The Environmental Protection Agency awarded the University of Connecticut’s superintendent of the Water Resource Recovery Facility a prestigious award for 2024. Rian Savage was named the Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant Operator of the year. He spoke about how this can help permit renewals in an interview on Tuesday.
“I think any type of recognition on operations of the plant will help facilitate decisions in a positive way,” he responded when asked about the impacts of such an exclusive reward.
There were only four other recipients of this award in 2024. There are over 90 sewage treatment facilities in Connecticut alone, to put the award covering the entire New England region into scale.
Awards for Savage’s talent with UConn’s wastewater treatment aren’t new to him. The New England Water Environment Association (NEWEA) gave him an operator award back in 2016, according to its website. NEWEA grants the operator award to someone with “a high interest and performance in wastewater operations,” given they’ve contributed to the field. Rian Savage earned this acclaim as assistant superintendent when he wasn’t involved in the hands-on work and instead was obtaining knowledge of process control, a role he said which prepared him for operating the facility at an award-winning level.
In 2019, Savage was promoted to superintendent. The Plant Operator of the Year he received on Jan. 30, 2025, is in a completely different realm of acknowledgement than the previous. Whereas the NEWEA award was local with multiple recipients, the EPA was regional with limited recipients.
“I was surprised,” Savage said. This shock underlines how he said he feels the work he accomplishes goes “out of sight, out of mind,” a feeling that could be attributed to the taboo nature of working with waste.
Part of that taboo nature is notable in misconceptions. When classes are taken for tours of the WRRF, Savage says some are perplexed about why this wastewater doesn’t smell. While some facilities may smell, Savage brought up how the Water Resource Recovery Facility (WRRF) is state recognized as a grade four plant level. Grades one through four are assigned by the EPA and based on how the plant operates, four being the highest. Higher graded wastewater facilities rarely have a stench, and state regulations mean Connecticut doesn’t allow low graded wastewater plants which smell more. Nevertheless, that assumption plagues wastewater treatment efforts and propels that out of sight, out of mind narrative.
Assumptions about odor can accumulate into uncertainty about what the WRRF actually does. For example, Savage said that the discharge of treated wastewater known as effluent garners misguided criticism. The effluent, monitored by wastewater technicians, may sometimes negatively impact the river. However, arguments that blame the facility for polluting the Willimantic River with discharge don’t account for where our wastewater would go otherwise.
Associating the WRRF with traditional septic tanks minimizes the profound distinction between the two and spreads the confusion on odor control, according to Savage. Septic tanks use anaerobic treatment to form a sludge layer preventing oxygen from reaching the waste. Comparatively, an aerobic treatment of wastewater continually mixes oxygen into the water and keeps bacteria alive according to Alicat Scientific. Incorporating oxygen in the wastewater reduces odorous production of gas like hydrogen sulfide and methane, all without the use of chemical odor control.
Public perception on wastewater actively leads to operational changes exemplified by the WRRF’s change in name. The Water Resource Recovery Facility was previously the Wastewater Pollution Control Facility (WPCF), but the Water Environment Federation ordered a re-brand to make the facility seem more palatable and avoid pollution’s negative connotation according to the California Water Environment Association.
The reality is that the WRRF exists to clean the existing pollution that would otherwise end up in waterways, a purpose mandated by the Clean Water Act of 1972 which regulated water pollution in the country to protect public health and the environment, according to the EPA.
Even if pollution has a negative connotation, proper education about what happens after we’re done using our water is one alternative method to name changes that one staff member at the WRRF prefers. Assistant Superintendent Megan Ambrose advocates for this because changing the WPCF to the WRRF doesn’t solve the underlying issue that the “utility is misunderstood.”
Rian Savage said he sees an ethical obligation to his work at the WRRF. Within that calling, his drive is “cutting plant cost operations, being a good steward to the environment, and fiscal responsibility to UConn and the taxpayer.” The recognition from the EPA indicates that his effort is noticeable. However, he said community support can still aid his initiative.
According to the WRRF’s website, the treatment of our water pipes is one area where the community can improve its support. Flushing cloth wipes and menstrual products or pouring fats, oil, and grease down drains are all actions that can create pump failures, a costly fix which detracts from the effort to reduce our waterways of pollution and ultimately ends up being paid by the taxpayer.
Last month’s award establishes a trust between the WRRF and EPA that can have a myriad of positive implications in the future, according to UConn Today. One could possibly be UConn’s Reclaimed Water Facility (RWF) obtaining a permit to use recycled water for crop irrigation, a plan which relies on the WRRF to provide wastewater during its last steps of treatment to be recycled through the RWF.