General Information, Contest Winners, Events

2021 FSAWWA Fall Conference: Negotiating the New Normal

Peggy Guingona

The Florida Section of the American Water Works Association (FSAWWA) celebrated its 95th year of commitment and dedication to the world’s most important resource by hosting its 27th Fall Conference, with the theme, “Negotiating the New Normal,” from November 28 to December 1 at the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress Orlando.

The yearly event, which attracted 1850 attendees, included water utility executives and managers, operators, engineers, educators, manufacturers, consultants, students, and others from the water profession. A total of 170 exhibit booths were sold.

There were plenty of opportunities to meet old colleagues and make new friends at the continental breakfasts, lunches, meet-andgreet receptions, Poker Night and Happy Hour, Topgolf event, and annual BBQ Challenge and reception to welcome the section’s incoming chair for 2022, Emilie Moore.

The FSAWWA staff (from left: Jenny Arguello, Donna Metherall, and Casey Cumiskey) at the conference registration desk.

Dr. Fred Bloetscher welcomes attendees to the conference. Dr. Cho Ho Sham attends the conference as the visiting AWWA officer. George Hawkins encourages attendees to embrace innovation during his presentation.

Opening General Session

The Opening General Session (OGS) on Monday afternoon is one of the conference’s must-attend events and has been a part of the conference since 2013. Dr. Fred Bloetscher, FSAWWA chair, welcomed the attendees to the conference and Dr. Chi Ho Sham, AWWA president, gave an update on association events and priorities.

The keynote speaker this year was George S. Hawkins, Esq., founder and chief executive officer of Moonshot Missions. His topic was “Hand Over Fist: A Path to Innovation and Performance in a Time of Chaos and Change.”

He noted that five challenges plague every water utility (the Fist) and five steps can be embraced to overcome them for any utility (the Helping Hand). Hawkins, the prior general manager of DC Water, presented from his own experience a guide to utility transformation— why, how, and when—including fun stories and anecdotes from real experience throughout.

His focus is public utilities that are often known to be conservative—not in a political sense, but in a caution to take risks and innovate.

TECHNICAL PROGRAM

These agencies, conventional wisdom suggests, are hampered by rigid bureaucracies that are hostile to changing layers of standard procedures.

He suggested a simple and practical sevenstep process to encourage innovation that is founded on understanding the values of an organization and using them as a motivator for change within a secure process and structure.

BBQ Challenge and Incoming Chair’s Reception

On Monday evening, the conference held the seventh BBQ Challenge, which was open to all attendees. It was also an opportunity to introduce and welcome the incoming chair, Emilie Moore (for more information, see page 44).

Technical Program

The excellent technical program is successful every year through the dedicated efforts of Dr. Fred Bloetscher. In 2021, the Monday specialty workshops were offered, as they have been in the past. The eight workshops were: S Looking Down the Road: What to Expect in the Regulatory Future S Automation and Supervisory Control and

Data Acquisition (SCADA) Technology

Workshop S Get Your Research On S Cybersecurity 2021 S From High School to Hired S Utility Finances in Challenging Times S Water Conservation Symposium: How to

Lower Our Water Use Footprint S Utility Symposium: Wastewater Collection

Systems “Keeping it Moving” EXHIBITS

MEETINGS

Continued from page 29

Tuesday and Wednesday technical sessions focused on the conference’s theme.

The sessions included: S Potable Reuse S Membranes and Chartering Resilient Water

Solutions for Raw Water Quality Challenges S Navigating the New Normal S Lead and Copper S Asset Management S Addressing Water Treatment Process

Improvements S Collaboration, Communication, and

Protecting Critical Knowledge S Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) and Perfluorooctane Sulfonate (PFOS) S Geographic Information Systems (GIS),

SCADA, and Asset Management S Alternative Water Supplies (back-to-back workshops) S Water Treatment: Disinfection Byproducts

Exhibits

The exhibit hall, which had 140 booth spaces and 30 tabletops, gave attendees another chance to network and learn about the latest and most-innovative products and services in the water industry. Company representatives were available each day to help attendees solve their problems and meet future challenges.

HIGH SCHOOL ACADEMY

Heritage High School Academy students. Students from St. Johns Technical High School Academy.

WATER BOWL AND POSTERS

From left are Jessica Cormier, Tulsi Shukla, and Paula Campesino with their winning trophy.

Two teams compete in the Water Bowl event.

Poster authors discuss their work with attendees. Tulsi Shukla at her winning poster.

Meetings

The FSAWWA Executive Committee held its meeting on Sunday morning, followed by the board of governors meeting in the afternoon, with 33 board members present and other active volunteers attending. This is where the real work of the section is planned for the following year. Two special guests from AWWA were present: S Dr. Chi Ho Sham, AWWA president S Michelle Hektor, senior manager of development and donor relations, AWWA

Water Equation

Other meetings were also held by the organization’s councils and committees. There’s a group for almost every water topic. Meetings are also held at other section events throughout the year.

High School Academy Students Meet, Greet, and Eat

For the fifth year, the FSAWWA High School Academy Initiative Committee invited high school students from Heritage High School Academy of Environmental Water and St. Johns Technical High School Academy of Coastal and Water Resources to attend the conference.

The ultimate outcome of the committee is to have “job-ready” high school graduates who may not be able to, or want to, go to college after high school. This initiative supports education programs that will provide a career for the high school graduate, not just a job.

The goals of the initiative are to: S Understand and communicate the need for operators. S Support the development of new and existing operators.

As part of this initiative, FSAWWA provides support to four technical high schools in Florida that provide four years of coursework and training in preparation for students to take the Class C license operator exam.

