BWL water-tapping team wins third straight Michigan title
For the third straight year, a Lansing Board of Water & Light team has won the state championship in water-tapping competition.
The BWL team bested its own 2010 performance by completing the timed event it one minute, 27 seconds. Its 2010 title-winning time was one minute, 41 seconds.
The team now advances to the national finals, held this June in Washington, D.C.
The event, hosted on March 1 at BWL facilities in Lansing, featured a second men’s water-tapping team and a women’s water-tapping team from the BWL.
The women’s team won the women’s state title with a time of 3 minutes, 25 seconds. The BWL women’s team was the only female team to compete.
A second men’s team from the BWL took second place in the men’s team competition with a time of 2 minutes, five seconds.
Other competing teams were from Rochester Hills and Troy.
Using only hand tools and muscle power, water-tapping is meant to simulate real-life situations. It involves tapping into a cement-lined iron pipe that holds pressurized water.
The iron pipe is first opened, and a copper tap is inserted. Once the tap is fully installed, the completed procedure is checked for leaks.
BWL General Manager J. Peter Lark congratulated all of the BWL teams. “Mastering water-tapping skills means having an edge in real-life situations where timely installations are needed. That translates into delivering reliable, high-quality service to our customers.”
The BWL has more than 784 miles of water mains in its service area, supplying clean, safe drinking water to nearly 55,000 customers.
The BWL’s state championship team consists of: Remecho Sanders, Mike Smith, Jake Spedoske and Luis Flores. Leon Flores is the team manager.
Women’s team members are: Anne Peffers, Catharine Coffey, Mindi Estes and Stacie Preuss.
Members of a second men’s team are: Randy Jones, Stewart Olger, Derek Miller and Richard Garza.
###
