Like Adam Sandler’s character Bobby Boucher Jr. of the hit comedy “The Waterboy,” Houston Public Works knows what it takes to make “high-quality H2O.”

The HPW team brought home top honors at Texas Water 2022, the largest regional water conference in the U.S. It was the first time the conference, conducted April 4-7 in San Antonio at the Henry B. Gonzales Convention Center, was held in person since the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

Listed below are the awards the department took home in the following categories:

• Water Conservation and Reuse Award (smart utility checkup program)
• Biosolids Management Award (Tika Gautam)
• Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (Aisha Niang)
• Community Outreach and Education Programs (Protect Our Pipes – SSO Prevention) Outreach Program)
• Outstanding Operator of the Year (Victor Riels)

Select Society of Sanitary Sludge Shovelers (you cannot join the society; you must be “selected on the basis of merit.”)

• Jeff Masek
• Phillip Goodwin

Competitions

• Tops Ops (first and third place)
• 69thStreet Poo Mafia (third place for process control, third place for electrical)
• Dedicated volunteer award (Hector Montanez) 
• Best-tasting Water (third place for the East Purification Plant)