Competitions

Chris Fasnacht emcees the contest The Bio-Wizards team displays its first-place trophy Fecal Matters wins second place.

OPERATIONS CHALLENGE Polk County Bio-Wizards is 2022 Winner!

Polk County Bio-Wizards came in first place in this year’s Operations Challenge, and Fecal Matters, the team from JEA, finished second, a feat it pulled off at the last contest in 2019.

The contest is coordinated by Chris Fasnacht, with City of St. Cloud. Four teams came to Tampa to compete. The other teams in the contest were: S City of St. Petersburg Dirty Birds S GRU True Grit

The competition, which was held in the exhibit hall, is a skills-based contest consisting of four timed events and one questionnaire event that showcase the knowledge and expertise of wastewater treatment plant operators. The teams display their proficiency in process control, maintenance, safety, collections, and the laboratory.

The Bio-Wizards came in first in the process control, maintenance, and laboratory categories, and Fecal Matters won the collections and safety categories.

The process control event uses a computerbased questionnaire where two team members are given certain scenarios to figure out through a supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) program, and the other members complete a math and basic knowledge question section.

The laboratory section is an ammonia and alkalinity testing situation, in a simulated format, to determine the operation of an aerobic wastewater system, as well as added questions to know what the demand and usage are.

The maintenance event simulates the maintenance of a lift station where a pump has gone down and a new pump is set up as a bypass. The teams are to do a simulated inspection of the pump before simulating taking the pump to the station and hooking it up.

The collections event simulates the team having to replace a section of an 8-inch piece of pipe with a new piece of pipe that has a 4-inch hole cut out for a new sewer lateral. While this is going on, one member of the team is setting up a sampler to take samples.

The safety event simulates a person passing out in a confined space and the team arriving onsite to retrieve the person. Also added is the maintenance of a check valve in replacing the gaskets to it.

The top two teams will now go on to represent Florida at this year’s Operation Challenge at the Water Environment Federation Technical Exhibition and Conference (WEFTEC), which will be held in New Orleans in October.

The contest is looking for sponsors to help finance the travel costs for Florida’s champions to compete at the national level at WEFTEC. If you would like to contribute, please reach out to Brad Hayes at bhayes@woodardcurran.com for sponsorship information.

The next Operations Challenge at FWRC will be held May 2023 in Kissimmee. The competition is open to teams of wastewater treatment operators from any utility in Florida.

For information on entering a team, contact Chris Fasnacht at cfasnacht@stcloud.org.

The process control event. The maintenance event.

First-Time Relay Held at FWRC

There was a special bonus in the exhibit hall this year. For the first time, a Collections Relay was held, which was under the wing of the Operations Challenge teams. This exhibition had 25 entrants signed up to compete, performing hole saw and pipe cuts timed relays. The winners received Visa gift cards.

This was a huge draw in the hall, and several women signed up to compete in this event.

TOP OPS Mono Rays Wins Top Ops Competition

The Mono Rays from Pasco County Utilities qualified for the national American Water Works Association (AWWA) Top Ops competition by winning the Florida Top Ops, held during the conference.

The teams this year were: S Mono Rays (Vinny Domanico, Kendra Phillips, Jason Adair, Ken Durr, and Michael Avila) from Pasco County Utilities S The Water Guns (Bill Young, Greg Taylor, Carlyn Higgins, and Mike

Darrow)

Top Ops is a “College Bowl” type event that tests the groups, made up of water treatment and distribution operators or laboratory personnel, on their knowledge of system operations. Teams from FSAWWA regions compete against each other in this fast-paced question-and-answer tournament. The moderator poses a broad range of technical questions and math problems, and the team scoring the most points in the championship round is awarded the winner’s trophy.

Teams were encouraged to promote their team theme and colors throughout the conference. The winning team competed at Top Ops at the American Water Works Association Annual Conference and Exposition (ACE22) in June in San Antonio with other teams from AWWA sections across the United States.

Water utilities across the state are encouraged to enter the next Top Ops, which will be held April 2023 during the Florida Water Resources Conference in Kissimmee. Teams may represent more than one utility. For more details, and to receive the competition rules, contact the Top Ops chair, Thomas Tackman, at (239) 560-4149 or ttackman@watertalent.net.

The winning Mono Rays team members are (from left to right) Ken Durr, Vinny Domanico, Kendra Phillips, Jason Adair, and Michael Avila.

Officiating the contest are (left) Andrew Greenbaum, Peace River Manasota Regional Water Supply Authority, and Pat Allman, Odyssey Manufacturing.

Also assisting is (left) Nicole Thomas, Tampa Bay Water.

Seacoast Utility Authority Wins the “Best of the Best” Tap Water Taste Contest!

Seacoast Utility Authority, from Florida Section AWWA (FSAWWA) Region VI, won the statewide Best Tasting Drinking Water Contest held at FWRC This competition had water samples from the contest winners of the 12 FSAWWA regions: S Region I - City of Tallahassee S Region II - JEA S Region III - Seminole County S Region IV - Polk County S Region V - Bonita Springs Utilities Inc. S Region VI - Seacoast Utility Authority S Region VII - Florida Keys Aqueduct

Authority S Region VIII - Martin County Utilities S Region IX - South Walton Utilities S Region X - City of Punta Gorda S Region XI - City of Belleview S Region XII - City of Lynn Haven

The contest was emceed by Greg Taylor, senior project manager with Wright-Pierce. Terri Holcomb, with Peace River Manasota Regional Water Supply Authority, welcomed the audience and introduced the three judges: S Dr. Stephanie Ishii, P.E., Hazen and Sawyer S Richard Anderson, Peace River Manasota

Regional Water Supply Authority S Ifetayo Venner, P.E., Arcadis

Water samples were labeled with letters A through L to remain anonymous, so the judges didn’t know the identity of the samples.

Judging scores were based on taste, color, clarity, and odor. After the scores were tallied, the state contest winner was announced.

Seacoast Utility Authority is a not-forprofit, governmental regional water, wastewater, and reclaimed water utility that furnishes potable water service to approximately 47,000 households and 2,700 commercial establishments. Its governing board members are appointed by the municipalities where Seacoast provides service, which includes City of Palm Beach Gardens, Village of North Palm Beach, Town of Lake Park, Juno Beach, and unincorporated areas of Palm Beach County. Seacoast’s 30.5-million-gallon-per-day (mgd) nanofiltration/low-pressure reverse osmosis treatment plant has been in operation since May 2014. Approximately 3 mgd of the facility’s nanofiltration concentrate is blended with reclaimed water and recycled as community irrigation water.

Seacoast Utility Authority competed at AWWA Annual Conference and Exposition (ACE22) “Best of the Best” Tap Water Taste Contest that was held in June in San Antonio.

After Seacoast received its traveling trophy, the permanent trophy was given to representatives from Meridian Hills Water System in Tallahassee, the 2019 contest winner.

Pictured left is the traveling trophy, and on the right is the permanent trophy.

Water samples ready for judging. Greg Taylor (center), contest emcee, presents the winning trophy to Seacoast Utility Authority representatives. At left is Brandon Selle, P.E., chief operating officer, and at right is Bob Takahashi, chief water plant operator.