Better Water Today." April 28–30, Miami Beach, FL.
- Uses same technology as Techno-Protection (bridges, cell towers, military assets)
- 36,000 sq ft state-of-the-art manufacturing facility
- Exclusive 20-year limited warranty
- Dedicated customer service team
The powered anode rod uses impressed current from an external power supply, eliminating the need for sacrificial metal depletion entirely.
- Titanium MMO (Mixed Metal Oxide) anode rod
- HDPE plastic tube for rod housing
- Stainless steel threaded fitting
- Power supply: 24VDC / 15mA
- Grounding connection to tank
- 12-foot power cord
| Anode Type | High TDS | Odor Risk | Lifespan |
|---|---|---|---|
| Magnesium | Depletes faster | Higher | Shortest |
| Aluminum/Zinc | More stable | Lower | Short/Moderate |
| Powered Anode | Performs well | None | Long-term (20yr) |
Rethinking Whole-House
Water Treatment
Why reverse osmosis is moving from the countertop to the whole house — with field performance data, pretreatment strategies, homeowner ROI, and emerging rental business models.
Ten topics covered: current landscape, softener limits, why RO now, new water concerns, field data, pretreatment design, what homeowners actually buy, rental model, objection handling, and commercial applications.
The softener handles hardness — but today's homeowners are asking about much more. Softeners cannot:
| Parameter | Feed Water | After RO | Reduction |
|---|---|---|---|
| TDS (ppm) | 1,430 | 25 | 98% |
| Hardness (gpg) | 48 | 0.5 | 99% |
| Nitrates (ppm) | 180 | 9 | 95% |
| Fluoride (ppm) | 1.6 | 0.2 | 88% |
| Total PFAS (ppt) | 32 | <2 | >94% |
Activated Carbon Solutions
for PFAS Treatment
From design to commissioning: PFAS speciation and its impact on carbon performance, GAC sizing parameters, hydraulic loading rate, empty bed contact time (EBCT), and startup considerations.
Scope: PFAS speciation impact, sizing parameters (volumetric flow vs. superficial velocity, MTZ, EBCT), startup considerations (de-aeration, backwash, pH swing, metals leaching), and predicting system lifetime.
Superficial Velocity = Volumetric Flowrate ÷ Cross-Sectional Area. It reduces a complex 3-axis problem to a single comparable metric.
Example: A 3ft × 3ft vessel with 5 GPM/ft² hydraulic loading handles 45 GPM at 10-minute EBCT — vs. just 5 GPM in a 1ft × 1ft vessel of the same height.
Reimagining Commercial
Applications
Identifying and winning public water system contracts and industrial treatment opportunities through engineering relationships, licensing, long-term planning, and comprehensive contracting.
Brine Additives &
Iron Fouling Prevention
Ion exchange theory, iron fouling mechanisms, resin regeneration strategies, and controlled lab experiment showing that phosphoric acid brine additives improve Na loading by 10% and reduce Fe loading by 16%.
Iron fouling occurs through four mechanisms:
- Ion exchange loading of iron onto exchange sites
- In-situ oxidation and precipitation inside the bed
- Surface coating of resin beads
- Pore plugging reducing mass transfer and capacity
Test conditions: 1 cu.ft. resin, high hardness/high iron water, low salt dose (4.4 lb/cu.ft.), phosphoric acid resin cleaner (1 bottle per brine tank).
Navigating the Evolving
PFAS Reduction Landscape
Updates on NSF/ANSI 53 and 58: new challenge levels balloted January 2026, UCMR5 occurrence data status, and WQRF Phase II surrogate research that will reshape product certification.
| Compound | Influent Challenge (PPT) | Max Product Water (PPT) |
|---|---|---|
| Total PFAS | 1,900 | 20 |
| PFOA | 500 | 4 |
| PFOS | 1,000 | 4 |
| PFHxS | 300 | 18 |
| PFNA | 50 | 6 |
| PFHpA | 40 | 20 |
Phase I (2024): PFBA identified as possible surrogate. Key findings:
- GAC reached breakthrough sooner than Ion Exchange Resins in all challenge waters
- Short-chain & carboxylic functional group PFAS broke through earliest
- Organic matter reduces PFAS uptake; inorganic matter helps GAC but hurts IXR
Phase II (March 2026): NSF co-sponsoring. Goal: develop an approved PFAS surrogate compound that will significantly accelerate product certification and cut R&D costs.
Five Tips to Find and
Keep Better Employees
Practical HR strategies for water treatment businesses: recruiting, onboarding, managing people problems, federal accommodation requirements, workplace harassment, and HR infrastructure decisions.
- Write job postings like car commercials — this is marketing
- Proofread everything — errors signal your culture
- Use "Every day, you will…" to set real expectations
- Tell the truth about downsides — find candidates who don't care about them
- Post a salary range — required in 16 states + D.C.; attracts better applicants
- Face time with leadership
- Assign a buddy
- Set clear priorities
- CliftonStrengths assessment
- Written training plan
- Check-in pulse surveys
- Performance feedback
- Address problems immediately
Retention starts on Day 1. Onboarding is more critical than orientation — invest heavily in the first year.
Before asking "Can I terminate?", confirm:
- Have you talked to them about this explicitly?
- Have you taken progressive discipline steps?
- Have you explicitly mentioned termination as a consequence?
- How have you handled similar situations in the past?
Most people managers were never trained to manage people. Invest in developing management capability at every level of your company.
