Welcome everyone, to the Innovation Flow podcast, where we talk parc, our pilot research program at South Platte Renew, and all things innovation in water and wastewater technology. Thanks for continuing to be on this ride with us and tune into episodes and we got a good one for you today. I have Caleb Van Nuys here. He's with South Platte Renewal, the operations of maintenance or maintenance managers.

That's right, maintenance manager.

I can't keep titles straight, but maintenance manager here at South Platte Renew and I'll let Caleb kind of introduce himself and tell you about what. What that entails being an maintenance manager. And also maybe give the listeners a little idea on your background, how you got to where you are.

Sure. Yeah. I guess starting in the background. Always been a mechanical critter of sorts. Hobby rods in the garage sort of a thing. I started off building cranes. It was a very, very intense electromechanical field. From there, went to Union cranes that pick things.

Pick things up. Cranes.

Yeah. Yeah. Largely bridge cranes and tower cranes all around town.

Wow.

So, yeah, it was. It was 460 volts, 50 to 60ft in the air for 10 bucks an hour kind of a thing. Yeah. All kinds of excitement there. After the crane company, I went to Union Pacific Railroad. That was a good experience. I worked on a steel gang out traveling around. That's where I developed a lot of mechanical chops and served out a machinist apprenticeship there. So that was cool. And from the railroad in 2001 was when I first came to what was then Littleton Inglewood Wastewater Treatment Plant, which is now South Platform Renew. So I've. I was here about 15 years. I resigned for 6 years in. Beginning in 2015 and ran my own company for a little bit. And then in 2021, came back as a mechanic. And. And here I am today, maintenance manager. And so I oversee two maintenance divisions, facilities and process maintenance. And together we are responsible for all the equipment that treats wastewater that keeps this place, all the equipment that keeps the temps comfortable, that keeps us secure, that keeps the grounds looking good, and helps the operators have the equipment that treats the water that eventually goes into the South Platte. So quite a lot.

Cool. Well, yeah, we're glad you did come back because you have that staff is like second to none as far as fabrication. I want to do an episode and, you know, this one's not on that. I know you do a whole mill and lathe and you're making your own parts and rebuilding your own home. We need to do an episode on that sometime.

But absolutely.

Today we're talking about about a different thing, which I'll let you introduce. But first, I want to give you the interesting question here. And that is, what's a skill or talent you have that definitely does not show up on your resume?

Yeah, this was a tricky one, trying to come up with not. Not something to say, but which one to say. I guess I'll lead with this one. I was. I was the head of a criminal enterprise by the age of 11 due to a talent I had in what I now look back and see was arbitrage. So, basically, long story, I've always been an entrepreneurial critter, and I realized that I had access to fireworks way back in the day, and I could get them for pretty cheap. And so, lo and behold, there was a huge market in my neighborhood for fireworks from kids. And so I ended up making a lot of money selling fireworks to kids. I probably could have gotten a lot of trouble for that, but as I look back. Yeah, that was arbitrage. That was just recognizing the ability to take something from one market and move it over into another market and make a profit.

Nice.

Yeah. I part laid that into candy blow pops kind of a thing through school. So a little. Little less risky than gunpowder.

Nice.

Yeah, I typically don't put that kind of thing on my resume.

Yeah, well, we'll have to. I'll check with legal and make sure the statute of limitations is up on the. On the illegal fireworks sales before we include it in the episode. But, yeah, good. I'm glad. I'm glad you're a go getter like that. It shows. It shows in your work. All right, so let's talk farm. That's what we're here for. I've done an episode before on our farms out east. We put biosolids on, but that's not the farm we're talking about. What is the farm that we're talking about? Tell the listeners what is farm?

Yeah, so definitely not the type of farm where we're planting stuff like you'd mentioned for our biosolids. The farm, what we call the Facility Asset Renewal Marketplace. It's an. Basically the best way to understand it. It's an online platform where utilities can post assets that they're no longer using. It's a lot like Facebook, Marketplace, Craigslist. Really, really good way to understand it.

Yeah. How did it come about? What problem were you. Were you trying to solve? Is there a problem that led into farm, or how did farm develop?

