Committees
Committees Advance the Water Environment Profession
Nearly 20 committees plan and carry out the work and goals of FWEA. Volunteering on a FWEA committee is a great opportunity for you to build leadership skills, gain industry recognition and help shape the water quality field.
Each committee focuses on a different aspect of wastewater management. Whether you want to participate in water quality, be involved in policy making, or help with planning seminars and programs, there is a committee for you!
Are you interested in joining one of the committees? You may contact the committee chair below or complete this interest form. FWEA membership is required.
Air Quality Committee
PURPOSE | COMMITTEE CHAIR Robert Jeyaseelan |
Awards Committee
| PURPOSE The Awards Committee coordinates the nomination and selection of award recipients for FWEA and WEF awards. The committee also oversees the awards luncheon at FWRC. They make recommendations to the FWEA Board of Directors regarding the revision or elimination of existing awards and the introduction of any new awards. | COMMITTEE CHAIR Damaris Noriega |
Biosolids Committee
| PURPOSE The Biosolids Committee promotes education, networking and sound public policy in the field of biosolids while advocating proper management of biosolids by utilities, haulers, land appliers and other biosolids end users. The Biosolids Committee develops technical education seminars. In addition, the committee routinely conducts conference calls to keep their membership informed. The committee also coordinates with the WEF Residuals and Biosolids Committee to disseminate national information to local members. | COMMITTEE CHAIR Manuel Moncholi |
Collection Systems Committee
| PURPOSE The Collection Systems Committee (CSC) educates and informs the Wastewater Collection Systems Industry regarding trends in collection system design, management, operation, and maintenance. They do this through the development conference programs, training materials and seminars. In addition, the committee facilitates the advancement of standards and methods used for the design, construction, operations, maintenance and management of wastewater collection systems in Florida. | COMMITTEE CHAIR Keisha McKinnie, P.E. |
Contractors Committee
| PURPOSE The Contractors' Committee serves as a resource for FWEA members on all things related to construction in the water/wastewater industry. This committee seeks an increased level of direct communication between contractors and Owners/engineers to help one another in the advancement of our industry. This includes providing information on the current state of the industry from a contractor's perspective, including key parameters such as labor and equipment resources, cost volatility and subcontractor availability. The Contractors' Committee also engages in discussion regarding the different procurement methods and practices leading to a greater understanding of how this affects the quality, schedule, and cost of the end product that the Owner receives. | COMMITTEE CHAIR Josh Burns |
Manufacturers and Representatives Committee (MARC)
| PURPOSE The MARC is for individuals whose companies either manufacture or are manufacturers' representatives of equipment for the water industry. The MARC promotes the interests of the manufacturers and representatives with the FWEA committees, chapters and the Board. The committee strives to educate FWEA members on technology which is valuable to changing industry demands. | COMMITTEE CHAIR Chris Stewart |
Member Relations Committee
| PURPOSE The Member Relations Committee facilitates information exchanges between FWEA members and the industry. The committee is a resource for FWEA members to advertise their activities; providing support through the use of media including the Florida Water Resources Journal (FWRJ), the FWEA website, and social media. The committee works with chapters and committees to develop programs to promote and enhance FWEA membership and assists the Board in accomplishing the objectives set by the Membership Action Team. | COMMITTEE CHAIR Melody Gonzalez |
Membership Action Team
| PURPOSE The Membership Action Team works to develop and implement programs to increase the value of FWEA membership to all members. | COMMITTEE CHAIR Joseph Paterniti, P.E. |
Operations Challenge Committee
| PURPOSE This committee provides training and education for operators and maintenance personnel through involvement in the Operations Challenge. Operations Challenge is an annual competition between utilities and consists of process control, safety, maintenance, collections and laboratory events. The committee helps to organize and implement the competition at a local level. | COMMITTEE CHAIR Chris Fasnacht |
Public Communications & Outreach Committee (PCOC)
| PURPOSE The Public Communications and Outreach Committee facilitates communications between our members and the public on water environment issues. The committee is a resource for members looking to enhance their public education efforts, providing support through the development and implementation of educational resources. PCOC seeks to educate the public, particularly students in grades K-12, about the clean water profession. This is accomplished through several projects and programs including the high school video contest, Stockholm Junior Water Prize (SJWP), Biosolids Infustion Unit (teacher curriculum) and promoting WEF PCOC initiatives. | COMMITTEE CHAIR Arpita Meher |
