Oct. 17, 2000—L.A. Wrecking Crew of the California Water Environment Association (WEA) was the Division II winner of the Operations Challenge 2000, a fast-paced skills competition for wastewater operations and maintenance professionals. Cowtown Hustlers of the WEA of Texas won in Division II, according to Water Environment Federation (WEF) staff reports.
Operations Challenge was held Tuesday in Anaheim, Calif., during WEFTEC 2000, a water quality conference and exhibition. The conference, which runs through Thursday, attracted over 15,000 attendees and over 800 exhibitors.
Thirty-seven teams competed in the competition, the thirteenth such contest to run at the show. The teams competed in five events: Process Control, Safety, Maintenance, Laboratory, and Collection Systems.
The Process Control event required the teams to complete a 25-question exam that covered wastewater treatment processes and included troubleshooting problems. The Safety event required teams to respond to a staged liquid chemical spill, rescue an injured employee and repair equipment. For the Maintenance event, the teams removed, installed, and rebuilt parts of a self-priming centrifugal pump. In the Laboratory event, the teams performed four of six possible designated procedures, such as calibrating a pH meter, calibrating a dissolved oxygen meter, measuring total chlorine residual with a chlorine colorimeter, and performing a titration. The fifth event, Collection Systems, required the teams to make repairs on an in-service section of 8-in. (200-mm) gravity polyvinyl chloride (PVC) pipe.
The second and third place winners of Division I are the TRA CReWSers of Texas WEA and the Connoissewers of the Arkansas WEA. The second and third place winners of Division II are the River Rangers of the Pacific Northwest Pollution Control Association and Pump Fiction of New England WEA.
