October 31, 2016
Hawaii Water Environment Association (HWEA) received the prestigious Public Communication and Outreach Program Award, Member Association category, from the Water Environment Federation (WEF). The award was presented during a ceremony at during the 89th WEFTEC® 2016, the world’s largest annual water quality conference and exhibition on September 24, 2016 in New Orleans, La. The event hosted thousands of global water quality experts and exhibiting companies at New Orleans Morial Convention Center from September 24-28, 2016.
Award Hall 2016
The WEF Public Communication & Outreach Program Award recognizes WEF members for significant accomplishments in promoting awareness and understanding of water environment issues among the general public through the development and implementation of public education programs.
According to the WEF Public Communication & Outreach Program Awards subcommittee, “HWEA has done an impressive job of ramping up its public education programs in the past few years. They are actively promoting and participating in a variety of outreach and educational activities including field trips, school visits, and more. They have made extensive use of social media.”
The 2005-2006 recipient of the Laboratory Analyst Excellence Award goes to Merlita Cabauatan of the City & County of Honolulu. Merlita is currently a Sanitary Chemist I assigned to the Leeward Region, primarily at the Honouliuli Wastewater Treatment Plant. Merlita is essentially in charge of performing all process control analyses required by operations to make process control adjustments. Her pleasing personality and hard working attitude have gained her the respect and full cooperation of the operations and maintenance staff. Merlita also works with City environmental engineers from her division to perform special projects not only for the Honouliuli WWTP, but for the Department as a whole. Because of her willingness to accept jobs, she has become a valuable asset to the organization. She has also served in the facilities safety committee program, and annually serves as one of the instructors in teaching the mandatory Sexual Harassment class.
The 2005-2006 recipient of the Arthur Sidney Bedell award is Edie Eldeen, who is employed with the City & County of Honolulu’s Department Environmental Services, Regulatory Control Branch. Edie has been a member of WEF since 1978 and has served previously as HWEA Membership Chair (1990 to 1996) and as HWEA Conference Co-Chair (2006). Prior to moving to Hawaii, Edie was also very active in the Iowa Water Environment Association.