St. Johns County students build water towers at UNF engineering challenge

Seventy middle and high school students gathered at the University of North Florida on October 24 to test their engineering skills in a contest that blends creativity with water-infrastructure science. The 2026 Region II Model Water Tower Competition, hosted by the Florida Section of the American Water Works Association, challenged students to design and build functional miniature water towers that balanced structural integrity, hydraulic efficiency, and artistic flair.

St. Johns County Utilities participated as a competition partner, providing judges and hosting an informational table on careers in water management and conservation. Larry Miller, assistant director of St. Johns County Utilities, judged the artistic merit category, evaluating the creativity, colors, and themes students incorporated into their designs.

What's happening

The Florida Section of the American Water Works Association (FSAWWA) Region II held the model water tower competition at UNF on October 24, 2026. Approximately 70 middle school and high school students from the region entered the contest.

Student entries were judged on structural and hydraulic efficiency, materials and cost, and design ingenuity. Designs ranged from colorful characters and fairy-tale towers to themes inspired by popular movies, according to the St. Johns County announcement.

St. Johns County Utilities was one of three utility providers hosting informational tables at the event. Utility staff engaged students and families through educational outreach on engineering and career opportunities in the water industry, essential utility services, and water conservation practices.

Students also participated in an interactive water conservation pledge activity designed to encourage simple daily actions to protect water resources. Miller served as a judge in the artistic merit category.

"The creativity these students brought to their designs was impressive. It was exciting to see their personalities shine through while applying engineering principles to a real-world challenge," Miller said in the county's announcement. "Experiences like this can spark an interest in careers that help serve and strengthen our communities. "

Why workforce development matters for Northeast Florida utilities

The competition is part of a broader push across Florida's water sector to build a pipeline of skilled workers for an industry facing retirements and expanding infrastructure demands. St. Johns County Utilities framed its participation as supporting the county's strategic-plan emphasis on strengthening community partnerships, promoting public engagement, and cultivating a skilled future workforce through educational outreach.

Water and wastewater utilities require a range of technical roles—from treatment-plant operators and engineers to GIS analysts and field technicians—many of which face workforce shortages as experienced professionals retire. Nationally, the water sector has flagged succession planning as a top challenge, particularly in fast-growing regions where new treatment capacity, distribution networks, and stormwater systems must be built and maintained.

St. Johns County is among Florida's fastest-growing counties, adding thousands of residents annually. That growth drives demand for expanded water and sewer infrastructure, making a steady supply of trained engineers, operators, and technicians critical to the utility's long-term capacity to serve new rooftops.

Events like the FSAWWA competition introduce middle and high school students to the field years before college or trade-school decisions, when career interest often crystallizes. By hosting outreach tables and providing judges, local utilities gain visibility with students and families who may not have considered water infrastructure as a career path.

What engineering competitions teach students

Model water tower contests simulate real-world civil engineering constraints. Functional water towers must hold and distribute water under pressure, requiring students to consider load-bearing strength, materials selection, cost efficiency, and hydraulic principles—the same trade-offs professional engineers face when designing actual elevated storage tanks.

Judges evaluate whether towers can support a specified water load without structural failure, how efficiently they distribute water through outlet valves, and whether the design minimizes material waste and cost. The artistic merit category rewards students who integrate visual themes without compromising structural performance.

These exercises introduce students to the engineering design process: defining requirements, prototyping, testing, iterating, and presenting results. For many participants, particularly those in schools without dedicated engineering or robotics programs, the competition may be a first hands-on encounter with applied STEM problem-solving.

The American Water Works Association, a nonprofit professional society with more than 50,000 members, organizes the competition through regional chapters across the country. FSAWWA's Region II encompasses utilities in Northeast Florida, including Duval, St. Johns, Clay, Nassau, and adjacent counties. Regional winners typically advance to statewide and national contests.

The role of St. Johns County Utilities

St. Johns County Utilities operates the county's water distribution, wastewater collection and treatment, and reclaimed-water systems outside the municipalities of St. Augustine and St. Augustine Beach, which run independent utilities. The county system serves unincorporated areas and the towns of Hastings and Marineland.

The utility has invested heavily in capacity expansions over the past decade to keep pace with residential growth in the CR 210 corridor, Nocatee, SilverLeaf, and the SR 16 corridor near World Golf Village. Major projects have included new water-treatment capacity at the North and South plants, force-main and gravity-sewer extensions, and reclaimed-water distribution to reduce potable demand for irrigation.

Engineering and operations staffing needs grow alongside infrastructure. Each new treatment plant, pump station, and miles of distribution main require certified operators, maintenance technicians, and engineers to design, monitor, and repair systems. Recruiting locally—particularly by engaging students before they commit to other career tracks—can reduce reliance on out-of-region hiring and help staff understand the specific infrastructure challenges of a fast-growing coastal county.

Miller's role as a judge and the utility's outreach table are modest investments with a long-term recruitment horizon. Students who attend the competition as eighth- or ninth-graders may remember the interaction years later when choosing a college major or technical certification, and the event reinforces the utility's visibility with guidance counselors, teachers, and parents who influence those decisions.

Water conservation and public engagement

The competition also served as a vehicle for water-conservation messaging. St. Johns County Utilities' interactive pledge activity asked students to commit to everyday conservation practices—shorter showers, fixing leaks, turning off taps—as a complement to the engineering focus.

Water conservation remains a priority for utilities in Northeast Florida, where per-capita demand during summer irrigation season can stress treatment and distribution capacity. Public engagement on conservation, particularly with younger audiences who carry habits into adulthood, is a recurring element of utility outreach.

The county's participation aligns with the strategic plan's community-partnership and public-engagement goals, framing the utility not just as a service provider but as an active participant in education and civic life. These efforts are typical of municipal and county utilities, which unlike investor-owned companies answer directly to elected boards and constituents.

What happens next

The October 24 competition at UNF marked the 2026 regional round. Results and any advancement to statewide FSAWWA competition were not detailed in the county's announcement. FSAWWA typically holds an annual statewide conference in the spring where regional winners compete for top honors.

St. Johns County Utilities thanked FSAWWA Region II and event organizers in its announcement and indicated ongoing interest in supporting future competitions. The county encourages residents to subscribe to its e-newsletters and follow updates on strategic-plan initiatives through the Office of Public Affairs.

The competition is one thread in a broader regional effort to prepare the workforce that will build and operate the water infrastructure Northeast Florida's growth demands. As thousands of homes rise in formerly rural parts of St. Johns, Clay, and Nassau counties, the engineers, operators, and technicians who will keep taps flowing and wastewater treated are still in school—and events like this one aim to be the first spark of interest.