Studying for my ABC water treatment operator class d.

Hello, 2 and a half yrs of experience & 26 years old with a bachelors in an earth science. I have a biological grade 2, collections grade 2, physical chemical, and surface irrigation certification for the state of North Carolina.

My family frequently travels to south Florida for vacation, ever since I was a kid, and I’ve always loved being there and would like to move there.

Has anyone transferred their certifications from NC to FL?

Can anyone provide any insight on if this process of difficult? Or just provide any useful information. E.i. Are employers reluctant to hire out of state? Unexpected cost in moving? Florida’s wastewater industry caveats? Dealing with my state’s licensing committee. Etc.. just anything you may think of that’s beneficial.

Thank you in advance.

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I’m setting up a system where a compressor (max 36 PSI / 2.5 bar) pushes air into a water tank or filter. The tank pressure varies between 3 PSI / 0.2 bar and 29 PSI / 2 bar, so sometimes it’s higher than the compressor pressure (like when the compressor stops or its pressure drops). I need a way to stop water from flowing back into the compressor in these situations.

The system uses a 10 mm (3/8") pipe, and it handles both air and water. I’m looking for a solution that’s:

Reliable and won’t let water into the compressor.

Doesn’t restrict the airflow too much. Low-maintenance. Works well with both air and water.

Would a spring-loaded check valve do the job? Or maybe a floating ball check valve (though I imagine those are harder to find)?

If anyone has experience with something like this or knows a good product that fits, I’d love to hear your recommendations. Thanks a lot!

Hi, I’m a wastewater operator and I’m in the industry for a few years. I’m close to getting my last level 4 and was thinking of career options for myself. I like operations but i don’t envision myself staying there for long cause I want to learn and do something else. I don’t mind studying more. Initially I was planning to do my masters in engineering but realized I can’t work as a project manager or engineer in Ontario without a bachelor in engineering so that’s not gonna work.

Does anyone have some advice to career options I can transition to in Ontario? Whether is management I’m not sure. I tried asking my manager but he didn’t disclose much.

Hey everyone. I am trying to pass the Level 3 exam in Ontario for wastewater treatment. I have failed it twice already. I have a couple Cal State books and a few other books I purchased from the states. Does anyone who has passed the level 3 have any recommendations on books they used to pass. Its just getting frustrating. I study for months and can't seem to get it. Thanks and I appreciate any help.

I have many reasons to consider a career in municipal water/wastewater (not sure which one or if I will do both yet), but I need to know a couple of things about preparing to do this in the state of Texas. Namely, I'm trying to build a game plan for the education requirements and considerations to make getting a job in this field as easy as possible, as well as to leave options for advancement open if needed, but I have many other questions as well.

Texas follows the ABCD licensing method, and so far I am considering a Class C Surface Water license. Currently, I'm not looking for a job in supervision or other major advancements, but it would definitely be nice for the option to be there for me if I change my mind in the future.

Below are my questions. Sorry that there are a lot of them, I am trying to be as certain as I can about everything I can think of regarding this field to make sure I actually want to go into this career, as it seems like it is for people who are serious and dedicated. You don't have to answer questions that you do not have an answer for/if you don't want to, just answer what you can, please.

It is best for me if these questions are answered by people who are currently working on or have worked in treatment plants in the state of Texas.

^(One thing to note is that I am asking about YOUR experiences in the field and not blanket questions about the field. I am trying to develop as detailed of a view as possible, and will be recording responses [for my own personal use] in my own documents because I'm a nerd and this is how I consider jobs.)

• What are education requirements/considerations for water vs. wastewater?
• What is it like to work in just one field vs. both fields at the same time? Is it easier to work in one or both? Which option is less boring and more mentally stimulating, and how do the hours/pay differ working in one vs both?
• Is an associate's degree in water/wastewater operations required or worth it for any positions? Is it worth considering for the license that I am looking towards?
• Does this degree [always] cover licensing or will I have to take courses for that separately? Does it depend on the school?
• What are the best places to get this degree and/or to take general courses for the license I am considering?
• Is it required to have a license to work at any TP in Texas at all, or is it possible to just 'jump in'?
• What is the difference between a certificate and a license?
• I see on-the-job training mentioned very frequently. What kinds of things may be trained or educated to me on the job with the license that I am currently considering? What is OTJ training like, in your experience?
• What are the differing positions in a Texas TP? And, in your opinion, what are some of the best positions for the license I am currently considering? What are the hours and schedules like [in your experience] for said positions?
• How frequent is license renewal required, and what is that process like? I'm not sure I understand what is said about it on the TCEQ website.
• I'm not sure I understand what the Continuing Education thing is about. When is this required vs. just something to consider? How is this related to license renewal?
• What are common physically demanding aspects of this job?
• What kind of emergencies may frequently arise on the job?
• What are common mistakes made on the job, both by newbies and experienced operators?
• What kind of common injuries or deaths may occur on this job?
• What positions require one to be on-call? What is your experience being on call?
• What are night-shifts like (if applicable), and how may they compare to day shifts?
• I've heard a lot of conflicting things when looking at how frequently you have to work with a team. In your experience, how frequently are you working with a team vs. by yourself? How does this vary from position to position? What jobs are typically done with a team vs. by yourself?
• In your opinion, what are the best and worst parts of the job itself? Specifically, your personal favorite or least favorite jobs, days, routines, activities, etc.
• I am decent at algebra, but I've been so far unable to figure out exactly what kinds of formulas may be used in the day-to-day. What kinds of formulas are used? What do they look like, and what is your experience with these formulas? Do you consider them difficult or no? How are they typically completed (i.e. calculators vs. on paper) in your experience?
• What is or has been your favorite position, regarding a balance of pay, hours, responsibility, stress level, and mental stimulation? What has been your experience with scheduling? Do you frequently work the 5 week days with weekends off, or do you get some other schedule? How does this vary from position to position, and how may it look with the license I am considering, in your experience/expertise?
• What kind of person would you consider to NOT be a good fit for a career in water/waste water operations?
• What has been your experience with vacation days, sick days, benefits, holiday pay or holidays off, raises, etc?
• What is it like to analyze trends and develop new methods for water treatment?
• This seems like a pretty male-dominated career path, so if you are a woman, or know someone who is who can answer this, what is your experience working in this field?

