Wastewater Visibility News
Congratulations to WEFTEC Operations Challenge 2025 Winners; Plus More Honors
October 2, 2025
Wastewater Visibility News
This year’s WEFTEC featured many honors for water and wastewater professionals, including Operations Challenge awards for the Florida WEA teams Bio-Wizards and The Fecal Matter.
This year’s WEFTEC hosted the 38th-annual Operations Challenge. Fifty-seven teams from around the US (and a few from overseas) were broken into three divisions to compete in five events: Process Control, Laboratory, Safety, Collection Systems, and Vaughan Maintenance. Awards were given for each division in each category on Tuesday evening during the Operations Challenge award ceremonies.
Florida’s Operations Challenge Event Winners: The Fecal Matter & Bio-Wizards
Let’s give a big congratulations to two of our Florida teams, the Bio-Wizards and The Fecal Matter, for their victories in the Laboratory and Collections event categories.
The Polk County Bio-Wizards took home second place in Laboratory with an impressive time of 385.38 and a total of 98.09 points in the category. The number one spot went to the regional team, Central States WEA Pumpers. Congratulations to them! The Bio-Wizards also grabbed sixth in Collections, and came in twelfth overall in for Division 2 competitors.
The Fecal Matter, representing JEA, grabbed the number one spot in Collections with a point total of 100 and an impressive time of 89.97! In addition to this, the team placed fourth in Vaugh Maintenance and sixth overall in the competition.
Team jackets for the Bio-Wizards and The Fecal Matter were sponsored by:
Ovivo USA LLC
EES (Environmental Equipment Services)
Woodard Curran
Hydra Service (S) Inc.
FWPCOA (Florida Water & Pollution Control Operators Association)
REXA, LLC
USST
SediVision
Like last year’s Operations Challenge, the full list of honorees will be published in the December issue of Water Environment & Technology magazine, published by the Water Environment Federation. Read the WEFTEC Operations Challenge winners announcement for more information about the challenges and scoring.
WEFTEC Operations Challenge 2025 Overall Competition Winners
In addition to excellence in individual events, scores were calculated across all events to determine overall division champions for the Ops Challenge.
Division I Winners
- First Place: Elevated Ops (Rocky Mountain Water Environment Association)
- Second Place: Sewerside Squad (Rocky Mountain Water Environment Association)
- Third Place: Double Duty (Rocky Mountain Water Environment Association)
Division II Winners
- First Place: Team HRSD (Virginia Water Environment Association)
- Second Place: Rising Sludge (New England Water Environment Association)
- Third Place: Surge (Water Environment Association of South Carolina)
Division III Winners
- First Place: Rowdy Rotifers (Chesapeake Water Environment Association)
- Second Place: TRAilblazers (Water Environment Association of Texas)
- Third Place: River Rangers (Pacific Northwest Clean Water Association)
Special congratulations to Division I team Elevated Ops for placing first in 3 competitions in their Division: Safety, Process, and Collections, plus the second-place honor for Maintenance. Division III champions Chesapeake WEA Rowdy Rotifers also walked away with honors in 4 events: Laboratory (2nd), Safety (3rd), Process (1st), and Collections (2nd).
WEF Board of Trustees Announcement
Back row, left to right: Corey Williams, Vice President; Christine Volkay-Hilditch, Treasurer; Walid Khoury, Trustee; Brian Persing, Trustee
The 2025-2026 Water Environment Federation Board of Trustees was announced during the conference on the 29th. To learn more about the Board for the coming period, read the media release on WEF News.
WEFTEC 2025 Student Design Competition
In this signature program of the Students and Young Professionals Community (SYPC), 29 teams representing 22 WEF Member Associations were asked to bring their most innovative, practical, and timely design proposals to compete in three categories. Read more about the Students and Young Professionals Community.
Congratulations to all winners, and special shout-out to the students of the University of South Florida for your victories in the Circular Water Economy and Water Environment categories.
Winners: Wastewater Category
- North Carolina State University (NC One Water)
- Virginia Tech (Virginia Water Environment Association)
- Washington University in St. Louis (Missouri Water Environment Association – MWEA)
- Manhattan University (New York Water Environment Association)
Winners: Water Environment Category
- The University of British Columbia BC Water & Waste Association (BCWWA)
- Washington University in St. Louis (Missouri Water Environment Association – MWEA)
- University of South Florida (Florida Water Environment Association – FWEA)
- Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico (Puerto Rico Water & Environment Association)
Winners: Circular Water Economy Category
- University of South Florida (Florida Water Environment Association – FWEA)
- University of Waterloo (Water Environment Association of Ontario – WEAO)
- University of California, Riverside (CWEA – California Water Environment Association)
- Purdue University (Indiana Water Environment Association)
Thank you to Partner Sponsors: Black & Veatch, GHD Group, Tetra Tech, and Supporter Sponsors: AECOM, Arcadis, Brown and Caldwell, GFT, Grundfos
More WEFTEC Awards
- The Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) Awards
- Utility Leaders Afternoon & Awards Ceremony
- InFLOW 2025 Scholars Program Completion Ceremony
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