REMINDER - Walter A. Weers Outstanding Achievement Award

In the past, the Water and Wastewater Facility Operators Certification Board (board) annually issued the Walter A. Weers Outstanding Achievement Award to honor individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the Colorado Water and Wastewater Facility Operators Certification Program (program) and to the water professionals operating facilities under the program.     

The award is named after Walter A. Weers, who devoted a half-century of outstanding volunteer service to the advancement of the certification of professionals in the Colorado water and wastewater industry. The award is intended to honor truly exceptional contributions and may not be presented each year or may be awarded to more than one recipient per year (at the discretion of the board). The award was last presented in 2019, and the program would like to raise awareness of this award in hopes of honoring an individual in 2026. 

This outstanding achievement award recognizes those individuals who:

• Have given their time unselfishly to educate operators,
• Have provided their expertise to the examination of operators, or
• Have used their creativity and tenacity to build Colorado’s certification program into one of the premier programs in the country. 

Anyone who has had a direct impact on the program and the water professionals operating Colorado facilities under this program can be nominated for this award. Nominations must be submitted before October 15th of each year to be considered and acted on by the board at its November meeting. If the board decides to honor an individual, the award will be presented in conjunction with the Colorado Rural Water Association (CRWA) annual conference in March of the following year. 

Consider taking a few minutes of your time to submit an award nomination that can inspire others to continue providing outstanding service to the program and to highlight the importance of the profession and its impact on Colorado communities. Anyone can submit a nomination form, and nominations can be as short as one to two paragraphs. You never know what great acts of service and kindness you may inspire!   

You can find more information about this award on the board’s website, as well as a link to the nomination form, submission instructions, and previous recipients. 

If you have any questions about this award or the nomination process, feel free to contact Jessica Morgan cdphe.facilityoperator@state.co.us.

➽Jessica Morgan, Liaison to the Water & Wastewater Facility Operators Certification Board

WQCD wants your input! - What does Excellence mean to the water sector?

Click here to take the survey!

Providing safe drinking water to the public has never been a simple task. While there are thousands of water systems, and operators that are working to install backflow devices to prevent contamination, maintaining and adjusting chlorine levels, sampling and managing all the documents to prove that the work is being done and safe water is being provided, seldom is there recognition for the work.

Continually improving a water system has never been so hard. As our scientific knowledge and discoveries of contaminants expand, so do the regulations and standards operators need to uphold. This increases the work and the amount of pressure that comes with operating an entire community drinking water system. While we are not physically present on a daily basis to observe and acknowledge the effort it takes to maintain such standards, we do appreciate and rely on the knowledge and passion it takes to maintain a culture of health - that is we look at our daily routines and emergencies through a lens of protecting people’s health. One way of showing our appreciation is through the Excellence Program Awards formerly known as the Pursuing Excellence Program. We intend on continuing and revitalizing the tradition of recognizing the wonderful public water systems that have been supplying safe and clean water by showing our gratitude and how much we value the work being done.

The Excellence Awards Program will distribute two recognition awards, the Outstanding Compliance Award and the Commitment Award. The Commitment Award will focus on recognizing entities that have been proactive in enhancing their water system by submitting a project they have done that embraces a continuous improvement approach. 

We understand that "excellence" is subjective and what is considered excellent in one system's circumstances may not be the same for another system in different circumstances.  Our aim is to understand what “excellence” means to you and ensure it reflects the achievements of water professionals who are delivering exceptional performance in our water systems. One entity might be putting in maximum effort in educational outreach for exposure of the industry to recruit new operators, while a different entity might find it more rewarding to assist smaller systems in bettering their water supply and process. 

We notice and value all the different ways operators are advancing the industry and want to make sure this Commitment Award is tailored to include the opinions of water systems. In order to take into account opinions of those working first-hand in the field, we have created a two-question excellence survey that includes different ways we believe a system can achieve excellence in the industry. There are various aspects of maintaining a water system included in this survey and we want to know which ones are valued the most within this community.

To customize this Commitment Award and reward projects that resonate with the survey results, we ask that you please take a couple seconds of your day to complete the survey. The link for the survey will be below. We appreciate every response and will make sure to take them into account when discussing what projects to award.

➽ Priscila Lopez, Drinking water coach- Excellence Program Manager 

Nominate Someone for the Walter A. Weers Award!

In the past, the Water and Wastewater Facility Operators Certification Board (board) annually issued the Walter A. Weers Outstanding Achievement Award to honor individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the Colorado Water and Wastewater Facility Operators Certification Program (program) and to the water professionals operating facilities under the program.     

You can find more information about this award on the board’s website, as well as a link to the nomination form, submission instructions, and previous recipients. 

The award is named after Walter A. Weers, who devoted a half-century of outstanding volunteer service to the advancement of the certification of professionals in the Colorado water and wastewater industry. The award is intended to honor truly exceptional contributions and may not be presented each year or may be awarded to more than one recipient per year (at the discretion of the board). The award was last presented in 2019, and the program would like to raise awareness of this award in hopes of honoring an individual in 2026. 

This outstanding achievement award recognizes those individuals who:

• Have given their time unselfishly to educate operators,
• Have provided their expertise to the examination of operators, or
• Have used their creativity and tenacity to build Colorado’s certification program into one of the premier programs in the country. 

Anyone who has had a direct impact on the program and the water professionals operating Colorado facilities under this program can be nominated for this award. Nominations must be submitted before October 15th of each year to be considered and acted on by the board at its November meeting. If the board decides to honor an individual, the award will be presented in conjunction with the Colorado Rural Water Association (CRWA) annual conference in March of the following year. 

Consider taking a few minutes of your time to submit an award nomination that can inspire others to continue providing outstanding service to the program and to highlight the importance of the profession and its impact on Colorado communities. Anyone can submit a nomination form, and nominations can be as short as one to two paragraphs. You never know what great acts of service and kindness you may inspire!   

If you have any questions about this award or the nomination process, feel free to contact Jessica Morgan - cdphe.facilityoperator@state.co.us. 

➽ Jessica Morgan, Liaison to the Water & Wastewater Facility Operators Certification Board