Florida Water Resources Conference 2023!

Conference Registration and Florida Water Resource Conference and Journal Board Meetings

being the trustees). This was immediately followed by the 10 to 11 a.m. FWRJ board meetings, with the same intent—to help with the success of both organizations.

he 2023 Florida Water Resources Conference (FWRC) was amazing! The conference was held May 31-June 3, 2023, in Orlando at the Gaylord Palms. If you weren’t ridden hard and put away wet by the end of this event, you must have been hiding somewhere! With meetings, technical programs, exhibits, awards luncheons, competitions, networking—

Wednesday, Day 1, from 9 to 10 a.m., was the FWRC and Florida Water Resources Journal (FWRJ) board meetings. The meeting with the FWRC officers and representatives from the three member associations (Florida Section American Water Works Association [FSAWWA], Florida Water Environment Association [FWEA], and Florida Water and Pollution Control Operators Association [FWPCOA]), is the culmination of meetings throughout the year to establish a successful conference. Each association has seven board members and three trustees, and both

Many thanks go to the executive board members of FWRC and FWRJ and the other member associations for all they have done, but in particular to Mish Clark, the conference executive director, for getting a new software program up and running for this year. I absolutely have an “app” disability, but even I was able to download the conference app (new this year!) and navigate through it during the conference, even though I still had my copy of the June FWRJ (it was available onsite and included the conference program) with highlighted and red-lined sections to fall back on.

Registration for the conference was pretty fantastic. At the times that I volunteered at the registration booths, almost everyone was able to put their last name in and—bingo!— out came their badge with the QR code that would allow them into the conference events they signed up for, and get their continuing education units (CEUs) or professional development hours (PDHs).

It seemed like I should have had more time before getting to the Operators Showcase, but by the time I got checked in, moved my truck, unloaded, and got lost on the wrong floors trying to get back from the hotel to the conference center, I just made it.

Operators Showcase and Workshop

On Wednesday, Day 1, from 2 to 4 p.m., the FWPCOA Operators Showcase was held and was much more successful this year! I believe some of the Constant Contact notifications helped with that, because the lure of free beer last year didn’t seem to (which we had this year, too!). I do believe we also had a better location this year and we had several powerhouse speakers:

Dr. Chris Owen, associate vice president and director of water and reuse innovations with Hazen and Sawyer, spoke on the effects of perand polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) on the utility industry to lead off the showcase.

John O’Brien, chair of the Direct Potable Reuse Certification Committee for FWPCOA and an A licensed operator working for Seacoast Utilities, provided an overview of direct potable reuse (DPR).

Dr. Carlyn Higgins, an engineer with Hazen and Sawyer, talked about indirect potable reuse (IPR), equipment, and operator certification, and the City of Plant City’s indirect potable reclaimed water pilot project that successfully completed over a year of piloting.

Those who did attend were very interactive with the presenters. Thank you, Dr. Owen, John O’Brien, and Dr. Higgins, for providing an excellent showcase presentation, and thank you Tom King for moderating.

Conference Showcase: FWEA, FSAWWA, and FWPCOA

On Wednesday, Day 1, from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m., the three member associations had an area on the exhibit floor during the President’s Reception. Each association had the opportunity to showcase their association, committees, and products and services, and encourage membership. Thank you to those who staffed this section and all who visited our area!

Awards

On Thursday, Day 2, at the FWRC awards luncheon and annual meeting, held from 12 noon to 1:30 p.m., Renee Moticker, FWPCOA Awards Committee chair, presented numerous FWPCOA awards:

S Three categories for the David B. Lee Award: Frank O’Neal, Region 10; Jason Jennings, Region 10; and Carel Bent, Region 7.

S The Vogh Award went to Katherine Kinloch, Region 10.

S Theresa “Terry” McVeigh received the Pat Flanagan Award this year. It was awarded posthumously and accepted by her husband Tim McVeigh.

S David Pickard received the 50+ Membership Award.

Thank you, Renee—well done!

Florida Select Society of Sanitary Sludge Shovelers

After the WEF awards, and the “Emergency Mutual Aid Amongst Utilities Recognition” acknowledgment done by Lisa Rhea of Hillsborough County, new members were inducted into the Florida Select Society of Sanitary Sludge Shovelers.

This is a FWEA award that’s given annually to honor an engineer, an operator, and a “peddler” (vendor), if they are deemed to have contributed outstanding and meritorious service above and beyond the call of duty to FWEA.

This year, the inductees were:

S Chuck Nichols Sr. from Polk County, Region 10, in the “operator” category.

Operations Challenge and Collections Relay

I sadly missed the exhibit hall during the whole conference, running around doing other tasks, and it pains me to no end to have missed these events. I heard that they were exciting and entertaining, and a tight competition took place there.