Yeah. One of the things that I've noticed and this. This Goes back, gosh, it was 20, 25 years ago. As a mechanic, I'd always, you know, we'd always have equipment that we were maintaining. Something would happen. There would be a regulatory change. There would be some need for that piece of equipment to come offline and to make room for new equipment. And so that old piece of equipment would be carted off on a pallet out to a warehouse. It would hang out in a boneyard, and oftentimes it would just degrade and dust and turn to nothing. And it was always a bummer to see this equipment that we had maintained just all of a sudden just be, you know, put out to pasture, you know, And I always thought, gosh, there's got to be a market for that. There has to be some usable, you know, some. Some person, some. Some entity, some utility who could find usefulness out of this asset. And so that was really where. Taking a step back in kind of defining the problem where an industrial cycle kind of, as we've called it, kind of emerged. And that's just kind of a cycle that I think all utilities experience. And that's where, due to regulatory changes, whether it's from, you know, growth in population or Clean Water act standards or whatever it may be, equipment has to change. Plants have to adjust their processes to be able to meet these new standards. And whenever that happens, that usually means that existing assets, existing equipment's going to come offline to make room for new equipment that's going to meet those new standards. And so with everybody experiencing this equipment coming offline, there's never really been a centralized market to bring this. To bring these assets to. Because oftentimes there's tons of remaining useful life in them.

Yeah.

And so to be able to come up with a solution for that, where that would be, you know, it works towards sustainability. It builds unity and camaraderie between utilities and provides a way for these assets to. To come back and have a second life. So that's. That's really the. The. The main push behind the farm.

Yeah, that is. That's good. Because this stuff, some of it has to be, you know, big bucks, I imagine, because I know the more specialized, the more plants. 20 milligrams. So a pump that can, you know, this big equipment, this expensive, specialized equipment.

Yeah.

And so to. To purchase that is, you know. Yeah. What kind of stuff are we talking that might show up on the farm?

Yeah. So we have a. Either. Depends on how you pronounce it, either a Duperron or a Duperon bar screen that We've had in service for. It's been a wonderful machine. I mean this is truly about as plug and play as it gets, but been an excellent bar screen for us. We've ran that's got about 22 years of service on it and it'll be coming out of service within the next couple of weeks and we'll get her, we'll get it rinsed off and, and cleaned up and inspected and that'll be going on the farm. So it'd be perfect for a smaller plant that's perhaps looking for a pilot, a new, you know, just get into another bar screen, into their process and see how something like that would work. Good opportunity for anybody that may be into it. We've gotten our life out of it and it's, it's one of those machines. It's, it's so simple, it's built so well that it's got, it's got many more years left in it for anybody that may use it. So yeah, from bar screens all the way to laboratory equipment, if labs have, you know, analyzers or glassware that they no longer need or are using, surely there's a smaller utility especially that can benefit from that stuff. So really anything in between small and large, there's no dollar threshold. You know, we probably wouldn't want to put, you know, like, you know, half used notebooks and you know, stuff like that on there. But yeah, any, any industrial assets, for sure.

Cool. Yeah, I'm glad you mentioned lab glassware because I've worked with a lot of labs, a lot of lab personnel in there traditionally like a little bit of hoarders in them, you know, they don't like to throw away because the stuff is so expensive. So yeah, a single, you know, Kimax beaker is, you know, 18 bucks or whatever it is. It's like it hurts to throw it away when you know, it could serve a useful purpose. Which sounds like the whole emptiness behind farm is like let's instead of wasting because we can do with it, recycle it, throw it away, auction it after it sat there and rusted for five years.

Yeah, well, and I think that really is probably, I'd never even really thought about that. But I bet you there's something to that as far as, as why it's difficult because, because we in maintenance, like we don't like to get rid of stuff very often because it's like, man, as soon as we get rid of that, the day is going to come when we are going to wish we had that piece of Equipment, that sump pump or that. That impeller or whatever it may be. But this way, hopefully it warms up those folks to go ahead. It's a good, good feel good reason to let go of that equipment and help somebody else.

Yeah, yeah, it's perfect. Because it's not. They don't want to get rid of it. They just don't want to see it wasted.

Yeah, exactly.

This prevents that. So, yeah, that's. That's good. How do you handle. Like, is there a legal implication? Say there's a. And you say. I always called it duper on, but you're saying maybe Duperron.

I've heard it. I've heard it both ways.

Because maybe it's French and it's like duperon. Yeah, I.

Let's go ahead and say that. Yeah, let's do. Pero.

I'm with you. List it like that. Put a little. I forgot my question. What was I asking you? Legal.

Yeah.

How do you handle that? Say you put a. The bar screen on there. Someone buys it and then they want to return it or it doesn't work or they don't pay for it, or how do you handle it? How do you get into all that?

