New Mexico Water and Wastewater Association

 

 

NMWWA Presidents Memo - May 2023

 

To All New Mexico Water & Wastewater Association Members:

 

First, I would like to thank everyone for the opportunity to serve as President of the NMWWA for a second time. It is an honor to continue to work with the NMWWA Executive Board in continuing to provide important training and continuing education for both water and wastewater operators.  There is no profession in the world today that is more important in protecting the environment and ensuring that the public is provided with clean, safe, and potable drinking water supply than water and wastewater operators. YOU HAVE THE MOST IMPORTANT JOB IN THE WORLD!!! It takes a lot of time away from our families to maintain the operations of this very critical and sometimes very fragile infrastructure. I would like to thank all operators for all of your hard work and dedication!!!

 

I would also like to encourage everyone to nominate your Water and Wastewater facilities for Good Housekeeping Awards and to nominate your fellow operators for Operator of the Year Awards. The categories for Good Housekeeping are:

Activated Sludge W/W Treatment (20 years & older)

Activated Sludge W/W Treatment (20 years & under)

Wastewater Treatment - Mechanical (20 years & older)

Wastewater Treatment - Mechanical (20 years & under)

Wastewater Treatment - Lagoons

Water System - Ground

Water System - Surface (20 yrs. & under)

Water System - Surface (20 yrs. & older)

The Committee will be looking at the facilities for:

​Compliance with EPA/NMED regulations

Operation, maintenance of wastewater facilities

Operator staffing, operator training, and professionalism

Monitoring activities, records keeping, and reporting

Safety & Housekeeping

 

The Max Summerlot Award will go to a Wastewater Treatment facility this year. The Facilities will be evaluated in the following areas:

​Compliance with EPA and/or NMED regulations and operator certification regulations.

Facility Operations and Maintenance.

Monitoring, Record Keeping and Reporting.

Operator’s Credentials and Professionalism.

Safety. & General Appearance of Facility and Housekeeping.

Nominations are due by September 30, 2023. So please take the time and submit a form to nominate your facility.

 

It is also the time for you to be nominating your fellow co-workers for Operator of the Year and Lab Techs of the Year Awards. Those are due in November, however, do not wait, submit now. The awards are presented at the Annual Awards Banquet held in January in Las Cruces at the Hotel Encanto, and is a great opportunity to acknowledge operators for the hard work that they do.

 

Thanks again for your dedication in maintaining compliance with both federal and state permits and requirements. It takes everyone from upper administration to the boots on the ground to keeping our community’s safe!  It truly takes a team to make this happen!

 

Sincerely,

 

Lorenzo Sanchez

President, NMWWA