This year’s conference took place at the Comfort Suites in sunny Dillon between October 10th and October 13th, 2002.

Comfort Suites--Dillon, CO

Thursday, October 10th, 2002

An all day session was conducted by WQA’s Mark Rowzee, CWA VI. As Director of Education and Certification he taught 23 attendees all about Water Treatment Fundamentals. It helped preparing the members in attendance for the following day’s WQA certification tests.

Friday, October 11th, 2002

A great number of members took advantage of being able to get WQA certified and not having to travel out-of-state. Make plans to take your certification test at our next upcoming conference and register with the WQA early, order the books & available videos and study!

Friday afternoon found a number of our members enjoy one of the nicest golf courses in and around Dillon. Only John Walker missed out on the memorable event.

The social event of the day was a buffet dinner adjacent to the vendor’s table top displays. Everybody had a good

Good food and plenty of it!

time and enjoyed themselves. Friendships were built with new members and old ones re-acquainted themselves with each other.

Vendor Table Displays were represented by Quality Wholesale, Resin Tech, PSI Equipment, Oasis, Purewater, Kinetico, and Pharmaceutical, Inc.

Just one of the many interesting vendor booths!

A stimulating exchange between vendors and members guaranteed success!

Saturday, October 12th,2002

Welcome to our conference. Saturday was a full day of learning and sharing. 59 members took advantage of the conference and went home with multiple ideas on how to improve the bottom line of their business. CWQA’s President, Dean Lewis welcomed the attendees and touched on what the CWQA stands for, our goal and purpose.

Dean Lewis, Welcoming All to the 2002 Conference!

Mark Rowzee, CWA VI, Director of Education and Certification with the WQA shared with us very important and timely updates on the subject of Effects of Softeners on Septic Systems. His information was very well received by all.

Removal of Unconventional Contaminants was the subject of the next speaker, Dick Chmielewski. Dick is a Technical Representative for Resin Tech. The subject matter was received enthusiastically by the attendees.

Dick Chmielewski, Speaking on Removal of Unwanted Contaminants

The morning session ended with a presentation by Larry Northrup, District Manager for Oasis Water Cooler Company. He covered the very important information on Selling Ethically. The session included video clips of various scenarios. The attendees were split into six groups and each group had a team leader. This session was fun and educational and based on the feedback will be presented at an upcoming conference in its entirety.

Larry Northrup, Speaking on Selling Ethically

After a refreshing lunch at the cozy Dillon Dam Brewery, organized perfectly by our very own Leslie Cope, everybody was ready for more information.

WQA’s Mark Rowzee, CWS VI opened the afternoon session with an Update on the WQA. He was able to answer many questions from the attendees. He also informed us of the changes forthcoming with the next WQA convention in Las Vegas in March 2003.

Mark Rowzee, Delivering an Update on the WQA

Dick Chmielewski of Resin Tech came back for an encore performance on the subject of Activated Carbon Applications.

John Peichel, Engineering Manager for Osmonics elaborated on Membrane Applications and his knowledge was appreciated by all.

John Peichel on Membrane Applications

The seminars concluded with an Open Forum Discussion, which gave everybody a chance to ask anything they always wanted to know and were afraid to ask!

A classroom full of captivated students!

Sunday, October 13th, 2002

In the morning the Officers & Board of Directors conducted their annual Business Meeting. This meeting is open to all members of the CWQA and your participation is welcomed. The Board elected Larry Lewis, Toni Girardi and Tom Wolvin as Board Members. Also, based on the election forms handed out the previous day at the seminar, the following members were elected as new Officers: Leslie Cope as new secretary for the 2002 – 2004 period and Larry Northup as Vice President. Outgoing President Dean Lewis and the past active Board members voted on previous secretary Peter Waelti as the new President of the CWQA for the next two years.

Outgoing President Dean Lewis and New President Peter Waelti

Everybody that attended had a good time, learned a lot, made some new friends and committed to attend the next upcoming conference to support our state organization.