Central Office News by Russell Hamilton, TWUA Executive Director
F
ather, Thank You. We bow our heads and humbly say thank you as we acknowledge that you are the creator. We take comfort in knowing that You remain in charge and control of life as we understand it. We need You, and we welcome You in all we do. We come into Your presence, seeking Your grace, Your calm, Your guidance, and forgiveness. Father, we pray for Your mercy and ask that You guide, direct, protect, and bless TWUA and its members. Please send your abundant rainfall. Amen In West Texas, Lake Spence is sitting at 22.1 % (- 1.0 %). White River is sitting at 16.7 % (+1.8 %). Panhandle - Lake Meredith is sitting at 32.6 % (- 0.7 %) and Greenbelt is at 15.1 % (- 0.2 %). If you want a complete look at current lake levels, go to waterdatafortexas.org. The drought has never left for some. Please Mark your calendar for the remaining 2022 Regional opportunities – San Angelo will be July 25 – 28th. Ft. Stockton will be August 22nd – 25th. Longview will be October 10th – 13th. Lubbock will be November 1st – 3rd. The links to all the fliers will be activated as soon as possible so that you can register for any region now, making use of budgets more efficiently. If you are able to travel and are in need of training, please join us at one of these events.
Effective July 1, 2022, the Class A Wastewater exam is now available Computer-Based Testing (online). And since both A state exams are available via computer-based testing, effective August 1, 2022, TCEQ will no longer administer A exams at TWUA Regional Training events. Additionally, effective September 1, 2022, paper-based exams will no longer be offered or administered at the various TCEQ Regional Offices. Call the TCEQ staff in licensing for more information or the official statement related to the Exams, Licensing, and Computer-Based Testing. 512-239-6133 6 Texas Water Utilities Journal | www.twua.org
A successful Regional School events depend on in-person participants. In other words, if you want to see the TWUA Regional Events in your region of the state continue, we must do a better job of supporting the various events. Or has it become more cost-effective to rely on computer-based training and provide a workstation for staff members to train online in the workplace? If computer-based training is slowly replacing in-person events in your workplace, please remember internet bandwidth. Adequate bandwidth is the difference between a pleasant classroom experience and a frustrated participant. Buffering is evil. Have you used the training schedule QR barcode for all TWUA training announcements? If you go to the training page and use your smartphone or from your computer, if you click on the QR codes, it will take you to a PDF listing of events. This PDF can be updated as needed and will not impact the QR code. We are attempting to take advantage of technologies and provide a way for the training classes to stay updated. You will see three different QR codes. One for Online events, One for Regional schools, and one that is all TWUA events. Also, there have been inquiries related to in-person classroom training. If this in-person training interests you, don’t hesitate to contact Norma Clark (n.clark@twua.org). Dates For Annual School 2022. The 104th Annual School in Corpus Christi dates is September 26th – 29th, 2022. This will be Monday thru Thursday. The events have been pushed forward a day. The Opening Session and Awards will be Monday. The school will begin Tuesday and conclude with the vendors moving out at noon Thursday. We will update the information on the website soon, and the form will be live, so you could go ahead and preregister if you are looking for a legitimate budget expense. The Story Goes Something Like This – The Great Wasp Fighter On a hot summer afternoon, a young boy discovered a rather large wasp nest hanging from a peach tree limb. Curious July 2022
