Minnesota Rural Water Association recently honored East Gull Lake Public Works Director Joel Jasmer with its Achievement Award.
The criteria for the Achievement Award is for a system and/or person who has applied innovative ideas, inventions or procedures that have benefited the operation of a public water/wastewater systems and/or its customers.
“Joel went to college to become a chemical engineer but found his passion in helping small cities,” the association said in a news release. “Joel invented three innovative wastewater inventions that have helped not only his city and his job, but has helped the entire wastewater community.
Jasmer was the first to foam insulate a small clarifier dome cover to keep heat inside the clarifier to promote better treatment for small systems with little flow from freezing in the winter when temperatures reach the negatives. Next, Jasmer invented a hydromatic pump puller. This pump puller can be used at each hydromatic grinder station because of the light weight and strength of the puller.
Jasmer also designed a safety grate — a mixer motor puller over a mixer pit at a wastewater plant that not only keeps people from falling into the mixer pit, but allows the mixer to easily be pulled and cleared without much manual labor.
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Lastly, Jasmer has worked in the resort-driven communities for years between the Nisswa and East Gull Lake areas and has brought his own equivalent residential connection method of billing with him.
“It’s built great relationships between the resorts and the city and has been looked at by many other resorts when trying to figure out a proper and reasonable water/wastewater billing method from the city without using flow meters,” the association said. “Joel has created these inventions without getting a patent and without taking payment for them because he says he’s giving back to the wastewater community.”
