People/Awards
The Water Environment Federation announces its 2022 WEF Published Papers and Education Awards and recipients of 2022 WEF Operator Scholarships, which provide up to $5,000 each for those seeking operator education, training, or certification to enter the industry or advance their knowledge, skills or licenses.
PUBLISHED PAPERS AWARDS
Eddy Wastewater Principles/Process Medal: Onder Caliskaner, George Tchobanoglous, Lilly Imani and Brian Davis, “Performance evaluation of first full-scale primary filtration using a fine pore cloth media disk filter weak water,” in Environment Research.
Gascoigne WWTP Operational Improvement Medal: Jon van Dommelen and Rob Smith, “Weak-In Worked Out,” in Water Environment and Technology.
McKee Groundwater Protection, Restoration or Sustainable Use Award: Wei-Ting Chen, Ku-Fan Chen, Rao Surampalli, Tian Zhan, Jiun-Hau Ou and Chih-Ming Kao, “Bioremediation of trichloroethylene-polluted groundwater using emulsified castor oil for slow carbon release and acidification control,” in Water Environment Research.
Rudolfs Industrial Waste Management Medal: Amanda Johansen Mattingly and Francis Lajara de los Reyes, “Does bioaugmentation of aerated stabilization basins work? Lessons from field scale trials with a control,” in 2021 WEFTEC Proceedings.
EDUCATION AWARDS
WEF Canham Graduate Studies Scholarship: Duong Nguyen, Rocky Mountain Water Environment Association. $25,000 scholarship honors former WEF executive director, Robert Canham.
Student chapter of the year award: University of Alabama, Young Water Professionals.
OPERATOR SCHOLARSHIPS
-Eliseo Bonilla, Ventura, and Luis Negrete, Gardena, California WEA
-William Branton, Cohasset, Massachusetts, New England WEA
-Denton Chas Campbell, San Angelo, and Raudel Juarez, Midlothian, WEA of Texas
-Jose Gonzalez, Loxahatchee, Florida WEA
-Evan Hurrle, Wilson, Wyoming, Rocky Mountain WEA
-Derek Jefferson, Siletz, Oregon, Pacific Northwest Clean Water Assoc.
-Amanda Martin Akins, Sparta, and Glenda Perrott, Cartersville, Georgia Association of Water Professionals
-Jonathan Montovio, Woodbridge, Virginia WEA
-Katherine Mowbray, East Jordon, Michigan WEA
-Todd Saums, Sylvania, Ohio WEA
-Jeff Van Andel, Etobicoke, WEA of Ontario
The Sequim (Pennsylvania) Wastewater Reclamation Facility received a 2021 Wastewater Treatment Plant Outstanding Performance award from the Department of Ecology, its third consecutive such award full compliance with its NPDES permit.
Bonita Springs Utilities received the 2022 David W. York Award for Water Resources, Reuse, and Resiliency Project of the Year, Public Education Program from the Florida Water Environment Association.
The Houston Health Department was recognized by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as a National Wastewater Surveillance System Center of Excellence.
Sherry Bradley, director of the Bureau of Environmental Services with the Alabama Department of Public Health and director of the Black Belt Unincorporated Wastewater Project, received the Award of Excellence for outstanding performance and dedication from the State of Alabama.
The City of Goldsboro, North Carolina, named Robert “Bert” Sherman public utilities director. He started as a wastewater operator in 1994 and obtained his Grade 4 Operator certification in 1999. In that year he was promoted to wastewater reclamation facility superintendent. He became interim public utilities director in September 2021.
Chris Kenyon retired from the Ionia (Michigan) Department of Public Utilities after 43 years. He had been department director since 1997, following his father, Wayne Kenyon. The wastewater treatment facility, known as the Wayne E. Kenyon Building, was renamed the Wayne E. and Chris A. Kenyon Building.
Hardin County Water District No. 2 received an Award of Excellence from the Kentucky/Tennessee AWWA Section for its distribution system in the medium size category (10,000 to 33,000 connections). The Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet recognized the district’s drinking water treatment facilities and distribution systems for achieving optimization goals that go beyond U.S. EPA requirements.
Events
Nov. 2
AWWA Water Sector Compensation, Retirement and Benefits Trends webinar. Visit www.awwa.org.
Nov. 2-4
Nebraska AWWA Section Annual Conference, Younes Conference Center, Kearney. Visit www.awwaneb.org.
Nov. 4
AWWA Women of Impact in Water webinar. Visit www.awwa.org.
Nov. 9
AWWA Veterans Transition to the Water Workforce webinar. Visit www.awwa.org.
Nov. 13-17
AWWA Water Quality Technology Conference, Duke Energy Convention Center, Cincinnati, Ohio. Visit www.awwa.org.
Nov. 15-17
Oregon Operators Conference, Douglas County Fairgrounds, Roseburg. Visit www.umpqua.edu/cwt-conferences.
Nov. 15-17
JSWA/EWA/WEF Specialty Conference – Resilience of Water Service, Sendai, Japan. Visit www.wef.org.
Nov. 27-Dec. 1
Florida AWWA Section Annual Conference, Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress, Orlando. Visit www.fsawwa.org.
