ROCKVILLE, Md. — The Mechanical Contracting Education & Research Foundation (MCERF) donated $5,000 to sponsor Team USA in the upcoming WorldSkills Foundation Water Innovation Challenge supported by the World Plumbing Council.

William N. Erickson, chairman, C.J. Erickson Plumbing Co., Alsip, Illinois; PCA chairman emeritus, and former member of the Mechanical Contractors Association of America (MCAA) board of directors will lead the team. The competition will be held June 3-5 in Singapore and colocated with Singapore International Water Week.

The WorldSkills Foundation Water Innovation Challenge will bring together a group of international, multi-discipline teams of plumbers and engineers under the age of 26 to participate in a series of hands-on design challenges and practical tasks. During three days of intense competition, the teams will develop a series of real and innovative solutions for emerging water and sanitation problems in Nepal and Bangladesh. Solutions created during the Water Innovation Challenge will go on to be implemented by the winning team in the WorldSkills Foundation’s Nepal or Bangladesh Sanitation Studio program — a partnership between Australian NGO Healthabitat and WorldSkills Foundation.

Design toolkits created by the teams will also be made available for other nongovernmental organizations or international development organizations for further use in their own plumbing and sanitation development works around the world.