Safety & Security Committee
| PURPOSE This committee is responsible for promoting safety in operations. This is accomplished through educational programs, papers and awards. | COMMITTEE CHAIR Steve Johnson |
Seminars Committee
| PURPOSE Professional development is one of the core missions of FWEA. The Seminars Committee assists chapters and committees to deliver quality seminars and conferences at both the state and local level. Our goal is to create opportunities for technical advancement, networking, engagement and knowledge transfer for our membership. These seminars are scheduled throughout the year by the various chapters and the committees and the Seminars Committee assists with the scheduling and delivery of the webinars. The committee also helps to educate the chapters and committees on best practices for seminar development. | COMMITTEE CHAIR Manasi Parekh |
Students and Young Professionals Committee (SYPC)
| PURPOSE The Students and Young Professionals Committee (SYPC) develops and implements programs to increase the activity and membership of students and young professionals within FWEA. Involvement and participation within the committee is vital since this group of individuals is the current and future leaders of our industry. The SYPC Committee carries out this mission by:
| COMMITTEE CHAIR Nicole Cohen, PE, ENV SP |
Training and Continuing Education Committee
| PURPOSE The Training & Continuing Education Committee serves as the sponsor and approver for training and continuing education opportunities for operators and professional engineers. They ensure programs provided by FWEA are of high quality and value to the FWEA membership. | COMMITTEE CHAIR Kenny Blanton, P.E. |
Utility Council
| PURPOSE The mission of the Florida Water Environment Association Utility Council (FWEAUC) is to assist its members in achieving sound public health and environmental goals for the millions of users they serve in an efficient and cost-effective manner. The Council works for the reduction and elimination of water pollution in Florida and supports the adoption and implementation of effective wastewater legislation, regulations, and policy primarily at the state and federal level. In particular, the goals of the Council are to:
| COUNCIL PRESIDENT Jeff Greenwell, P.E. COUNCIL ADMINISTRATOR Shelley Long |
Utility Management Committee
| PURPOSE The Utilities Management Committee, or UMC, works to promote efficiency and excellence in utility management. Committee members include representatives from utilities, manufacturers’ representatives, and consulting. UMC is an active committee, providing educational outreach in the form of workshops, like the FWEA/FBC Benchmarking Workshop, seminars and though numerous vehicles such as sponsoring sessions at the Florida Water Resources Conference. The committee receives applications for the annual FWEA Performance Excellence Award which recognizes utilities that promote continuous improvement programs through strategic planning, six sigma yellow and green belt programs, environmental management systems (ISO 140001-2015), Florida Sterling Council Criteria, benchmarking, and asset management. | COMMITTEE CHAIR Randy Brown |
Wastewater Process Committee
| PURPOSE The FWEA Wastewater Process Committee supports the FWEA mission in the areas of wastewater process design and operations. This includes educating the Florida public on the environmental engineering principles and operating methods employed to achieve a clean water environment; developing wastewater design and operations professionals through technical seminars, workshops; the presentation of technical papers at the FWRC, WEFTEC and other conferences: publication of technical papers in technical journals including the FWRJ; and supporting the FWEA Utility Council in promoting the application of sound scientific principles to environmental regulation. | COMMITTEE CHAIR Bartt Booz, P.E. |
Water Resources, Reuse and Resiliency (WR3)
| PURPOSE The Water Resources, Reuse and Resiliency (WR3) Committee grew out of the One Water concept when the Water Reuse and Integrated Water Resources Committees merged. The mission of the Committee is to provide a platform for innovative discussions in the field of water reuse, integrated water resources, water supply, water conservation and resiliency by providing technical education and professional development programs for Association members through seminars, workshops, and access to technical experts in these fields. The committee meets regularly by teleconference to discuss technical and regulatory issues and events happening in the community, and holds a technical seminar and/or a technical round table yearly. The WR3 committee also publishes a quarterly electronic newsletter - The Droplet. | COMMITTEE CHAIR Ryan Messer |
