PROFILES: Operations team's top finish at state competition carries them to nationals this fall

Front: Christen Wood, Doug Dietzel, Dan Valek.
Back: Karl Ellis, Jimmy Spencer, John Corn.

New Orleans, here we come.

In June, the District’s Operations Challenge team competed at the Ohio Water Environment Association (OWEA) competition in Aurora, Ohio, and their top finish guaranteed them a spot at national competition in the Big Easy this fall.

Ops Challenges are held across the nation, and consist of five main events in the areas of Maintenance, Collections, Safety, Laboratory, and Process Control. Accuracy and speed are key to winning.

Our team—Christen Wood, Doug Dietzel, Karl Ellis, Dan Valek, and Jimmy Spencer, led by John Corn—took first place in Division II, first place in the Process Control event, and third place overall. They will represent OWEA in Division II of the national event at the Water Environment Federation Technical Exhibition and Conference (WEFTEC) in New Orleans this September.

“This is the first time in about 20 years that the District has participated in the Ops Challenge,” said Unit Process Manager Christen Wood. “I saw the dedication required and the skills demonstrated and wanted to be a part of it.

“I heard from at least three OWEA reps and a WEF rep how pleased they were that the District is back in the Challenge,” said Operation & Maintenance Deputy Director Frank Foley.

John Corn explained how this type of competition goes hand-in-hand with the District’s training programs. “It creates cohorts who can learn best practices across the industry and incorporate it into work,” he said.

“To win, you can’t be good at just one thing,” explained Wood. “The lab people need to learn Maintenance, for example. Being able to leverage those differences makes the whole team stronger, and you’re learning things you wouldn’t normally come across in your job.”

“Events like this enhance the overall skill level of our staff,” said Corn. “We’re maximizing our capabilities and level of service to our customers.”

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Michael Uva, Senior Communications Specialist

SCIENCE: Bro, do you even science? Meet (or remember) Mr. Wizard, the original Science Guy

Mr. Wizard was Bill Nye before Bill Nye was The Science Guy.

While preparing lab experiments and activities for our September 19 Open House (ahem, register today), a tweet came across our @WallyWaterdrop feed:

Meet the science guy who inspired Bill Nye: Mr. Wizard http://t.co/uF1tJZbwXy pic.twitter.com/oS6B3pvRRi

— At the Smithsonian (@AroundTheMall) September 8, 2015

As author of this blog, I'm a child of the 1980s, back when Mr. Wizard was a staple on Nickelodeon. But even well before that, Don "Mr. Wizard" Herbert was televising science experiments in the 1950s and '60s, showcasing the hands-on homemade wonders he created in his garage.

It turns out that The Science Guy Bill Nye was one of many kids captivated by Herbert's wizardry.

VIDEO: How to make your own lava lamp

Turn a few simple household products into this great kids craft, Sunday afternoon project, or science-class demo.



Leslie tells us how density and reactions help make these ingredients move like the lava lamps of the 1970s.

RELATED STORIES:

• EVENTS: See this experiment and more at our 9/19 Open House

PIC: "Water bear" sounds cuddly, actually is pretty terrifying.

A color-enhanced scanning electron micrograph of a water bear. Image: Eye of Science/Science Source

Billions of nearly indestructible microscopic organisms capable of surviving the extremes of outer space, freezing temperatures, and radiation.

Sleep tight.

Wired recently ran a great story about the water bear, scientifically known as the tardigrade, a creature found all around the world under our feet. Why are these little guys so interesting? A biologist puts it pretty bluntly.

“They are probably the most extreme survivors that we know of among animals,” said biologist Bob Goldstein of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. “People talk about cockroaches surviving anything. I think long after the cockroaches would be killed we’d still have dried water bears that could be rehydrated and be alive.”

Yes, rehydrated. So they're not really dead-brought-back-to-life, but more like living in a state of almost suspended animation called cryptobiosis.

We have a fondness for this little guy ourselves as we find him quite often in our wastewater analysis. Water bears indicate the age of sludge—the solid biological material collected during the wastewater treatment process. He's one of many creepy-crawlies we find that help us know if we are doing our jobs.

WATER: How many tests in one year? Almost 200,000 help protect our lake.

West Virginia's water-contamination saga is shining the spotlight on water quality, regulations, contaminants and public health.

Clean water is at the heart of our work, but our attention is commonly focused on the wastewater side of the water cycle. How do we monitor our treatment processes and the environment to make sure the water we're releasing to Lake Erie is safe?

Tests. Lots and lots of tests. In 2013, our Analytical Services department—our biologists, chemists and laboratory analysts—conducted nearly 200,000 tests, averaging more than 530 separate tests every day. That includes tests conducted on more than 25,000 samples collected from streams, beaches, and our treatment plants.

Here's a closer look at our lab stats from last year:

PIC: You never know what creatures you'll find in the sludge

Image by Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District

O the wonderful world under the microscope.

Our Biologist Carrie Millward sent us this image of a non-biting midge larvae she found in a sample of solid material (sludge) in our treatment process. They look scary, but they're common in wastewater. As they grow up, they become a good indicator of water quality.

We'll need to add this one to our list of scariest-looking microscopic creepy-crawlies for sure. Thanks, Carrie!