The students attended the conference on Tuesday, November 30. As part of their schedule for the day, they attended a lunch and roundtable discussions that included a panel of both experienced and new operators to discuss their careers in operations and management. The lunch was sponsored by: S Atkins S HDR S Hydromax USA S KMAC Consulting S Orlando Utilities Commission

Students were also provided with safety vests, donated by Rob Quick and the Florida Tool Store.

Water For People Duck Race

The duck race will be back in 2023. It will be held on Tuesday, November 28, at Omni ChampionsGate’s lazy river as a fundraising event for Water For People.

Awards

The section’s annual business luncheon and awards ceremony celebrated the current roster of statewide officers and inducted the new officers for 2021-2022. Awards were also given for the best papers and to the outstanding volunteers in the water field. See page 36 for award recipients.

Contests

Several contests, with both team and individual competitors, were held.

Continued from page 31

Water Bowl

Winner: University of Central Florida

The University of Central Florida (UCF) retained the title of champion at the 2021 Young Professionals Water Bowl. The UCF has been the champion for the past six years, and this year’s team consisted of Jessica Cormier, Tulsi Shukla, and Paula Campesino. The university provided two teams to compete for the title in the singleelimination competition format The contest is modeled after the classic “College Bowl” television quiz show. Team members were asked questions related to the water industry, encompassing water chemistry, operations, and design of treatment systems.

Michael Stanley, Gina Parra, and Shelby Brodie facilitated the event.

Poster Contest

Winner: University of Central Florida

Tulsi Shukla, from the University of Central Florida, was the 2021 Fresh Ideas Poster Contest winner. She presented her poster, “Waiahi Water Treatment Facility Ultrafiltration Backwash Water Settling and Residual Aluminum Analysis.”

By winning the competition, Tulsi receives a trip to ACE22, AWWA’s annual conference and exposition, to be held in June in San Antonio, Texas, to compete with contest winners from across the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Puerto Rico.

METER MADNESS

First-place winner Brian O’Berry. Jonathan Blaiel comes in second place.

Drew Watkins is the third-place winner. The top three winners with the first-place plaque.

Operator Events

Hydrant Hysteria

Hydrant Hysteria is a fast-paced two-person competition to determine who can assemble a fire hydrant in the fastest time. Two or more teams go head-to-head while assembling the hydrant to see who will be crowned Hydrant Hysteria champion. Event Winners S First Place: JEA S Second Place: City of St. Cloud

The first-place winner, JEA, qualifies to compete at ACE22 in San Antonio, Texas, in June to compete in the AWWA competition.

Seth Daniel with Clow Valve and Shannon Payne with M&H Valve Company facilitated the event.

HYDRANT HYSTERIA

TAPPING CONTEST

The JEA team in action. JEA Water Boys are the first-place winners. The winning team of the Fun Tap is from Bonita Springs Utilities.

Meter Madness

Meter Madness had a returning champion: Brian O’Berry of Florida Key Aqueduct Authority! He assembled a water meter one second (44 seconds to 45 seconds) ahead of Jonathan Blaiel from City of Deltona, making him the first-place winner. Jonathan won second place and in third place was Drew Watkins of JEA. O’Berry qualifies to go to ACE22 in San Antonio, Texas, to compete in the AWWA competition.

Meter Madness is a competition where participants receive a bucket of meter parts for a specific water meter to assemble against the clock. To make is more interesting, three to six miscellaneous parts are included in the bucket. After assembly, the meter must work correctly and not leak.

Jeff Elder with City of Deltona facilitated the event.

Tapping Contest

Using skill and dexterity, as well as speed, teams of four compete for the fastest time as they perform a quality drill and tap of pipe under available pressure. Two taps are allowed per team. The Fun Tap is the simpler version of the two contests.

Ductile Iron Tap Winner First Place: JEA Water Boys

Fun Tap Winner First Place: Bonita Springs Utilities

The following helped in the success of the tapping competitions: Mike Spriggs, with A.Y. McDonald, and Josh Anderson, with Florida Pipeline Sales. Continued on page 34 BACKHOE RODEO

David Kloor from Charlotte County Utilities wins first place. The second-place winner is Victor Gonzalez from Orange County Utilities.

In third place is Geraldo Feliciano from City of Deltona. The three winners pose by a backhoe.

Continued from page 33

Backhoe Rodeo

Backhoe operators show their expertise by executing challenging lifts and drops of various objects in the fastest time. The judges for the event were Jeff Elder, City of Deltona; Josh Baur, Florida Pipeline Sales; and Tony Smith, Charlotte County. Event Winners S First Place: David Kloor, Charlotte County

Utilities S Second Place: Victor Gonzalez, Orange

County Utilities S Third Place: Geraldo Feliciano, City of

Deltona

All five operator competitions have been held for a very long time. We hope to see a Fun Tap women’s team in 2022! Competitions are open to public and commercial-field operators working in the state of Florida. Contact Mike George at (352) 200-9631 for more information.

Par-Tee at Topgolf

We were adventurous this year and went a different route to wind down after the conference. Topgolf it was! A venue to entertain colleagues and clients with games and fun, delicious food, and drinks—is was a good time for all! We occupied the top floor at the golf complex with 32 bays. Plans are underway to do this par-tee at Topgolf after the 2022 FSAWWA Fall Conference.

The fundraising social benefited AWWA Water Equation and Water For People.

Peggy Guingona is executive director of Florida Section AWWA. S

PASSING THE GAVEL

Emilie Moore, incoming section chair for 2022, receives the gavel from outgoing chair, Dr. Fred Bloetscher.

Fred Bloetscher receives a plaque for his service as 2021 chair of FSAWWA.

Lunch at the business meeting and awards luncheon. The passing of the gavel.

Emilie closes the business meeting and awards luncheon. Emilie Moore is “crowned“ section chair.

Emilie enjoys her moment.