Contributed by Adele Rucker

Adele Rucker is the RMWQAA President and Lab Manager at South Platte Renew. 

WEFTEC

“Solving water challenges takes more than great ideas—it takes connection, collaboration, and action. At WEFTEC 2025, you’ll find all three through cutting-edge solutions, hands-on learning experiences, and a global network of water professionals.” experiences, and a

That is the headline from WEF’s website for WEFTEC, the Water Environment Federation’s Technical Exhibition and Conference, this year. This large annual conference featured presentations about anything and everything water related. I had the privilege of attending again this year. Here are three reasons you should attend next year:

Operations Challenge

Four teams from the Rocky Mountain Water Environment Association (RMWEA) competed in the Ops Challenge at WEFTEC this year. I was able to participate as a judge in the laboratory event again this year. The RMWEA teams swept Division I, winning 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd place, that is a big deal! All the teams worked hard to compete, and we congratulate them all for their hard work and dedication.

Exposition

With over 1,000 exhibitors at the expo this year there is an exciting trend emerging: 3 utilities had booths at the expo this year. Last year only South Platte Renew had a booth and prior to that only vendors had booths at WEFTEC. This is our industry, and we should be represented at a conference that highlights what we do every day.

Technical Sessions

If it is related to water, whether it’s a hot topic like PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances), or a not so hot topic like cooling towers, J, there is a technical session about it at WEFTEC. Along with facility tours, WEFTEC offers education and a variety of solutions to problems faced by the entire industry. Education, idea exchanges, connections, and networking are available for everyone.

Did you know that RMWEA offers a scholarship for members to attend WEFTEC? Many RMWQAA members are RMWEA members as well. This is a potential source of funding if you would like to attend WEFTEC and your employer did not or will not allocate travel in the budget next year.

Here’s my summary, we need more- more ops challenge teams, more utility booths, and more participation from our great region.

Excerpts taken from Water Environment Federation, WEF, www.wef.org and RMWEA, rmwea.org