Patrick Murphy Elected as FWPCOA President for 2022

Patrick “Murf” Murphy was elected president of FWPCOA for 2022 at the association’s October 2021 board of directors meeting.

Murphy has been an active member of FWPCOA since 1985, serving first in Region X under the mentorship of Katie Kinloch, a past president. She got him involved with the association as a secondary instructor for the C wastewater residence course at Polk Community College for seven years and as a consultant for the pre- and post-exam review committee for the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) for five years. He covered Katie’s longstanding role as secretary-treasurer for Region X during her presidency and state-level involvement.

After becoming employed with Plant City in 2003, his membership was changed to Region XII, and Murphy served as chair in 2013 and 2014, vice chair in 2015, and then chair again in 2016 and 2017, attending numerous state board meetings as Region XII’s director substitute.

He is very proud of his membership in FWPCOA, which has been a key factor in his professional development. The dedication of so many operators within the association’s membership has been an amazing thing for him to witness. Membership provides fantastic networking opportunities and advances the professional status of the water and wastewater industry’s operators and their disciplines. The association is growing with its members in mind!

Murphy was born and raised in Winter Haven (in Polk County), growing up around the Chain of Lakes and doing a lot of fishing. The purpose of FWPCOA to protect the health of the citizens and preserve the natural resources of Florida rings louder than ever with him, having seen the changes in lake quality over the years.

Like most operators who are working in the industry, this was not Murphy’s first choice as a profession. It could have been, as he had the choice of starting as an operator trainee for the City of Winter Haven or working at a chemical plant in Bartow—both positions had a starting pay in 1977 of $4.17 an hour. He chose the chemical plant because he knew a mechanic who worked there. His father had worked in the mines for years and suggested that the pay would increase significantly through promotions (if he didn’t get killed in the process), and his pop was right!

Very quickly, Murphy advanced from a groundsman (prepping rail cars for loading and other manual labor) to rock unloader, bulk loader, acid loader, and payloader/tractmobile operator, then finally to ammonia and sulfur unloader, which was in the top tier in the shipping department, in less than three years. He then moved to the uranium recovery facility onsite for three years, moving up the ranks there also, until the first layoff the company ever had. He was brought back from what turned out to be a short layoff and spent the next two years as a maintenance mechanic and welder, with most of that time in the sulfuric acid department. Then a second layoff occurred, estimated to last nine months, which prompted Murphy to look for a new job. What popped up was an operator trainee position at Winter Haven—eight years later and still paying $4.17 an hour! So, it’s been a long tradition in the industry to have some of the lowest starting pay.

An important issue to Murphy is that utility workers aren’t considered first responders. They act like first responders when an emergency occurs, but don’t get the recognition of essential personnel compared to the other groups that are categorized as such. “The water industry must also get more of its newer members to become involved with FWPCOA, with the same dedication as some of the older members who don’t almost faint at the mention of volunteering for extracurricular activities with the association,” says Murphy. “It would help to get utility managers to see that FWPCOA membership, training, and involvement are beneficial to their employees, their company, and the industry.” Murphy is currently working as chief plant operator for the City of Plant City operating the 10-million-gallon-per-day (mgd) water reclamation facility and four water plants. Prior to Plant City, he was the chief plant operator for the City of Lakeland supervising 10 licensed employees and operating a 13.7-mgd wastewater treatment facility for 14 years, with a total of 16 years at Lakeland. Before that, he worked at the City of Winter Haven for two years at its wastewater plants 2 and 3.

The City of Plant City requires all operators to become dual-certified, so as quickly as the timeline would allow for certification, Murphy worked on getting his water licenses. He now holds an A water license and the wastewater license that he came to Plant City with. He has been with Plant City for 18 years.

Murphy states, “I have nominated more than 100 people for FWPCOA awards over the years. I deeply believe that this is the number one way of shedding light on our work. Sometimes a person doesn’t get selected right away, so don’t stop nominating folks. There are so many people in our industry who deserve the recognition, but we can’t stop there. Get the word out on other venues, take it to your commission meetings and local newspapers, and build up our industry in the eyes of the public. We have good news to tell, so don’t let the negative news overwhelm us. By no means does this mean neglecting FWPCOA’s ‘Florida Water Professionals Month’ proclamation.”

Murphy has high hopes for the association’s growth. There has been so much recent work done by so many of the current members, such as the library of training courses being established, a new promotional video for FWPCOA soon to be released, and some succession planning that seems to be working well.

He notes that local and federal regulations are pouring down, and it’s just going to get tougher to implement them. New skill sets (and old ones that might need dusting off), new technologies, and a new generation of operators (though some of them will never know what it’s like to rake a drying bed or operate a trickling filter plant) will be bringing essential skills and enthusiasm to the table.

Says Murphy, “This is FWPCOA—the members are the doers! There are roughly 15,000 licensed drinking water/wastewater/distribution system operators in Florida, and the FWPCOA membership of around 5,400 surely will increase in the coming years to help advance the excellence of the industry.” S