Each year at the NAWT Association Breakfast Meeting during the WWETT Show in Indianapolis, a worthy candidate is presented with the Ralph Macchio Lifetime Achievement Award, considered the major annual award in the liquid waste industry. The award is presented by COLE Publishing founder Bob Kendall.

This year’s recipient was Hank Vanderveen. He is Amthor International’s national vacuum tank product manager. He has been in the industry for more than 45 years and has seen many advancements in the business. When Hank began working in the industry in the 1970s, vacuum truck technology was not dependable. Today, vacuum tanks are lighter, carry bigger payloads and are reliable. Hank has seen vacuum tanks grow from 1,600-gallon capacity to today’s typical 4,000-gallon capacity.

Hank has been with Amthor International since 2007. He says his keys to a successful career include educating the customer, providing the customer with products that fit their business and plans, and building relationships based on trust and confidence.

“Building sound relationships takes time,” Hank said. “But the relationships I have built over the years have lasted a long time and this is an important key to success.” Hank added that the years working for Amthor International have been his best working years. 

2016 NAWT Hapchuck Memorial Scholarship
A number of applications were submitted for the 2016 NAWT Hapchuck Memorial Scholarship, also awarded at the State Association Breakfast at the WWETT Show. The assignment was to either build a short story about a homeowner meeting with a septic professional to discuss why his system is not working properly as indicated by a floating manhole rise. The story needed to explain why the system may have gotten that way and what will need to be done to fix it. The other option was to create a short video or cartoon that could serve as a public service announcement directed at homeowners on how to avoid having this problem.

This year’s scholarship recipient was Jeb Von Crissman. Jeb is an undergraduate currently attending North Carolina State University majoring in business and finance. NAWT was proud to announce Jeb as the winner of the coveted Hapchuck scholarship.

Vacuum Truck Training Course
NAWT also conducted a vacuum truck training course at the 2016 WWETT Show. The goal of this session was for participants to be able to recognize trucks and their associated equipment, understand the equipment’s function, understand the vocabulary of pumping, how to apply safety principals, how to operate the equipment safely, recognize materials they will encounter and some they may have to avoid, recognize how their job is regulated by government, and how to speak to customers with confidence. The course was conducted by Bruce Fox. A remarkable 328 attendees participated in the course.

Education Day Sessions
Along with the vacuum truck training course, NAWT also participated in Education Day at the WWETT Show. The first two sessions were presented by Tom Cianci, of Alderon Industries. His first session was on the basic operation of electrical panels and was attended by 110 individuals. His second presentation was on using the information available from the panels to troubleshoot systems and was attended by 130 people.

The third session was presented by Claude Goguen, of the National Precast Concrete Association, covering what to look for when inspecting concrete tanks. It was attended by 190 people. The fourth session was presented by Bob Wright, of Alles Taylor & Duke, consisting of an exercise on troubleshooting septic systems. This session was attended by 239 people. Another course was presented by Frank Parker, of Parker Wastewater Consulting, covering the basics of inspecting drip systems. It was attended by 151 people. The final session of the day was an “ask the experts’’ panel discussion, which was presented by all of the speakers of the day and was attended by 35 people.

For more information on NAWT visit, www.nawt.org for additional details.