Centrifugal Force Proudly Represented Texas at the Operations Challenge
The event was held at the Chesapeake Tri-Association Conference, co-hosted by the Chesapeake Water Environment Association, in Ocean City, Maryland, August 29–September 1, 2023, by placing 1st in four of the five competition events and 3rd in the process control event resulting in bringing back home to Texas the overall trophy. In the saw-cut competition, Caeleb Bulter placed 1st.
Since the beginning of the year, our goal was to first win the regional Operations Challenge event at Texas Water to represent NTMWD and Texas on the national stage. Next stop: winning the Division I title at WEFTEC. Our team’s success is predicated on having support from our NTMWD leadership team and WEAT. We so very much appreciative of our NTMWD leadership for getting us the resources and supporting the travel necessary to our team’s success. WEAT, we thank you for sending our team to Ocean City in support of our goal to be highly prepared to take on the over 50 national and international teams expected in Chicago at WEFTEC23.
Centrifugal Force – Jeremy Thompson (Coach), Zachary Jackson (Captain), Mauriece Keys, Caeleb Bulter, Chris Legg, Joshua Deaver, and Sharon Miller (team mom)
About The Operations Challenge
Operations Challenge — the water sector’s premier annual skills competition — pits the world’s most talented facility operators, maintenance workers, and laboratory technicians against each other in a series of thrilling, timebound trials. Teams compete in five events that test an array of skills critical to success in the water and wastewater sector: Process Control; Laboratory; Safety; Collections Systems; and Pump Maintenance. Throughout the year, these squads work tirelessly on their teamwork and tactics in hopes of earning the chance to represent their region’s Water Environment Federation (WEF, Alexandria, Virginia) Member Association at the WEFTEC Operations Challenge competition, and ultimately return home as worldwide champions.
Steve Harrison, WEF Senior Manager of Operator Programs, who leads efforts to coordinate the annual competition, predicts a particularly crowded field this year that will feature talents from far beyond the U.S. and Canada. “We expect to host our largest competition ever this year — likely more than 50 teams,” Harrison said. “The value of the skills competition as a training tool continues to be recognized by water quality organizations around the world. This year, we expect teams from Argentina, Colombia, Denmark, Finland, and Germany at WEFTEC.”