Looking back at 40 years of covering the water and wastewater sectors

At last year’s Water Environment Association of Ontario conference and Ontario Pollution Control Equipment Association tradeshow, I was congratulating a longtime friend and business colleague, Larry Madden, on his recent award.

Larry is the founder of C&M Environmental, and was the 2021 recipient of the Water Environment Association of Ontario’s (WEAO) Geoffrey T. G. Scott Memorial Award. This award recognizes a member of the water environment industry in Canada for his/her outstanding example of leadership and inspiration in championing a worthwhile endeavour, and thereby advancing the mission of the water environment industry.

This WEAO award has a special significance to me, as my father, Tom Davey, was the first recipient of this award. Also, back in the 1970s we were neighbours and good friends of Geoff Scott and his wife Gail.

My involvement with WEAO began at the age of 14, when my mother, Sandra Davey, became the Association’s Secretary-Treasurer, a position she held until 1991. When I became President of WEAO in 1995, I commented to the banquet audience that, “WEAO was run out of Sandra’s home office. When it was time for conference or seminar mailings to be processed, I had to help out. So, I have the distinction of being the only WEAO President who can say he started his career in its mail room.”

While reminiscing about all the great people on the WEAO and Ontario Pollution Control Equipment Association (OPCEA) boards that we both served on, Larry commented that, while at the awards ceremony of the first conference he attended, he couldn’t believe how old some of the recipients were. “Now,” he said. “Here I am, one of the old-time award winners myself. Where did the time go?”

The 2022 WEAO/OPCEA conference and tradeshow will mark 40 years of involvement with the water and wastewater industry for me. I left Humber College on the Friday before the 1982 WEAO conference, having completed two years of journalism studies. With a borrowed suit and hardly a cent to my name I showed up to the conference Monday morning.

In what proved to be a life changing opportunity, I had accepted a summer job at Southam Business Publications, working on what was then Canada’s oldest environmental magazine, Water & Pollution Control (W&PC). The first day of the WEAO conference was also my first day at W&PC. Working on this magazine gave me a keen interest in the drinking water and wastewater fields and my articles led to a full-time position later that year.

During my involvement with the engineering and environmental protection industries, I have met and interviewed several well-known Environment Ministers, including Andy Brandt, Tom McMillan, Jim Bradley, Brenda Harris, Norm Sterling and John Wilkinson. An early highlight of my career was meeting astronaut Neil Armstrong, who was a presenter at an underground tank symposium.

In 1987, my father and I co-founded Environmental Science & Engineering Magazine, with my sister Penny joining us after our third issue. We are still a family business, with three generations now on the payroll. I have been honoured to be the first non-technical person to become President of both OPCEA in 1991 and later WEAO. From 1997 to 1999, I was also a Director of the Water Environment Federation, representing WEAO.

Having turned 61 this year, I still enjoy volunteering and currently serve as OPCEA’s Secretary-Treasurer. For those just starting their careers, I would say this: Canada’s water and wastewater associations have long and proud histories. Get involved with them. Offer to serve on committees and Boards of Directors. The personal growth and networking development opportunities are well worth the effort.

Forty years goes by very quickly, and I am thankful for all the great people I had a chance to get to know and learn from. Hopefully I put back into the industry as much as I got out of it. Still a few more years to go though!

Larry Madden (right), winner of the 2021 WEAO Geoffrey T. G. Scott Memorial Award and until recently the Association’s long time treasurer, with Bob Wilcox, a past WEAO Board Member, who sadly passed away a few years ago.