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University OF Hawai’i Program Schools Young Engineers in Stormwater Management

Population density on the Hawaiian Islands is growing rapidly, with figures from the 2020 U.S. Census suggesting more than 100,000 people have immigrated to the state since 2010. At the same time, research from the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa (UH; Honolulu) indicates that the effects of climate change are manifesting as lower overall rainfall volumes, but more frequent intense downpours across the archipelago in recent years. For these reasons, attention to stormwater management is growing among Hawaiian conservationists, municipal governments, utilities, and researchers. The City and County of Honolulu, for example, is in the process of establishing a new stormwater utility that would join more than 2,000 U.S. municipalities in charging user fees based on the impervious space of their property, with proceeds funding new stormwater-management improvements.

Getting Ready for Operations Challenge 2021

WEFTEC 2021 will host the 34th annual Operations Challenge. This five-event competition demonstrates the precision, speed, and safety of the wastewater sector’s most elite specialists. Teams of wastewater collection and treatment operators are sponsored by a WEF Member Association or recognized Operator Association. They will face off in the Laboratory and Process Control events on …

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Jumping into a Wastewater Apprenticeship

Have you read the Wastewater Treatment Fundamentals series published by the Water Environment Federation (WEF; Alexandria, Virginia)? I served as a development editor for the second book in the series. My time researching wastewater operations from a distance eventually compelled me to jump into the trenches. Today, I am an Operator-in-Training (OIT) for Maryland Environmental Services.

North Carolina jobs program fills vacancies, forges careers

Charlotte (N.C.) Water has a fresh approach to finding new utility technicians. That approach is a yearlong apprenticeship program offered by the utility trains recruits in a variety of skills — and even guarantees them a job upon completion.   The program was created to tackle a high turnover and vacancy rate for the city’s utility technician position, which involves water and sewer maintenance. …

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Collections Systems Professionals Invent New Tools for Battle Against Non-Flushables

Flushing woven and nonwoven household products – such as wet wipes for restroom use or cosmetic wipes for removing makeup – is a global issue for the wastewater sector. These products are often mislabeled as “flushable” despite their inability to disperse in conventional collections systems. Flushing them can result in costly and messy septic backups, …

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CDC Webinar on COVID-19 Vaccination for Water Sector – February 10

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is hosting a series of webinars on COVID-19 vaccination for essential workers, including a webinar specifically for the Water Sector on February 10, 2021. The webinar will provide an overview of vaccine distribution and implementation and briefly cover safety and efficacy. Participants are encouraged to submit any questions they have …

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PERL: This gem of an educational partnership is helping build Indiana’s water workforce

While known for top-rated university science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) programs that are educating the next generation of water professionals, the state of Indiana has a problem: convincing graduating students to stay.   Half of the 2014-to-2016 bachelor’s-level STEM graduates of Purdue University (West Lafayette, Ind.), for example, found employment out of state, according to a study by the Indiana Chamber of Commerce.   Such …

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SUNY Ulster’s evening training program designed for new and current water professionals

A hundred miles north of New York City, not far from the origin of the 107-year-old Catskills Aqueduct that supplies 40% of the Big Apple’s water, a new generation of professionals is being trained to protect the region’s coveted water resources.   All are students of SUNY Ulster Community College (Stone Ridge, N.Y.). SUNY Ulster launched its new wastewater operator training program in January 2019 to address a looming worker shortage and prepare new and current operators to manage and maintain water resource recovery facilities, according to professional engineer Henry Jaen, the program’s director.   Designed …

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