Yeah, no, really, really important, really good question. Basically, when a user jumps on RMWEA.org RMWEA.org and hovers over membership, go down, click on the farm where it says browse. There's going to be a terms and conditions document that you have to just click Accept, basically just indemnifies RMWEA SPR of any legal responsibility and just says, look, we are. This is. This is just a platform for community or for connection. So as far as any. Any legality issues that may come up, those are going to be solely between the parties that are exchanging the assets, and that really kind of follows suit with the money, too. One of the things that we thought about at first, as we were just kind of in the bar napkin spitfalling phase, is how do we. How do we do the finances on this? How are. What does it look like for us to actually act in escrow for all of these different entities with all of their different procurement policies? Yeah, it was very, very quickly and thankfully was obvious that there's. There's no pot. That would be way too much management for. And honestly, the model's already proven, like Facebook, Marketplace and Craigslist, they are perfect examples of how the farm works. And it leaves all legal responsibility, it leaves financial responsibility and practice between those two individuals, which is great because really, all we're trying to do is just turn the light on and shed light on a market that has never, the market has certainly existed, but it's never been highlighted or consolidated in one centralized space.

Yeah, I think that is a smart way to do it. You're just the middleman. You're just hooking two parties up with a similar engine. You know, I have a bar screen. Hey, our bar screen just went out. Or we need a backup bar screen for one that, that just died. And those people, you guys get together, talk about it, figure it out. And you're providing the, the connection, which is the hardest thing to find because how are you going to find that? Any, you know, you're not going to find that on Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace.

Yeah. And you know, and there's, you know, there's several, you know, there's like government auction websites. There's, there's, there's several of different, several different auction websites like that. But to you, a person would have to scan those all the time to keep their eye out for wastewater specific equipment.

Yeah.

And that's what's really great about the farm, we feel, is that it, it is completely specified to water and wastewater. And so you're going to get on there and that's what you're going to find.

Yeah. So what, using the lab example, what if there's a lab manager from, you know, I won't say a city, but a lab manager from a municipality says, hey, we got two cases of these, you know, Erlenmeyer flasks that we ordered the wrong thing and we can't bear to throw them away because they cost huge amounts of money. How they go about getting them on this marketplace.

Yeah, yeah, perfect. So first thing they would do, again, navigate to RMW and click on membership. They'll go down. You can either browse the farm or you can post on the farm. Okay, so you click post. And what that's going to do is it's going to ask you to log in. So you'd have to have, you have to have an RMWEA login. So that's for members. Anybody from the public, anybody from the industry can browse the Farm, but you have to be an RMWA member to be able to post. So as soon as they click on post, it's going to feel very, very similar to how Craigslist works. There's a lot of, there's several fields that you would type in, so like model number, description, your contact information, name, email, what utility you work for, how many are available, what's the general weight. If it's a pretty heavy piece of equipment, just some general details on what the item is. You can snap some pictures and upload those pictures into the gallery, hit submit and that automatically generates an email and sends to us. We look at it, just review the ad, make sure it's, it's a legitimate ad and at that we click publish and it's there. So at that point it's just, it's, it's, it's, it's live, it's on the market for anybody who would, who would pull up that ad and look and there's, there wouldn't be any reason for the person, the potential buyer that is to contact RMWA directly. They would just reach out to the person who posted it because all of their information is going to be that, their name, their contact, the sp, all the specifications of the piece of equipment, how many they have, what condition it's in, how long it's been used for and then what the asking price is.

Yeah. Do you have a set up like, like Tinder? You know, swipe right, swipe right and swipe left.

We didn't go that route. We, we considered it and we thought, you know, we'll go with it.

Yeah. I don't like that bar screen on it. Oh, that one.

Yeah.

Not that I know what Tinder is. I don't know. Yeah, no, that is, yeah, I think it's awesome and I think I know you, you won a, a competition with this. I think this is early stages. Talk a little bit about the competition and, and how you, how you want it.

