Gunnedah Shire Council’s Water Quality Officer, Brock Stone, received two prestigious awards at the 11th Annual NSW Water Industry Operations Conference and Exhibition held by the Water Industry Operators Association’s (WIOA) held in Canberra last week.

The Water Industry Operators Association of Australia (WIOA) is a national Association with a primary role of facilitating the collection, development and exchange of quality information between people undertaking operational roles in the water industry.

Over 700 individuals attended the event, where more than thirty presentations were delivered over two days by engineers, water and wastewater treatment plant operators, scientists and industry representatives.

Attendees discussed a wide range of issues to benefit personnel involved in the operation and maintenance of urban, rural and industrial water related infrastructure. Mr Stone presented his paper entitled ‘Curlewis Pump Station Upgrade.’

His paper was extremely well received and went on to win two awards - ‘Best Paper by an Operator’ and ‘Best Paper Overall’. Best Paper by an Operator is an award offered as an incentive to encourage “grass roots” operational staff to share their knowledge and experience and ‘ Best Paper overall’ is an Open category award with all Platform paper presenters eligible to win, so it is extremely impressive for Mr Stone to win both awards.

“I’d really like to congratulate Brock on his achievements. It’s a significant accomplishment and further displays Brock’s dedication, firstly in completing the pump station upgrade in a professional manner, and then followed by the initiative to prepare a paper and present it to his peers within the industry. The awards were thoroughly deserved and the paper was very well done,” Council’s Manager of Water Services, Kevin Sheridan said.

ENDS

Media Contact: Eliza Gallen 6740 2100.