Fix Your Marketing
in 45 Minutes
A practical three-act framework for water treatment dealers: winning local search and AI search, measuring your response rate baseline, and building automated follow-up sequences that drive repeat business.
When a customer Googles your business, grade yourself vs. your top competitor on:
- Star rating & review count — 4.5+ stars, 50+ reviews is the bar
- Most recent review — recency signals you're still active and good
- Business description — name your area, specialties, and why you're different
- Most recent photo — real installs beat stock photos every time
- Log every inbound call/form for 2 weeks — most dealers don't know their baseline
- Aim for 90%+ answer rate for non-returning callers
- Industry booking rate range: 0%–35%+ — where do you stand?
78% of buyers go with the first company that responds. Any delay over 5 minutes is a lead lost.
Navigating the Supply Chain:
Practical Strategies
Real-world disruptions, current tariff landscape, pricing clause options, force majeure limitations, contract renegotiation rights, liability caps, and dispute resolution — practical tools for water treatment businesses.
The Next Wave 2026
Market data trends, consumer targeting insights, and data-driven strategies for reaching and growing your water quality customer base in 2026 and beyond.
Blending Valves as a
Chloride Reduction Strategy
MMSD's Middleton pilot study: how partial softening via blending valves reduces salt discharge by 20–50% while maintaining consumer acceptance — and what it takes to make this the industry norm.
- Water softeners are a major source of chloride to wastewater treatment plants
- All salt received by the plant is discharged to freshwater — no removal exists
- Chloride removal at plant = essentially desalination: up to $2 billion in infrastructure
- Excessive chloride degrades freshwater ecosystem health and threatens compliance
Even highly efficient softeners at 25 gpg hardness (90% water softened) discharge 363–467 mg/L chloride. EPA compliance limit = 230 mg/L.
Efficiency improvements alone cannot achieve regulatory compliance targets. Partial softening through blending valves is required to reach 230 mg/L.
Advantages: inexpensive, easy to install on compatible softeners, fully customizable to customer preference.
The WET Trial: Groundbreaking
Insights into Waterborne Disease
The world's first randomized controlled trial studying whether UV treatment of private wells reduces acute gastrointestinal illness (AGI) in children under 5 in Pennsylvania — a landmark study with implications for the entire private well treatment industry.
AGI defined as: 3+ loose stools in 24 hours or any vomiting (excluding chronic conditions). The WET Trial is the first RCT globally to study illness attributable to untreated private groundwater.
- 649 published groundwater outbreaks identified globally — mostly public systems
- 40% of tested Minnesota wells positive for Cryptosporidium (Stokdyk et al. 2019)
- 15% of Wisconsin wells positive for rotavirus (Borchardt et al. 2021)
- Murphy et al. estimated 1.29 million yearly AGI cases in the U.S. from private wells
- Followed for one year with weekly text message questionnaires
- Sub-cohort: paired well water samples + child stool + monthly saliva samples
- 800L ultrafilter water samples for pathogen detection
Beyond the Tank:
Tankless RO Systems
Market growth analysis, technology evolution from first-gen to advanced systems, core innovations (integrated waterways, auto-flushing, smart connectivity), NSF 58 standard updates, and the mineralization opportunity.
- 2015–2017: 400–600 GPD, booster pumps, integrated waterway
- 2018–2022: 600–800 GPD, smart features, compact design, leak detection
- 2023–Present: 100+ GPD, mineralization, NSF certifications, refrigerator connection, hot water on demand
Up to 42 connection parts — each a potential leak point
Single continuous structure — eliminates leakage risk
The integrated waterway is the foundational innovation of the tankless RO category — everything else built on top of it.
Microplastics —
Emerging Contaminant
Classification, origin, polymer types and their specific concerns, exposure routes (ingestion, inhalation, skin absorption), testing challenges, and the analytical techniques used to identify and quantify microplastics in drinking water.
Made to be small from the start: microbeads (cosmetics), nurdles (resin pellets), plastic glitter
Larger plastics that fragment over time via mechanical, chemical, radiation, or biological degradation
Size range: 1 nanometer to 5 millimeters. Particles smaller than 100nm are called nanoplastics — a separate emerging concern.
- Microbeads — round, from cosmetics and industrial manufacturing
- Pellets (Nurdles) — industrial feedstock, transported globally
- Fibers — from synthetic textiles; ~700,000 per laundry load
- Fragments — irregular pieces from degraded plastic products
- Film — from plastic bags and packaging materials
| Polymer | Key Sources | Main Health/Env Concern |
|---|---|---|
| Polyethylene (PE) | Bags, bottles, pipe lining | Most abundant; strongly adsorbs PFAS & pesticides |
| Polypropylene (PP) | Bottle caps, filter housings | Contains flame retardants & stabilizers |
| Polystyrene (PS) | Foam cups, packaging | Leaches styrene — probable carcinogen |
| PVC | Pipes, tubing, wire insulation | Phthalates, vinyl chloride; dense — settles in sediment |
| PET | Beverage bottles, textiles | Common in bottled water; releases antimony |
| Polycarbonate (PC) | Reusable bottles, CDs, electronics | Contains BPA — endocrine disruptor |
- Optical Microscopy — best for larger particles; quick visual color/shape ID
- Fluorescence Microscopy — enhanced detection with Nile Red staining
- FTIR / Imaging FTIR Spectroscopy — gold standard for polymer identification
- Raman / Micro-Raman — high-resolution identification of small particles
- Pyrolysis GC/MS — identifies polymers by thermal decomposition signature