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Howldraulics Student Team Wins at WEFTEC

November 19, 2025
A group of four young professionals (one man and three women) stand smiling in front of a large, modern glass building, posing next to large, white sculptural letters that spell "WEF" with a stylized blue 'W' and a smaller sign visible behind them that says "WELCOME TO WEFTEC."

Congratulations to the CE 481 (ENE Senior Design) “Howldraulics” team — Makenna Miles, Graham Scherle, and recent graduates Rachel Spaulding and Maisha Chowdhury — on winning first place in the Wastewater Design Competition at WEFTEC 2025. The team was advised by CCEE Distinguished Professor Francis de los Reyes and Dr. Michael Wang, VP of Hazen and Sawyer.

A group of five people, the same people from the previous image, are posing in front of a large projection screen displaying a presentation title slide. The older man in the red polo shirt is on the far left. The four younger adults stand next to him, all professionally dressed.

The Water Environment Federation’s Technical Exhibition and Conference (WEFTEC) is the largest conference of its kind in North America; this year’s event took place in Chicago from September 27 to October 1.

This prestigious competition challenges teams nationwide to tackle real-world issues faced by water resource recovery facilities, such as hydraulic capacity design, treatment system upgrades and biosolids handling.

Four young adults (three women and one man) are posing behind a large, white, 3D sign that spells out "weftec" in a modern font, with a large blue stylized 'W' to the left. They are standing inside a convention center lobby with large windows behind them that show an outdoor view and structural beams of the building. They are all wearing lanyards, suggesting they are attendees or participants at the WEFTEC event.

“WEFTEC was an incredible experience for the whole team, and we truly could not have done this project without the support of Dr. de los Reyes and Dr. Wang,” said Makenna Miles, senior environmental engineering student at NC State.

This year’s project was an initial engineering design for the City of Lexington’s Biosolids Management Upgrade, a real project currently being designed by a professional engineering company.

Before starting the project, the Howldraulics team visited the Lexington Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant (LRWWTP) to see how the plant runs and to talk with the operators. Plant workers relayed to the team that parts of the system are old and often need frequent maintenance.

After the visit, the team looked at how the plant thickens, dries and disposes of its biosolids. They confirmed that the current system won’t be able to handle future wastewater levels. To find a solution, the students created three potential design options using different equipment. 

After comparing cost, maintenance and sustainability, the NC State team created a new biosolids treatment process that ensures long-term reliability and is complete with detailed cost analysis, construction sequencing and site layout.

“This is the second year in a row that an NC State team has won this competition; this win shows that our environmental engineering students are among the best in the nation,” said de los Reyes. “The competition is not just about pure engineering work – it’s also presentation and writing skills, and our students are trained in both areas. I’m so proud of this team!”