ABPA NEWS BITES

If you are a water purveyor just beginning a program, check out the PowerPoint Presentation created by the ABPA for your use in delivering the cross-connection message. You can view it here, or alternately, right-click the link and SAVE AS to modify and customize to your water district.

1-14-06 Les sent this in:

We are thrilled to introduce you to our 2005 Director's Award Winner, MARK KROUSE.

Mark has been with Utilities for 20 years and is our Backflow Prevention Coordinator in the Water Treatment Division. The 44-year-old Sumter, SC native was selected as department employee of the year for his dedicated professional service and also for his contributions to the community. Mark is our ninth annual Director's Award winner and the second winner from the WT Division. He will be honored by Utilities Director Doug Bean and our Management Team, the City Manager's Office, his family and past Director's Award winners during a special luncheon on Wednesday.

Everyone who knows Mark can tell you what a dedicated employee and gentleman he is. He started his Utilities career as an Engineering Drafting Tech. In 1991 he accepted the challenge of starting a new program to prevent water contamination through backflow education and prevention. Since then, Mark has spent more than a decade building relationships with customers and developing our backflow program from the ground up. Now, with the help of 10 Backflow employees, Mark coordinates an industry leading program that protects our drinking water system through required installation and regular inspection of backflow prevention assemblies on certain kinds of connections. His team also monitors and works with companies that draw water from public hydrants.Mark shares his knowlege and experience throughout the industry via his active membership in the American Water Works Association and the American Backflow Prevention Association.

Mark is the married father of four boys. He is an active member of Saint John Neumann Catholic Church, has spent many years working in the community as a youth basketball coach and scout volunteer. He will soon join the Knights of Columbus service organization as well.

Please extend your heartiest congratulations to Mark. We are proud to have him as a colleague!

5-30-05  There were quite a few updates to the Events page, head on over to check out upcoming cross-connection related events.

Still in the process of deciding how to post updated information for everyone here, but in the meantime... Lincolnwood IL has put out a bid specification for a person or company to administer their cross connection control program. You may view the bid spec here, great opportunity for someone in that area of the country.

1-22-05  The ABPA 2005 International Conference & Tradeshow page has been updated, good information for those planning to attend! You may also click the image of the Hilton at the Walt Disney World Resort to access the page as well. You can find the 6 page Conference Brochure at the bottom of the page, packed full of information about Orlando and the Conference.

Ken Ashlock has posted a poll in our forums asking about future sites for the ABPA National Conferences. You can find that poll right here. If you wish to vote, please register on the forum, and use your real name for login purposes. There has recently been an unusual amount of registrations that don't meet the the Officers criteria of of first and last name, and are from people that don't really have any interest in the field of backflow prevention, but are using our forum to place indecent web site links in their profile. Accounts such as those will be deleted upon notice by our forum administrators.

The ABPA is asking for submittals of Papers for those that wish to present at the 2005 Annual Conference in Orlando. There is also a link on the right side of this page.

There is another job posting for those looking for a job in the cross-connection industry, posted on the Jobs Page. Due to some issues with our bank, we still have not put the ABPA Merchandise and Certification online via an online store. Completion of that should occur within the next month or so, and it will be posted here once that is done. Thanks to Rich Koenig, Jim Purzycki and Les O'Brien for representing the ABPA at the Colorado Backflow Prevention Annual Conference, which concluded today. All of them delivered excellent presentations to the attendees, and the CBPA extends its appreciation!

Of note from the conference, there was a generic PowerPoint presentation shown by Rich which may be available here on the web site in the near future. Before that can be done though, it must be confirmed so that no copyright issues arise. In addition, an idea was presented to provide a form here to allow water purveyors to submit backflow incidents to the ABPA for tracking purposes. Both the EPA and CDC have requested that information from the ABPA, and we will be working on the details in the near future. Finally, thanks to Gerald Flis for posting information about some video from a Pennsylvania TV station where they aired an investigative report on backflow, check out that thread in the forums here. You can actually view the aired footage, so head on over, and while you are there, but sure and sign up for the ABPA forum. Only through participation will it grow into the great resource it can become as we move into the future.

As you can see, the ABPA web site has a new format, the ABPA extends its appreciation to Les O'Brien for all his hard work and diligence in the creation and maintenance of the original site for its first 10 years of existence. There is a link above to view the original web site as it was designed by Les, so be sure and check out how the ABPA presence on the World Wide Web began and existed for the last 10 years. (No guarantees that every link will work on the old site, but we attempted to preserve it as much as possible)

Along with the change in the look and feel of this site, there will be a host of new features and abilities to provide better service to members, and all others interested in backflow prevention. Services to be added will include a new Discussion Forum and an Online Store for the purchase of services and ABPA logo items.

ABPA Tester & Specialist Certification

ABPA Proctor Information

ABPA Certified Tester Listing

ABPA Contact Information

ABPA 2008 Scholarship Contest!

CCC Brochure, 3 Fold

ABPA 20th Anniversary article

Click the image for more info about Buster Backflow Comics!

Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) is the document format on this web site. Click the logo above to download the Adobe Reader.

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