Solubility Rules! Existing and Emerging Pretreatment Technologies (On-Demand)

Theodore Higgins began his career with the City of Los Angeles LA Sanitation & Environment, Industrial Waste Management Division (IWMD) as an Industrial Waste Inspector, now called Environmental Compliance Inspectors in October 2001. He currently works as a Chief Environmental Compliance Inspector in IWMD’s Fats, Oil & Grease (FOG) Inspection Group. He is responsible for managing an inspection program with an inventory of nearly 10,000 food service establishments (FSEs). As a newly hired inspector, he was part of the implementation of the Fats Oils & Grease (FOG) program. He has worked in other inspection groups with IWMD including significant Industrial Users Inspection Group (SIU) regulating some of the largest companies in Los Angeles including Pharmaceutical Manufacturers, Food Processors, Metal Finishers, etc. as well as Local Industrial Users (LIU) such as Car Washes, Industrial Laundries, Food Processors, etc. After his promotion to Senior Environmental Compliance Inspector, he worked in the Significant Industrial Users group and LASAN’s new RECYCLA Program. In 2017, he was promoted to Chief Environmental Compliance Inspector. His current and past city activities and recognition include serving the division as a “Sector Champion” for the Car Wash Industry where his role is to maintain collaborative partnerships with the Car Wash Business Sector to strategize how to make businesses grow and become more sustainable; representing IWMD by participating in a national focus group on Micro beads/Micro plastics Pollution with the Nation Pollution Prevention Roundtable; IWMD Employee Excellence Award 2012; Emerging Leader recognition by the California Water Environment Association in 2018; Pretreatment, Pollution Prevention & Stormwater (P3S) Person of the Year Award by the LA Basin Section of the CWEA 2019; and representing LASAN on the SCAQMD Environmental Justice Inter-Agency Task Force. Theodore holds Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) degree from Woodbury University.

With 20 years of Pretreatment and Stormwater quality experience in academic, laboratory and regulatory compliance contexts, working for two universities and two large public agencies, he has devoted his career to this this premise, and he hopes that he has learned a large breadth of knowledge and experience to share with the water quality community at large.