JEA’s Women’s, Men’s Teams Win Top Honors at Statewide Water Competition

2022-12-12

Jacksonville, FL - Dec. 12, 2022 – JEA teams, including the utility’s first-ever competitive women’s team, took home first-place awards at the Florida Section of the American Water Works Association’s (AWWA) Competition in Orlando, Nov. 28-30.

In the Hydrant Hysteria competition, two-member teams race to assemble a fire hydrant. Four JEA Water/Wastewater team members competed as The Water Women: Zasha Del Orbe, Laura Bylls, Florence Bent, and Janelle Hatch. The winning team included Del Orbe and Bylls.

The Water Boys, JEA’s men’s Hydrant Hysteria team of Sam Howard and John Alderman, won first-place honors as well.

Tim Maxwell, Caleb Barker, Sam Maxwell and Brandon Barr won first place in the Ductile Iron Tap competition. In this event, teams compete for the fastest time to complete a quality drill and tap of pipe under available pressure. Penalties are assessed in seconds for infractions of rules such as leaking connections and safety violations.

JEA’s Gilberto Garcia won second place in the Meter Challenge, a fast-paced contest in which participants reassemble a water meter from a bucket of parts.

The Water Boys and The Water Women will go on to compete at AWWA’s ACE23 international conference in Toronto in June 2023.

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About JEA
JEA is a not-for-profit, community-owned utility located in Jacksonville, Florida, proudly serving an estimated 505,000 electric, 382,000 water, 302,000 sewer and 22,000 reclaimed water customers. JEA is not owned by investors. It was created by the City of Jacksonville to serve those who live in Jacksonville and in the surrounding communities. The sole purpose of JEA’s business is to ensure the electric, water and sewer demands of its customers are met, both today and for generations to come with the goal to provide reliable services at the best value to our customers while ensuring our precious natural resources are protected.

Category:

• water