VIDEO: SAWS Teams Dominate at Texas Water Competitions
(5/18/12)
Two SAWS pipe tapping teams captured the top spots at Texas Water competition in San Antonio last month.
Congratulations to the SAWS River City Rage, consisting of coach Gibby Campos, Eric Lucio, Gilbert Salas and Eugene Mora, and the SAWS Alamo City Tappers, comprised of Lisa Rivera, Yolanda Garcia, Leslie Morales and Regina Robledo.
Two SAWS teams also captured second place in pipe tapping. The SAWS men's team of Manuel Gonzales, Lupe Paredes, Sid Luna and coach Gibby Campos, and the SAWS Bluebonnets, with Laura Losoya, Alycia Tretta and Elizabeth Escobedo, and coach Manuel Gonzales brought home the runner-up win.
In Meter Madness, Johnny Rodriguez came in first followed by Dennis Laskowski. Carl Krueger placed first for fastest saw in the Texas Shoot Out.
SAWS won a Blue Legacy Award from the Water Conservation Advisory Council and Texas Water Development Board for its strategic conservation approach that encompasses education and outreach, reasonable regulation and financial incentives.
The South Texas Chapter of the Texas Section of American Water Works Association was named Chapter of the Year.
Project Engineer Dennis Laskowski received the Recruitment Award from the Water Environment Association of Texas.
Receiving first place honors in the Watermark Awards were: Brian Wilkie, media production specialist, for the 2012 SAWS Safety Calendar in the Publications category; and Paul Robinson, media production specialist, and Stacy Lunsford, communications specialist, for the 2011 End of Year video in the Audio/Visual category.
Since the Texas Water Conference was held locally, many SAWS employees helped plan and participated in various activities, including Senior Vice President of Strategic Resources Kelley Neumann who addressed the Women of Texas Water during a luncheon.
Marisa Martinez-Palmer served as moderator of the technical sessions on biosolids and Alissa Lockett moderated the technical sessions on utility management.
Presenting at technical sessions were:
- Adam Conner - "Attempting the Absurd: Pragmatic Water Supply and Demand Planning"
- Erika Anderson, Thomas Klein - "Integration Pipeline: Water Delivery and Operational Flexibility"
- Jerome Iltis, Richard McWhirter - "A Precise Analysis of Risk in Water Mains"
- Roberto Macias - "Leon Creek WRC Improvement Project: Finally Out of the Stone Age"
- Fred Winter, Brandon Holby - "Bench Scale Digestion Studies on the Additional of Grease Trap Waste on Digester Gas Production"
- Jeff Haby - "Water Banking for Drought Management"
- Gary Guy, Adam Eddy - "Reaching Out and Drilling Deep: the SAWS Regional Carrizo Project"
- Roberto Macias - "What Does it Take to Operate a Wastewater Treatment Plant During Multiple Projects"
- Adam Eddy - "Creative and Collaborative Efforts to Optimize Regional Infrastructure"
- Pablo Martinez - "Recycled Water Facilities as Hyrdro Power Generators: A New Dimension or an Opportunity"
A special thank you goes to employees who helped coordinate the conference, including Project Engineer Meagan Brown, who served as co-chair of the conference. Other volunteers included: Jeff Andrews, Meg Conner, Richard Donat, Alissa Lockett, Vicente Garza, Erin Newberry, Lyn Pitman, Lisa Guardiola, Kerry Avert, Rosa Valdez, Alycia Tretta, Valerie Peña, Roberto Macias, Adam Conner, Celina Garza-Alvarez, Mario Aguilar, Brian Wilkie and Paul Robinson.
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