The winners in the Operation Challenge were:

S Polk County Utilities Bio-Wizards – First Place overall. Total points: 489

S St. Pete Dirty Birds – Second Place overall.

Total points: 371.21

S Jacksonville Electric Authority (JEA) The Fecal Matter – Third Place overall. Total points: 370.4

The Collections Relay, where participants from the crowd jump in for pipe-cutting or holesawing contests, had over 28 participants divided among seven teams, and over 50 percent were women!

Pipe donations were made by Ferguson for for the competition designed specifically for the different skill tests, even though their utility was unable to send a team this year.)

Many, many thanks go to all those who judged these events, to all who supported the teams, and to those who participated. If you’ve never seen what these folks are doing, you can’t imagine how impactful and impressive this is to the people who are not in our industry. The true and sad part is that some of the people in our industry, such as coworkers and bosses, never realize what these folks are capable of and get done in the field—only that it gets done! These teams are truly next-level, and if you can make it happen, you need to send your employees to the conference to witness the safety, knowledge, and skills that are needed.

Volunteering for Registration and Technical Events

On Thursday, Day 2, from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m., I volunteered at one of the registration booths (because that’s what we do) and assistance is really needed for so many of the aspects of the

Continued on page 22

Continued from page 21 conference; not just the door registrations, but as moderators and general help.

The traffic seemed slow at that time, and I questioned Mish if I was really going to be needed for the time slot I also signed up for on Friday morning from 6:30 to 8:30 a.m. on Day 3 of the conference. When she said that we hit over 2,700 registrations that night, and she expected at least another 300 plus on Friday, you could have picked my jaw up off the floor. I got to the booth around 6 a.m., and the software people were busy buzzing around and helped with the setup. Sure enough, it was busier that morning than it was the night before!

I was very happy to see Deb Monteleone (Al’s wife) step in to volunteer, as I really needed to go back to my paying job with CEUs for the technical sessions this year, since that’s part of why I was there (not just to help promote FWPCOA and have a great time networking with everyone). So, off I went to the technical sessions, and boy were they good; the rooms were packed, and there weren’t any of those green cards that I always seemed to forget to fill out. I was scanned by the door checker

The last technical session I attended on Friday finished at 5 p.m., and the walk back to the hotel seemed endless.

I want to give a giant thank you to Al Monteleone, who has for many years staffed the FWPCOA exhibit hall booth (along with a number of other reliable booth volunteers). Al makes sure the booth is set up, staffed during the entire conference, and broken down.

Young Professionals Workshop

Saturday, Day 4, usually has a Utilities Council meeting and everyone else is gone. This year there was a full day of young professionals (YP) activities, workshops, design competitions, personality evaluations, and more.

I want to give a special thank you to Nicole Cohen, lead engineer with Carollo for inviting FWPCOA to participate in the organization’s introductions. Representatives from FSAWWA, FWEA, and FWPCOA shared information with the YPs about the organizations and an overview of mission statements, and there was a chance for attendees to ask questions. I didn’t have my sure I bumbled my way through most of it (like I have most of my life), so I was also very happy that Athena Tipaldos, FWPCOA vice president, was able to come and be part of our association’s representation. Thank you, Athena!

I couldn’t tell you what I said the moment I left, but I do know there were three things that I wish I’d emphasized instead of alluded to:

S You can’t fly as high with the eagles if you’re out all night hunting with the owls!

S Having a mentor doesn’t necessarily mean they agreed to be one!

S Don’t be afraid to communicate with the old fat guy in the room!

Okay, so I kind of remember pointing to almost everyone in the room (YPs included) that they are now my mentors, whether they wanted to be or not. They may not be personally advising me on a daily or weekly basis, and our interaction might be once in a blue moon, but I figure I can learn from every single person out there. I’ve told some people that they are my heroes, to some I’ve said how much I admire them, and others I just try to listen to and learn from. Probably the bulk of them would be frightened if I asked them to be my

We all must talk to each other: operator to operator, operator to engineer, and operator to vendor. This is the essence of learning, listening, talking! Don’t be afraid to initiate a discussion. I’d give anything to have been able to retain as much as I’ve learned over the years, and truly wished I’d asked more stupid questions questioning). I sometimes can see the fear on faces when the scary old guy is walking toward them, and so many times over the years, the young folks that I’ve talked to years ago have later turned into my bosses.

Get involved with whichever organization you prefer, but you don’t have to be an operator to be an associate member with FWPCOA.

FWPCOA 2023 Fall State Short School

The FWPCOA 2023 Fall State Short School will be held Aug. 7-11, 2023, at the Indian River State College in Fort Pierce. For more information go to www.fwpcoa.org.

The website has details about other events and the FWPCOA calendar. For all events contact Shirley Reaves at (321) 383-9690 or fwpcoa@ gmail.com, or Darin Bishop at (561) 840-0340 or memfwpcoa@gmail.com.

Remember—let’s keep that water clean! S