Yeah, so that was, that was an absolute gas. So for, for anybody in the audience who, who doesn't know, there is something that's called the iwt, the industry, the Innovative Water Technology Committee Shark Tank. And this takes place at the Rocky Mountain Water Conference up in Keystone every year. And it is, it's an event where industry professionals are invited to come and to share an innovative solution or idea that they have with the panel of judges. And after, you know, you have like five minutes of presentation, five minutes of questions and answers and then after this is all over, the judges convene and they decide a winner. And, and last couple of years it's been $5,000 grant to put towards your solution. And so we were encouraged. This is like the idea for the farm, I didn't coin the phrase. That was, I believe Stephanie Fiebik who coined that. So hats off. Thank you, Stephanie. But I had had the idea written on my whiteboard for a While. And it was just figure out a way to sell used assets to two other POTW at a discount. And it sat on my whiteboard for, I don't know, at least a year. And then I heard about the shark tank and was encouraged to put in an abstract for what that would look like. And so with the help of many others around spr, we put together an abstract and we went up there and we pitched it and it was a lot of fun. It was an absolute gas.

Did they have the Mr. Wonderful and Mark Cuban in all the shark tank?

Oh, oh, yeah. Yeah, it was. It was quite an event. Yeah, yeah. Warner Brothers celebrity trailers, the whole nine.

We were treated like gold.

It was excellent. Yeah, no, it was. But it was a great, great time. The presentation. The presentation went. Went well. And towards the end, it was one of those. It was one of those times. I don't know, it's like, there's. There's times when you're gonna get up and you're gonna talk in front of people and, like, you're driving home and you're kind of rehearsing to your dashboard and your windshield. You know, sometimes it goes, okay, and every now and then there's one of those times where it's like, oh, gosh, if I could bottle that up, that was perfect. If I could somehow get that out the next time I have to actually make this speech or something, that would be great. So at the end of the. At the end of the. At the end of the presentation, it was.

It was.

I was just having fun and it was really cool. It was. I just said, if you guys will allow me a little bit of. Little bit of playful Shark Tank style banter, here's how I'll close this out. And I said this, everybody, this is a really good idea. And they all started laughing. And I said, I know this is a competition, but it really doesn't matter what happens in this room because there's a very high likelihood that the farm is going to become a thing regardless of who wins this. So really what we're deciding here is whether or not RMWEA is going to be high atop the list of those who champion the solution for our industry. And it was so, so funny. Like, it was like, it was totally just. Oh, yeah, it was. It was, but it was. It was totally just having fun. And I wasn't. I wasn't anticipating it, but, like, the crowd was like, oh, you know, it's always a really cool moment. I know that probably had some effect on it going through, but Really, I think, I think the core of the idea is something that certainly operators, mechanics, and I think really anybody in the wastewater industry has recognized need for it for some time. Yeah. Because we all have, we all have lots of stuff that we don't use. And I think a lot of people have talked about, you know, gosh, this would be, we should have some place where all this, where, where we can put all this stuff or where it's available for everybody to look at and buy. So I, I think the idea has really been out there for a long time. That just happened to be a point in time when it all came together, was like, here, I think we can do it, and I think we can do it for around 5,000 bucks. And it worked.

Nice. So what did you do with that five grand? Is that what you, you built the web interface with or you know, what that money go for?

Yeah, that was the majority of the cost. Certainly we had, we had a little bit of cost for some apparel, some handouts and hats and T shirts and such stickers, but the majority of the cost just went into developing the website.

Yeah, you didn't, you didn't take a salary in this startup at all.

Well, I did. I'm just not allowed to disclose.

Yeah, no, I think that, yeah, it's great. It's a great idea. I can see why it won, and I can see, you know, why your presentation was good is because it's your idea and you feel it and you believe in it, and that comes through in presentations. Like, you can tell when people are presenting on something they believe in versus something they just are. You know, have a PowerPoint and they're delivering it.

So.

But even without the presentation, I'm like, this is a great idea. Get equipment to people who need it.

Yeah.

You know, create that, that space for people to, to find a bargain on something that.

Yeah.

And maybe it's even, you know, bigger utilities helping smaller utilities or, or I, you know, whatever it turns into. I mean, you can't lose with the, with the concept, I don't think.

Yeah. And you know what? I've, what I've noticed just in, over the last year of talking to people about it out in the industry is, it's, it's, it's so common for me to hear someone say, gosh, yeah, we've been, we've been talking about something like this for a long time. I'm so glad that this is finally here. So, yeah, I think, I think the industry was just really ripe for the solution.

Yeah. Yeah. And I Like the volunteer, I mean it doesn't cost anything. You're volunteering all your time, which is, I'm sure. What do you think? You probably don't know. I was going to say how many hours you think you put into this whole, whole project? Oh, give us an estimate.

