Repping Denver Water at national conference
More than 10,000 members of the water industry across the United States and internationally came together in June at the industry’s biggest conference: The American Water Works Association’s annual ACE conference.
The annual conference was held this year in Anaheim, California, and is slated for Denver in June 2025. It offers an opportunity to connect with and learn from peers across the industry.
Watch Denver Water’s men’s tapping team, which placed fourth at the national competition:
AWWA, which has its headquarters in Denver, represents more than 4,300 utilities that supply roughly 80% of the drinking water in the U.S. and treats almost half of the nation’s wastewater. It’s 51,000 members represent the full spectrum of the water community: public water and wastewater systems, environmental advocates, scientists, academicians, and others who hold a genuine interest in water, our most important resource.
About two dozen Denver Water employees attended ACE 2024. Representatives took part in committee meetings, spoke on expert panels, competed in tapping, hydrant and meter contests, and gave presentations about the utility’s groundbreaking Lead Reduction Program and its landscape transformation initiative.
Denver Water sent two tapping teams, coached by Huey Wooten Jr., to the national competitions. The AWWA National Tapping Competition is a competition of skill in which water operators from across North America work against the clock to open a cement-lined, ductile iron pipe and install a tap.
Find some ‘dam’ good jobs at denverwater.org/Careers.
The utility’s women’s team, composed of Julie Bowers, Emily Long and Candice Rodriquez, competed at ACE as a team for the first time and were very happy with their times.
Denver Water’s men’s team of Jack Bowers, Shane Fellman and Miguel Escamilla earned a spot in the national competition and placed fourth with a time of one minute, 42 seconds. This is the second year the men’s team competed in the finals.
In ACE’s Hydrant-Hysteria competition, Denver Water was represented by Lisa Salazar and Audrey Garcia for the women’s competition, and Sean Deherrera and Juan Mendez for the men’s competition.
Hydrant-Hysteria measures a team’s skill at assembling a hydrant quickly and accurately. All parts must be assembled in the proper manner and the reassembled hydrant is then tested by the judges to ensure it operates correctly.
Felix Avalos also represented Denver Water in the fast-paced Meter Madness competition, where contestants assemble a specified water meter from a bucket of parts.
Denver Water is proud of its employees for representing our hard work and skills on a national level.
Check out the pictures below of Denver Water’s ACE 2024 representatives:
