Polk County Bio-Wizards Wins Again in 2023!

For the second year in a row, Polk County Bio-Wizards came in first place in the Operations Challenge. The other winners this year were:

S St. Pete Dirty Birds – Second Place

S Jacksonville Electric Authority (JEA) The Fecal Matter – Third Place

The contest is coordinated by Chris Fasnacht, with City of St. Cloud. Pipe donations were made by Ferguson and other equipment was furnished by St. Pete Utilities, Gainesville Regional Utilities (GRU), and Polk County Utilities.

Contest Components

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 process control event uses a computer-based 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 pump is set up as a bypass in case, at some point, the other pump goes down. 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 Chicago in the fall.

Sponsors and Next Year’s Event

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 April 2024 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.