That first year, that first year, I mean like it wasn't like a lot of it is, there's others doing the work, like the web development. Right. Like I just got to get out a concept, get out an idea and say go for it. And then they come back and then there's a little tweaking and tuning. But that first year was especially towards, towards rock. So we, we presented at the shark tank in 24 and the, the goal was to have this ready to go, just piped in and live by, by 2025 going so we could go back one year later and say here it is, we're all done. And I mean, I mean the day of the opening day of the conference in 2025, like I was literally emailing back and forth, texting back and forth with the web developer, making final little tweaks and getting everything, everything set and ready to go. So that was, that was a pretty good push. That took a lot of time and energy. But I mean honestly, for like, for the, the, the ROI in terms of like unity and, and sustainability and stewardship, like it's a no brainer. Yeah, it's trainer.

Yeah. That approach where you got it done the day of the conference, that, that's not a skin of your teeth. They call that just in time. Delivery is what the, what is that what that is?

Yes, I like that better.

Don't deliver any quicker than you need it. Yeah, but yeah, and so it's great. Volunteer. I mean you volunteered all these hours. A number of people volunteered hours to put it in this. It's a free, free service for municipalities, for wastewater plants, water plants.

Yeah.

So that's great. Thanks for, thanks for doing it. Thanks for building it and I think it will have some tremendous benefits. What do you hope to see in, in the next five or ten years?

Yeah, yeah, what I, what I really hope. And it'll, it'll come. What I really, really look forward to is hearing stories of how this had a tremendously positive impact on a utility.

Yeah.

Especially a smaller one. You know, where they really, they were really, you know, up against a wall and, and needed a specific style pump. They couldn't afford it. They found what they needed on the farm and you know, got it either for free or for you know, pennies on the dollar, and it was able to have a, you know, a very significant impact on their process, on. On the. On the lives of their. Their employees. So, yeah, stories. I love stories. I. I hope to hear good stories. I hope that farm becomes just a household name in the industry.

Yeah.

You know, and maybe even something that's replicated across other water environments. It's. It's one of those ones that, you know, it's.

It's.

It's like, gosh, yeah, no, duh. That would work. You know, it's like, why didn't we think about this earlier? Everybody had thought about it. It's just a matter of. Just a matter of getting it. Just getting it together and getting it off the ground. And it's. It really didn't take, I think, as much as. As. As everybody might have anticipated. And so I think that. I think that opens it up to being replicated all over the place, which I think that that's. Win. Win.

Yeah.

Everybody cool.

Well, thanks, Caleb. Thanks for all the work you've done on it. Thanks for being here to talk about it with me and the listeners today.

Absolutely.

It's definitely an innovative. Innovative approach and something that benefits a lot of people. So thanks. But you're not done yet.

Oh, yeah.

There's the end of show quiz, so I'm gonna give you. Here we go. Three choices of categories. The game is called logo, so it's slogans, logos, products. Okay, Think about that. You get potluck. Let me see. Let me give you some good ones. Famous founders or what are they? Those are your three categories to choose from. It's four questions on each each one.

Let's go with the first one.

Potluck.

Potluck.

Okay. This is just a hodgepodge.

Okay.

All right. Audrey Hepburn's movie character famously ate breakfast in front of what store on New York's Fifth Avenue?

What is Tiffany's?

Yes, you are correct. I should have a bell. I need a bell. Ah. Okay. Number two. According to this cable network's advertisements, it's not tv. It's blank.

Mtv.

Oh, that'd be a good one. It's hbo, isn't it? I've never heard of that, but hbo. All right. The Worldwide Wicket company was the fictional company in what Broadway and movie musical?

I got nothing.

Yeah, I would be scared if you knew this. It's how to succeed in business without really trying. I have not seen that one.

It's a great title.

I think I'd go to Cats if I did go to Broadway. Yeah, not that one. Okay. You can still get 50 here with this one. What company had a jingle with the lyric and away go troubles down the drain.

Drano.

No, I'll give you another chance.

Roto Rooter.

Yes. All right, all right. You were two for 4:50.

That was on time delivery.

Exactly. That's exactly right. All right, so thanks for being here. Thanks for. Thanks for the farm and thanks for stopping by today. It's been fun.

My pleasure. Blair. Thank you so much for the opportunity.

Amen to our listeners. Thank you for continuing to listen and watch Innovation Flow podcast with us. And if you like the show, give us a five star rating, give us a thumbs up, tell a friend about the podcast and we'll get some new listeners, some new viewers that way. And thanks for listening. We'll see you next time on the Innovation Flow podcast.