KEYNOTE
We are pleased to announce this year's keynote speaker: Dr. Steve E. Hrudey!
Dr. Steve E. Hrudey, CM, AOE, FRSC, FSRA, IWAF, FCAE, FEC, FGC (Hon), DSc(Hon), PhD, DSc(Eng), P.Eng.
Dr. Hrudey pursued graduate training in public health engineering more than 50 years ago at Imperial College, London, and since retiring from the University of Alberta, has served as a Professor Emeritus in the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry. He has served on 28 expert panels addressing environmental and public health risks, including the Research Advisory Panel to Justice Dennis O’Connor’s Walkerton Inquiry (2000-2002), the Expert Panel on Safe Drinking Water for First Nations (2006) and the Council of Canadian Academies Expert Panel on Sustainable Management of Groundwater in Canada (2009). He chaired the B.C. Minister of Health Technical Advisory Committee under the Drinking Water Act on Turbidity and Microbial Risk in Drinking Water (2008), the international expert panel on bladder cancer and chlorination DBPs (2014 – 2015) for the Water Research Foundation, Denver, the review of new National Safe Drinking Water Regulations for New Zealand (2021) and the Royal Society of Canada Expert Panel on Wastewater Surveillance for SARS-CoV-2 in Canada (2022). In 2018 he served as the content expert for the Office of the Auditor General review of B.C. drinking water regulation.
Dr. Hrudey’s research has produced over 200 refereed journal publications, 10 books and 29 book chapters focusing on public health, environmental risk and ensuring safe drinking water. He has delivered dozens of workshops about ensuring safe drinking water for front line water personnel in Canada, Australia, the U.S. and U.K. Dr. Hrudey was elected as a Member of the Order of Canada in 2020 and the Alberta Order of Excellence in 2017.
KEYNOTE PRESENTATION
The Ripple Effect of Some Public Health Discourse: Beware of a Tsunami of MisinformationAs with anything in life, the positive, constructive reality may also have negative consequences if they are amplified from miniscule erroneous beginnings. Few among us would argue that providing drinking water or managing wastewater should disregard the protection of public health for all. Yet, what may seem to be well-intentioned concerns for low-level health risks from contaminants in water can contribute to unintended risks to public health. Powered by social media, some areas of public discourse, small, even obscure concerns can be amplified to become widespread belief in erroneous risks.
A foundational principle of environmental / public health risk management is that if you view everything as a critical risk, you effectively judge nothing to be a critical risk. The essence of risk management requires that our finite preventive management resources are directed to ensuring that the most serious risks are managed effectively. In this talk, Dr. Steve Hrudey will provide some tangible examples of unintended harm being caused by misinformed health concerns and offer some practical advice for avoiding such dangerous outcomes.