ON GOOD AUTHORITY
Monthly Newsletter for Employees & Families of the Western Virginia Water Authority
Happy 19th Birthday, WVWA!
On July 1, the Western Virginia Water Authority celebrated its 19th Anniversary. Here's a list of just a few of our favorite milestones:
July 1, 2004: WVWA is formed
2005: The Coulter Building was purchased as the Authority's administrative home (below)
2014: The old, leaking clearwell at Crystal Spring (above) was removed, and a new one was built. Carilion purchased that property to build a new ER and Cardiac Care Facility.
2015: Botetourt County joins WVWA
2019: WVWA is restructured to create Divisions including Water Quality and Customer Operations
2020: Over $780,000 in assistance given to customers through Authority Cares and federal funding sources
2021: IDEA (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Action) Team was created. Photo of 2022 core meeting below
2008: $50M renovation to WPCP is completed, increasing treatment capacity to 55- million gallons per day
2009: Franklin County joins WVWA
2011: Honeywell ESCO Project included energy efficient plant improvements and new wireless meters (below)
2016: Blue Ridge Brawlers won Division 1 National Championship (below)
2022: Town of Vinton joins WVWA
2023: WVWA and Roanoke Gas Co begin producing Renewable Natural Gas from biogas produced at WPCP
2013: Cogsdale, the new billing system, is installed and allows customers to view bills and consumption data online.
2017: Registered High School Apprenticeship Program starts (below)
What was your favorite milestone?
GOLF TOURNAMENT Saturday, August 5 Blue Hills Golf Club www.westernvawater.org/golf Sign up to play! Contact Tammy Eaton tammy.eaton@westernvawater.org
JULY 2023
Cogsdale Launch team
Meet Kris Kristopher Newman - Lab Analyst I
Q: What inspired you to become a lab analyst?
A: I always have enjoyed living in the Roanoke Valley and wanted to find a career in a job field that was related to my college degree in biology. This position seemed like the perfect opportunity to explore and jump into.
Q: Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
A: I was born and raised in Roanoke, VA I attended Glenvar High School, and then went on to Radford University to study and obtain a bachelor’s degree in biology
Q: What is something you are most excited about with this position?
A: I am excited to be able to learn all about how water and wastewater get distributed and taken care of all throughout the major areas that we cover. On a day-to-day basis, you don’t really think about all of the intricate details and processes that it takes to make everything work and operate so smoothly as it does, and I definitely look forward to learning all about it.
Q: Can you share a fun fact?
A: One fun fact about myself is that I’m able to solve a rubik’s cube in a few minutes. I also enjoy fishing, and being outdoors.
WaterTowerShowdown
On July 8, we co-hosted the inaugural Water Tower Showdown at the Smith Mountain Lake Water Treatment Facility. WVWA collaborated with the VA Section AWWA/VWEA Student Activities Committee, Bedford Water Authority and Lynchburg Water Resources to put on an engineering challenge for middle school students The challenge was to build a model water tower that could effectively hold one gallon of water The towers were judged on Dimensions/Structural Efficiency, Cost and Materials, Design, and Hydraulic Efficiency. 13 teams entered from across the region and three teams walked away with cash prizes! We look forward to hosting this event again next year.
UserConference forGIS
San Diego, CA: the 2023 International Esri User Conference was held July 10-14. Over 15,000 professionals from across the globe attended in-person, and three of those professionals were from our Engineering Department! Erika Hoffman, GIS Manager, expressed excitement for new and easier options for offline maps. She also stated, "We listened to case studies for other medium sized utilities, and I will be contacting them to share some of our experiences and learn some of theirs. New contacts are always helpful and learning how they handle situations similar to ours."
Roanoke/LynchburgArea 2023 AUTHORITY NEWS/EVENTS JULY 2023
From left: Will Bulloss (Assistant Director Engineering), Meagan Cupka (Engineering/GIS Tech II), and Erika Hoffman (GIS Manager) at Esri Conference in San Diego
From left: Mark Titcomb (Newport News Waterworks, AWWA ) and Roger Blankenship (Director Plant Assets, WVWA) test the hydraulic efficiency of a model water tower.
JulyisDisabilityPrideMonth
What is Disability Pride Month?
Disability Pride Month is a chance for people to honor everyone’s uniqueness as a “natural and beautiful part of human diversity”
How did it get started?
In 1990, The Americans with Disabilities Act was signed which created a law that prohibited discrimination against people with disabilities. That same year, Boston held the first Disability Pride Day.
In 2015, NTC Mayor declared July Disability Pride Month for the Americans with Disabilities Act’s 25th anniversary
How can I show my support?
Support companies that are actively showing inclusion within their marketing and employees they hire
Advocate for accessibility. Avoid using “bigger” stalls in public restrooms (some stalls are not much bigger, and for those in wheelchairs or who have service animals, it can be a tight squeeze)
DO NOT park in handicap parking if you are ablebodied. It makes it very hard for those in chairs to be able to enter their vehicles if there are other cars parked illegally/incorrectly.
Notice places that do not have ramps for customers to enter, sinks to be able to reach from a wheelchair/being lower to the ground and places that do not have automatic doors.
Educate yourself. This could come in all kinds of form & social media being a big one! You can follow disability activists and accounts that are educational It is as simple as searching for “disability pride month” or “disability ally”
CELEBRATING 2 YEARS
IDEA (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Action) groups are meeting monthly. Get involved!
If you would like to attend one or more group meetings, or have ideas to share, please contact Mackenzie Wilcox (mackenzie.wilcox@westernvawater.org)
A new way to learn
This new learning management software has one main goal: facilitating the education process for our employees. Trakstar Learn educates, upskills, and trains employees wherever they are through digital learning and development, training management, and online courses. Trakstar Learn will allow us to track and report on learning across the organization. We look forward to trainings and certifications that will happen through this platform!
JUNE 2023 ANNOUNCEMENTS
