Columbus City Utilities Receives Several Awards

Columbus City Utilities and individual employees received several awards at the 2024 Indiana Wastewater Environment Association’s (IWEA) Annual Conference in Indianapolis in August. Congratulations to our staff for their dedication and diligence throughout the year.

Columbus City Utilities received the following awards:

• Laboratory Excellence Award
  Columbus City Utilities Quality Control Lab was among other municipal facilities to receive the 2024 IWEA Laboratory Excellence Award. Each year, a member of the IWEA Laboratory Committee travels around the state to conduct a lab audit and each lab must have an overall audit score of 90% or higher.to be eligible for the award. The Columbus City Utilities Quality Control Lab scored a 99.8% during the audit conducted earlier in the year. The audit is similar to the audit performed by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM), except IWEA audits are conducted only in labs who voluntarily participate. The audits are an excellent tool for hands-on consulting in the lab.

• Excellence in Safety Award
  Columbus City Utilities Wastewater Plant was among other plants throughout the state to receive the 2024 Excellence in Safety Award. This IWEA award gives recognition to all plants which grade high in merit points to such an extent that a plant sustains a minimum of lost-time accidents. Columbus City Utilities wastewater plant was inspected by an IWEA Safety Committee member who gathered information on accident experience from the plant’s year-end safety report.

• O & M Award of Excellence
  Columbus City Utilities was awarded the 2024 O & M (Operation & Maintenance) Award. The IWEA award recognizes a WRRFs (Water Resource Recovery Facilities) which exhibits excellence in operations and maintenance by incurring zero violations of its NPDES (National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System) permit, reflecting exemplary performance by its operations and maintenance staff during the previous year.

Utility employees received the following individual awards:

• Collection System Professional of the Year
  Brad Norris, Collection System Supervisor, was selected as the recipient of the 2024 Collection System Professional of the Year award. The IWEA award honors individuals who work hard to improve the collection system profession.

• L. Larson Safety Award
  Travis Calhoun, Wastewater Plant Superintendent, was selected as the recipient of 2024 L.L. Larson Safety Award. The IWEA award is presented to the person responsible for bringing about safety improvements in the operation of a waste treatment facility. The improvement could be in the form of a change in design of the plant, a change in plant operation, the formation of safety rules, an educational program or anything that would help reduce the number of accidents at the plant.

• Barbara Smith Award
  Travis Calhoun, Wastewater Plant Superintendent was selected for the recipient of the 2024 Barbara Smith Award. The IWEA award is presented to an individual for his/her exceptional dedication for public outreach, promoting wastewater education, and mentoring in the water and wastewater industry.

Angela Bowling, Quality Control Supervisor and Brad Norris, Collection System Supervisor were recognized for completing the Indiana Water Environment Association’s LDI program. The LDI (Leadership Development Institute) program consists of 10 courses and students meet over a 12-month period to dive deep into topics ranging from communications, human resources, and organizational leadership. Each course is structed to best develop and inspire future water industry leaders.