City of Raleigh Public Utilities Department hostsNCAWWA-WEA’s Fifth Annual Model Water Tower Competition

Jayne Kirkpatrick, Director, Public Affairs

Prepared by: Carolyn B. Dumas, Public Information Manager, Public Utilities Department, 919-996-3473

For more information: Tim Woody, Public Utilities Department, 919-996-3712

Oct. 4, 2013

City of Raleigh Public Utilities Department hostsNCAWWA-WEA’s Fifth Annual Model Water Tower Competition

This year will mark the fifth annual North Carolina American Water Works Association-Water Environment Association (NCAWWA-WEA, a.k.a. NC Safewater) model water tower competition. Elementary and middle school students are challenged to construct a functioning water tower that will hold at least one gallon of water and stand in a 12-inch square. Students compete individually or in teams of up to four students.  The towers will be judged in five categories:  Hydraulic efficiency, cost efficiency, structural efficiency, design ingenuity, and materials ingenuity. Over the past five years, the contest has grown from five towers in one division to more than 20 in two divisions.

The competition is open to fourth graders, fifth graders, and middle school students in the state. Cash prizes of $300, $200, and $100 are awarded to the first-, second-, and third-place finishers, respectively. Funding for this year’s competition is made possible by donations from Hazen and Sawyer, the City of Raleigh, ClearWater, Inc., the City of Durham, the Crom Corporation, EW2 Environmental, and Combs & Associates.

Last year, 22 teams participated from all over the Triangle, and from as far away as Edenton, Wilmington and Charlotte. Deadline to register is November 1. To receive competition guidelines and registration information, please contact event organizer Maggie Hennessy at 919-833-7152 or email mhennessy@hazenandsawyer.com

This year’s contest will be held from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturday, November 16 at the Neuse River Wastewater Treatment Plant located at 8500 Battle Bridge Road.

The model water tower competition (MWTC) was created in 2004 by Tod Phinney, then with the AWWA Florida Section. Mr. Phinney currently is with WH Pacific in Albuquerque, N.M. It was brought to the NCAWWA-WEA in 2008 by Florida Section-transplant Ash Vakharkar via the association’s Water For People committee; a group dedicated to providing safe drinking water and sanitation services in developing countries.

The NC AWWA-WEA Public Education Committee is excited about this new outreach event which is intended to provide information to youths about water resource engineering, infrastructure, water, and wastewater treatment and water conservation in hopes that some will become water professionals.