Rocky Mountain WEA's Commode Commandos win WEFTEC.07 Operations Challenge

The Rocky Mountain Water Environment Association's Commode Commandos captured the first-place trophy during the Operations Challenge competition at WEFTEC.07 in San Diego, CA. Coached by Leonard Robb, the team of Captain Stacey Walker, Chong Woo, Brian Pritekel, and Caleb Vannice defeated reigning champions the WEA of Texas' Trinity River Authority (TRA) CReWSers and 38 other teams from the United States and Canada to take top honors during the fast-paced, full-day event...

Oct. 22, 2007

2 min read

SAN DIEGO, CA, Oct. 17, 2007 -– The Rocky Mountain Water Environment Association's Commode Commandos captured the first-place trophy during yesterday's Operations Challenge competition at WEFTEC^®.07 in San Diego, CA.

Coached by Leonard Robb, the team of Captain Stacey Walker, Chong Woo, Brian Pritekel, and Caleb Vannice defeated reigning champions the WEA of Texas' Trinity River Authority (TRA) CReWSers and 38 other teams from the United States and Canada to take top honors during the fast-paced, full-day event. Full competition results include:

Division 1
• First Place: Commode Commandos -- Rocky Mountain Water Environment Association
• Second Place: Hampton Roads Sanitation Districts Team HRSD - Virginia Water Environment Association
• Third Place: Trinity River Authority CReWSers - Water Environment Association of Texas

Division 2
• First Place: Force Maine -- New England Water Environment Association
• Second Place: Brown Tide -- New York Water Environment Association
• Third Place: Ft. Worth Regulators - Water Environment Association of Texas

Celebrating its 20th year, Operations Challenge has grown from an original 22-team event to its current 40-team, two division format, each four-member team will be judged on the best combination of precision, speed and safety. Winners are determined by a weighted point system for five events including collection systems, laboratory, process control, maintenance and safety. The events are designed to test the diverse skills required for the operation and maintenance of wastewater treatment facilities, their collection systems and laboratories - all vital to the protection of public health and the environment.

Operations Challenge is presented in conjunction with WEFTEC®.07 -- the Water Environment Federation's 80th annual technical exhibition and conference.

Formed in 1928, the Water Environment Federation (WEF) is a not-for-profit technical and educational organization with 32,000 individual members and 80 affiliated Member Associations representing an additional 50,000 water quality professionals throughout the world.

NOTE: Due to a scoring error for this year's Operations Challenge competition, the wrong team was announced initially as the Division I winner. Instead of the Water Environment Association of Virginia's Team HRSD, the real winner was the Rocky Mountain Water Environment Association's Commode Commandos. Unfortunately, the story ran on the cover of the WEFTEC Daily onsite and was also released to the media and external audiences due to an internal miscommunication. The correction was posted to the WaterWorld website on Nov. 13, 2007.

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