From the Field: Coast to Coast With Cary

Safe-T-Cover has been blazing the skyways and highways for the past couple of months, traveling to all corners of the US to spread the good news of above-ground valve installations and ASSE 1060 enclosures. Two big events of the 2023 Fall Season were the WASDA Fall Conference in Charlotte, NC and the Backflow Group Seminar in Lynnwood, WA near Seattle.

The WASDA Fall Conference is one of my favorite events of the year, as I get to see customers from all over the country gathered in one central location. The main purpose of the Fall Conference for me is to schedule 15-minute meetings with key customers, quickly catch up, discuss pressing issues in certain territories, and most importantly, collaborate on opportunities for shared growth. I had 19 meetings over the two-day event, and although I grew sick of my own voice, it was fantastic to share time with colleagues from 25+ years in the water industry.

WASDA, the Water and Sewer Distributors of America, strengthens and promotes the distribution of waterworks products, shares best practices in education and installation and, these days, provides a voice for the industry in regards to legislation and implementation of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act.

Another great event we attended this fall was the “The Group” Cross Connection Control Seminar held in Lynnwood, WA. This seminar specializes in sharing best practices for effective Cross Connection Control programs from municipalities, government agencies and health departments. Their sole purpose is protecting Washington’s water supply using safe, efficient and effective methods.

During the two-day event, we heard presentations from the Washington Department of Health, Washington Certification Services, the Environmental Training Center and multiple municipal cross-onnection control administrators. It was extremely educational and we got to share our sermon about installing backflow preventers, control valves and meters above ground in heated enclosures. Although we have some communication issues – they think my southern drawl is too slow and hard to understand, and I can’t comprehend why they say RPBA when they clearly mean RPZ – we got along swimmingly.

If you are a backflow tester, contractor or municipality administrator in Washington, you should be an active member of “The Group”. Their communication and involvement with all the government agencies and health departments makes it a great organization and they welcome your input and participation.