LIMA, OH (WLIO) - It's a first for the City of Lima's Wastewater Treatment and they aren't done yet.
This is the first year that the city has had a team in the Ohio Operations Challenge Competition, and they garnered second overall in the state. The 4-person team competed in a variety of events to test the diverse skills required of a wastewater operator. It also is a chance to network with other departments and share ideas. The team says the competition was a great experience with interesting challenges.
"One event is a safety event where there's a co-worker down and we have to rescue that person out of a confined space. Another event is the laboratory event, where we run, it's a timed event where we run two laboratory processes. And there is a process control which is like a certification exam and it's a 30-minute test that they have to do," said Jessica Preston, team coach.
The team is now heading to the National Operations Challenge Competition at the Water Environment Federation's technical exhibition and conference in Chicago in October.
September 6, 2023 Press Release from the City of Lima: The Lima team placed 2nd overall in Ohio’s Operations Challenge Competition and will now represent Ohio in the National Operations Challenge Competition at Water Environment Federation's Technical Exhibition and Conference (WEFTEC), occurring October 2nd to the 4th.
This is the first year for the Lima Wastewater Treatment Plant to field a team for Operations Challenge. The four person team is comprised of Joe Welker, Ben Lovejoy, TJ Sturgill and Jordan Greeley, along with coach Jessica Preston. This competition is designed to test the diverse skills required for the operation and maintenance of water resource recovery with 5 different events: Process Control, Laboratory, Safety, Collections and Maintenance.
All team members must actively participate in each event. The process control event is comprised of a computer based simulator of a treatment plant where process control decisions are made based on data provided to bring the plant back into compliance with water quality standards as well as completing math and theory based questions. The laboratory event is based on performing a variety of laboratory tests for accuracy while following acceptable laboratory practices. The safety event is based on the following scenario: While a facility crew is working, one of the workers collapses inside a manhole. The coworker is found at the bottom of a (confined space) lift station unconscious. It is suspected that he/she has been overcome with an unknown gas or lack of oxygen due to a worn 4” check valve gasket in the station. Two members of the team will enter the confined space, rescue the downed worker, and repair the check valve. The maintenance event is designed to test the skills of a maintenance team in response to issues at a sanitary pumping station. The team must perform electrical services to the station after locking and tagging the pumps out, remove the pump and perform maintenance on the pump, reinstall the pump in the wet well of the pump station and ensure that it is pumping properly again. And finally, the collections event simulates connecting a 4-inch PVC lateral sewer to an 8-inch PVC sewer pipe; replacing a leaking section of existing 8-inch PVC sewer pipe while in service; and the programming of an automatic sampler.
