It’s as close to a sporting event as anything you’ll find in the environ-mental service profession. The Water Environment Federation’s annual Operations Challenge seems to draw more attention each year.
And believers will tell you it means a great deal more than wholesome competition and bragging rights. Those who take part each year benefit by learning how to be better teammates and by developing skills that can help them advance to higher levels and more responsibility in their organizations.
The competition includes five events in which teams of four (led by a coach) race against time to complete a detailed series of tasks. The events tests teams’ mettle in collection systems, laboratory, process control, maintenance, and safety.
To get perspectives on the Operations Challenge, Treatment Plant Operator interviewed Steve Harrison, project manager in the Public Communications department of WEF, and John Hart, chief operator at the Saco (Maine) Wastewater Treatment Plant, and a former Challenge participant, judge, and event committee chairman.
TPO:
How do the Operations Challenge events change from year to year?
Harrison:
The events evolve so that, typically, one event is new each year. Right now, we are reworking the maintenance event for the 2010 competition. We are partnering with WILO-USA LLC to prepare an event using a Model FA10.33 pump and TR50-2 mixer.
Creating an event from the ground up takes an incredible amount of work. The event coordinator collaborates with representatives from the manufacturer. We come up with a task summary, vet it, review it, and revise it. Then we prepare a task summary that gets released in our rules and regulations for the event.
TPO:
What happens in the months leading up to the event finals at WEFTEC?
Harrison:
Local competitions at the Member Associations start in March and continue through June. Event information, including the rulebook, goes up on the WEFTEC Web site by end of January. On March 1, a copy of the rulebook goes out to anybody who wants one. All the teams that qualify for the WEFTEC event get a final rulebook on September 1.
One thing the local competitions allow us to do is refine our new event. We release a draft of the event, and the local competitions provide a kind of peer review process. Teams run through the event, and the judges and volunteers are able to observe and suggest changes and improvements. We then update the event throughout the year and end up with a better event for the WEFTEC competition in the fall.
TPO:
What does it take each year to put on an event of such broad scope and complexity?
Harrison:
With judges and event coordinators and others working behind the scenes, we have at least 100 volunteers on site for the WEFTEC event. Regionally, it radiates from there. With 40 teams at five members per team, that’s 200 people actually competing at WEFTEC, but between the volunteers and sponsors at the Member Association level, there are thousands of people who got them there.
Hart:
It takes a large group of people to run all those local events, and many of the teams that compete locally don’t even go on to the nationals. It’s a multiplication factor — a huge family tree that goes everywhere.
TPO:
How are the Challenge teams put together, and how do they qualify for the finals at WEFTEC?
Harrison:
Typically, the Member Associations have a competition, and the first and maybe second place teams go on to WEFTEC. Associations are limited in the teams they can send by the number of members they have in the WEF House of Delegates.
Some Member Associations assemble teams from operators who win their annual awards, as a kind of reward for their proficiency. I think that’s a terrific way to put a team together, although those teams can be at a competitive disadvantage at WEFTEC, because they may not have as much opportunity to practice together.
Hart:
A lot depends on the municipality and the level of support it provides. A large municipality, for example, might be able to support an entire team. In some regions, including New England, you might have a team made up of members from different plants within a region of a state. In the teams I was on, we were spread all up and down the state of Maine. I can remember driving two hours each week to practice.
TPO:
How do teams go about practicing for the Challenge? How do they get access to the equipment used in the events?
Hart:
Teams can’t always get a piece of equipment to practice on. Sometimes they know a vendor willing to loan a piece of equipment. In other cases, teams have to be creative enough to simulate. I know of teams that have practiced for the confined-space safety event using a block of wood with buttons on it for a gas meter.
Harrison:
This is one reason we created two divisions for the WEFTEC event. There are well-funded teams from big utilities that can procure and practice with the equipment to be used in the actual event, and then there are teams from smaller utilities and smaller Member Associations who have to be very creative.
TPO:
What kind of time commitment do Challenge teams have to make?
Hart:
In New England, our local competition is in June. We would be practicing by April, maybe once a week for a couple of hours at a time. Teams practice by going through every step of the events and trying to get it down to a science. It’s an intricate process — a choreographed routine where every second and every step counts. Those teams that practice, practice, practice, typically come out on top.
TPO:
How do teams and operators become interested in the Challenge?
Harrison:
It can be quite daunting to get involved for the first time. I know I would be intimidated by seeing a team rescue a mannequin from a confined space in less than three minutes. A team or utility may not have the resources to compete in all five events right away. So some may start out by doing one or two of the events. Then as their volunteer base grows and the team members’ knowledge increases, they can work up to full-fledged competition. It’s a gentle introduction to a highly complex event.
Hart:
In New England, we have a training day where we try to attract new teams. It’s designed for teams with a sincere desire to compete, but also for individual operators who wonder what it’s all about. We try to have most of the equipment on hand that will be used at the nationals.
It’s a chance to look at and touch the equipment and get a feel for each event. If anything, it plants the seed. We may not see a given person in the Challenge that same year, but maybe a year or two down the road, we will see them.
We let operators know that by attending the training day, they can earn training contact hours toward license renewal. Of course, those who actually get involved in the Operations Challenge will far exceed their training contact requirements.
TPO:
Is WEF considering expansion of the Challenge?
Harrison:
We have capped the WEFTEC competition at 40 teams for some time now — it’s all we can do to get 40 teams through all five events in two days. However, in the past several years, we have included 41 or 42 teams, simply because we don’t want to turn qualified teams away. We are looking eventually to expand the field to 44 teams.
TPO:
How would you describe the benefits participants get from the Operations Challenge?
Hart:
Whatever you put into it, you gain much more back. The part I like is that you’re actually working on your own personal and professional development. It’s a great experience for someone who wants to move up into a supervisory role. You learn a lot about communication and teamwork. If one person isn’t working with the team, things just don’t happen.
Every team member trains on the full variety of events, and that makes them more well-rounded professionals. It gets them out of their comfort zones, making decisions and playing roles where they typically wouldn’t be involved in daily work life. For example, a lab person learns about the mechanical side of operations, and a mechanic learns to deal with process control and lab work. It gives every team member an appreciation of the other members’ roles.
I’ve seen many people who have competed over a few years’ time move up into significant leadership roles, like becoming president of a Member Association, or getting promoted to plant superintendent. Just competing at the national level takes you to WEFTEC, where you see things and meet people from literally around the world.
Harrison:
There are lots of ways to benefit from the Challenge, and winning shouldn’t be the only focus of it. Year after year, I see operators who maybe were working at a treatment plant because a cousin worked there — they just sort of ended up there. Then they get involved in the Operations Challenge, and they really begin to grow. They become aware that they are water-quality professionals. They come to appreciate the industry they’re involved in. I see that all the time.
TPO:
How has the Operations Challenge helped you personally?
Hart:
It has really accelerated my growth and development. It allowed me to learn things I might not have learned otherwise as a small-town wastewater operator. I worked my way up through the hierarchy in the Operations Challenge and got more involved in WEF at the regional level. I kept stepping up to the point where I just completed a three-year tour as a Delegate-At-Large for the WEF.
I can’t tell you how much payback I get just from the networking opportunities the Challenge creates. If I have a question or a problem, I can work with people I’ve met through the Challenge. I can call someone and say, ‘What are you doing in Virginia, or California, or Texas?’ It enhances the brotherhood and sisterhood of operators.
TPO:
What advice would you give to an operator considering joining a team and taking part in the Challenge?
Hart:
Don’t be afraid. Just get involved. It’s a tremendous opportunity, and an awesome experience, and you’re going to meet a lot of great people.
Harrison:
If you want to excel in this industry, why wouldn’t you get involved in an activity that includes the best water-quality professionals from all over the continent?
These are people who want to excel. Unfortunately, in this business, the usual reward for proficiency is anonymity. The only time you hear about the business in the general media is when something goes wrong. It’s great to have a venue where these devoted people can be recognized for the outstanding way they perform a crucial job.
