AWWA Water Science Author Spotlight: Matthew Vedrin

Having recently published an article in AWWA Water Science, Matthew Vedrin answered questions from the publication's editor-in-chief, Kenneth L. Mercer, about the research.

Determination of Oxidation Rate Constant for Nodularin-R, Saxitoxin, dc-Saxitoxin, and Neo-Saxitoxin With Conventional Water Treatment Plant Oxidants and Advanced Oxidation Processes

Matthew Vedrin, Joseph N.S. Eisenberg, Sarah Page, Rebecca Lahr, Brian Steglitz, Rebecca Hardin, and Lutgarde Raskin

I am a postdoctoral researcher and project manager at the University of Texas at Austin, working on an EPA-funded project investigating disinfection byproducts (DBPs) and opportunistic pathogens (OPs) in water systems across the country. As project manager, I coordinate our team's project-wide planning and logistics, and I maintain our partnerships with over 40 small to large public and tribal utilities across the country.

Matt Vedrin kneels next to a hydrant in Ann Arbor, Mich., where he conducted research on monitoring and management of drinking water quality through hydrant-flushing programs.

I stumbled upon engineering during my undergraduate studies; I didn’t have much exposure to engineers growing up and didn’t know it would interest me. I was drawn to the structured problem-solving approach that required critical and creative thinking. I decided to pursue mechanical engineering for my undergraduate degree but took five years to finish because I participated in two semester-long exchange programs, one in Sweden and another in Brazil.

Matt enjoys a piece of pizza made for a pizza party to raise money to fight local food insecurity.

Our tap water originates from some kind of natural water source like a river or aquifer. That water is treated through a series of treatment steps that target the removal of contaminants like harmful microbes and chemicals, both from the environment and from agriculture or industry, that end up in natural water sources. The treated water is then sent through a network of underground pipes and finally connects with the plumbing in our homes.

I study how water quality changes from the moment it leaves the treatment plant to when it reaches your faucet and how to make sure it remains safe to consume. One of the ways that utilities help maintain good water quality as it travels to your tap is by occasionally flushing water out of the system. Although it might seem wasteful, it is one of the only ways to have an impact on the water and pipes underground without digging them up and risking contamination from the outside environment. Utilities work hard to ensure people have access to safe water 24-7, and my role as a researcher is to study treatments, contaminants, and management strategies that help utilities keep water safe well into the future.

What I love about the work from my AWWA Water Science article is that it is a great example of the mutual respect that utilities and researchers can have for each other's interests and needs. As I transitioned from my research in Gabon, Dr. Hardin and Dr. Raskin hosted a group of researchers and water utility professionals from Gabon to visit water systems in Ann Arbor and Detroit. From our conversations about shared water management challenges across the globe, I was drawn to the idea of working on research of drinking water distribution systems. I am fascinated with how distribution systems connect utilities and residents, both physically and metaphorically, creating a convergence of perspectives and experiences.

Dr. Raskin has built a longstanding partnership with the City of Ann Arbor over the past 15 years, and she connected me with the water treatment plant. I expressed my interest in studying distribution systems, and city staff shared their desire to evaluate the effectiveness of their distribution flushing program, which helps manage water quality after treatment. I then worked alongside city staff to design and implement the study, ensuring that the research design was informed by their real practices and that their flushing work could be informed by the research results.

There are so many! One of the amazing parts about doing research is that I get to dive into so many interesting studies and learn from other researchers’ ideas and results. My list here could go on and on (and many of them are in my article's references list), so I’ll just mention a few that were especially influential: (1) Benoit Barbeau and Annie Carriere's publications on the impacts of dead-end flushing; (2) Melinda Friedman and her colleagues’ work on distribution system flushing; (3) Joby Boxall, Stewart Husband, and their colleagues’ work on material accumulation and removal processes in distribution systems; and (4) the City of Ann Arbor's history of work with researchers studying their system.

Matt and his partner, Anna, and dog, Maia, rest next to a beautiful lake while backpacking in Stanislaus National Forest, California.

This study took place in summer 2020, so there was quite a lot of unexpected planning and protocols that were needed by the time we started to collect data. Since much of my research involved fieldwork—collecting and analyzing samples out in the streets—it was possible to pursue despite the COVID-19 concerns.

Another surprise came after the 2020 flushing year, when I learned that the City of Ann Arbor continued the water quality monitoring practices from our research work together and continues to do so to this day. The city now has a growing data set of expanded distribution system monitoring and flushing evaluation that it uses for continuous study and improvement. One of my biggest concerns doing applied research is always the potential imbalance between the value that researchers and their partners each take away from the work. Knowing that the city continues to use the methods and recommendations from our collaboration in their day-to-day operations was one of the most gratifying outcomes of the work.

One of the more interesting ideas to come out of this research is the role that pipe material might play in the effectiveness of conventional flushing. Our study could not dig deeper into this question, but there were some noticeable differences in water quality and water quality changes between flushes at some of the unlined cast-iron pipes versus the ductile-iron pipes. The ways in which biofilms, corrosion, mineral deposits, and loose particles build up on different pipe surfaces might help explain more about the variation in flushing effectiveness. One of the questions that came out of this work is whether tuberculation in cast-iron pipes is shielding microorganisms responsible for nitrification, which might limit the effectiveness of long-term nitrification management via conventional flushing.

One of my main hobbies is playing ultimate Frisbee. I grew up playing competitive tennis from a really young age, but I found recreational sports to be much more rewarding for playing hard while building community. I also love ultimate Frisbee for how it explicitly makes its ethos of respecting all people on the field, the “spirit of the game,” part of the official rules.

Outside of ultimate Frisbee, I spend a lot of my free time baking bread and making pizzas. I have always loved bread but have been baking regularly only since 2020. As I was learning about the world of microorganisms in my PhD studies, I was enamored with the microbial world of sourdough at home. I love bringing both science and creativity together through baking. I was baking more bread at home than we could eat, so I found an organization, Community Loaves (communityloaves.org), that mobilizes home bakers to donate home-baked bread to local food pantries. Then I found another organization, Slice Out Hunger (sliceouthunger.org) that supports home pizza makers in hosting pizza parties that fundraise to fight local food insecurity. These are the outlets that satisfy my baking and pizza-making needs!

I love working in the world of water because it is universally important to everyone and everything on the planet while also being uniquely personal to each person's daily life. During my time working in Gabon, the one phrase that I heard over and over was “Water is life.” I have carried that reverence throughout my work and am excited to continue bringing together utilities, researchers, and communities to help ensure everyone everywhere has access to safe water.

To learn more about Matthew's research, visit the article, available online at https://doi.org/10.1002/aws2.1374.