Many NEW Water staff participated in the 53rd annual Wisconsin Wastewater Operator’s Association Conference, which was hosted in Green Bay at the KI Center in October.
NEW Water is water resource utility serving Northeast Wisconsin which owns and operates two facilities in Green Bay and De Pere.
NEW Water staff received numerous accolades during this year’s event. Bruce Bartel was honored with the prestigious Koby Crabtree Award for excellence in the industry; Jeff Smudde was named WWOA president; Brian Vander Loop and Bill Oldenburg were honored for 25 years' membership, and received Life Membership recognition.
Additionally, several staff members served in the roles of judges in the Operators Challenge competition, including Aaron Eichhorst, Jake Becken, Matt Schmidt, Bobby Zepnick and Holly Blazer.
Two NEW Water teams competed in the challenge, and earned second and third place in the overall competition. Those teams included Ashley Clark, Kim Williams, Kayli Van Effen, Corey Evers, Bryan Thomson and Matt Pamperin.
And in historic news, this year’s WWOA featured the first-ever all-female team competing in the Operations Challenge, and they were from NEW Water.
The NEW Water utility collects and treats an average of 38 mgd from the Green Bay Facility (30 mgd) and De Pere Facility (8 mgd), removing more than 97% of its pollutants. It serves 236,000 residents in a 285-square-mile area.