Thank you for your time. I look forward to hearing about your experiences in water/wastewater treatment :)

W

Does anyone have experience with this company?

My colleague found two tardigrades a few days ago on the same slide! This one was courteous enough to get a side profile shot under the microscope. My white whale for 7 years. I feel like Mr. Miyagi trying to catch flies for years with chopsticks and Daniel does it in seconds.

Anyone in missouri know of anyone that would help a very small city get some equipment? Looking for grants or any leads. I did get to order a gas detector but have no harnesses, fans,you know all the things to help keep us safe

Is anyone familiar with this Filamentous bacteria by chance?

Thank you to all the operators out there, keeping the world spinning today and rest of this long holiday weekend.

May the seas of turkey drippings and gravy be kind and not plug up your sewers and/or overwhelm your pump stations.

Hope everyone is enjoying their holidays so far. Quick question, does anyone know the statistics on wastewater the day after thanksgiving? Like with all of the influx of soiled influent water from everyone's oversaturated guts?

Is there any way to effectively remove total nitrogen and total phosphorus while maintaining the cod of liquor wastewater?

Can't submit my California exam application because "signatures must match"- except they literally do match? Anybody run into this or have any advice?

Holiday humor

To all the wastewater experts, I am looking for some feedback to help with a project.

Assuming we are talking about kitchen drains only which contain organic waste, grease and soaps (Fats, oils and Grease)

If I wanted to detect the amount of buildup in a pipe by detecting the gases within the pipe, what gases would I mostly be looking for?

Hello all! I am with a company called LabtronX (you can look us up on google!) from Nashville, TN that does water/waste water calibrations on most of the equipment that you use daily! From Balances, flow meters (mag meters and open channel), samplers, DO, PH, Incubators, Furnaces, and Thermometers of all kinds! We have been in this business for over 40 years and have a large clientele mostly in Tennessee and Kentucky but are looking to expand south and north, east and west! We have a very fair price for our services, and we will give you the best service for your money! We even do repairs on most of the aforementioned items! If you’d like to inquire about our services, it would mean the world to us! Thank you so much!

Hi all. I work at a pre-treatment plant handling dairy waste (milk). Our dairy team has asked us about anaerobic digesters and the production of biogas to offset energy costs. I know extremely little about anaerobic digesters. Can anyone point me to resources where I can learn more? Could you feed an anaerobic digester only WAS? If so, could that generate enough power to operate the digester itself and offset some energy costs?

I am currently pursuing pg - environment engineering from India i needed help regarding training or any guide of this software It would be great help if you could share real experience or how you learned this soft ware

I have yet to find a pair of waterproof insulated gloves that last more than a week or so of daily use around the plant before developing a small tear or hole, making them useless.

Does there exist a pair of gloves that are insulated, waterproof, and durable enough to hold up to wastewater work without completely sacrificing finger dexterity?

I frequent reddit quite a bit, but had no idea a sub was created for wastewater. Nice!

Been operating top to bottom by myself a SBR WWTP for a small Municipality in Ontario for over 2 years now. This is my first big boy job. As a OIT I got the plant within one month as the operator left. I was mostly left to my own devices and had to figure everything out myself. Since then I have taken over the facility. I've implemented every different type of policy I can think of: Environmental Compliance, Facility Operations, Preventative Maintenance, Health and Safety, Asset management and SOPS. All created from scratch while managing the plants budgets and expenses. I am very proud of what I have accomplished but sadly I have hit a snag, we are 5 operators across the Municipality and without having any wastewater operators with lots of experience (5 + Yrs) I have little guidance or mentorship. Essentially just endlessly searching google, ancient textbook scripture and on occasion using ChatGPT for guidance. At this point I have all four Class 1's. I want to go write my Class 2's in wastewater but was wondering if supplementary courses would benefit me. I'm willing to pay out of pocket. The end goal here would be to completely overhaul the wastewater treatment and collection operations plan for our Municipality or eventually take myself elsewhere.

The only course I could find in Ontario was the following part-time online asynchronous course.

Wastewater Collection and Treatment System Operations

Seneca College Certificate

Total Cost = $ 3,500

Has anyone had any experience taking online part time courses at a college while being an operator?

I have two Diploma's as well.

1. Water and Wastewater Technician
2. Environmental Technician

So something like this may not be beneficial, but I have never gotten a pure wastewater course. The Water and Wastewater Technician program I took was during Covid so I did not get the best experience. I dislike tooting my own horn as I usual display intellect with action but my courses were all As with both diplomas. But its been a few years and my mind is no longer in "education" mode.

Another reason why I am pushing for this is to benefit my plant in the long run. So much has been neglected with the facility over the years and its really hard to get the budget for some items because the governments (Federal and Provincial) really seem to not give a dam, so that has created little incentive to develop and upgrade. From what I can tell my facility has not had a ministry inspection since like 2016 or something and it was not very in depth.

Without writing a book about my experience it boils down to me making adjustments to the system without knowing if it actually will work out or not. Adjustments like Alum Dosage and Waste Activated Sludge Extraction are pretty much the only things I can adjust that I know will yield some effect. Yet I have so little actual equipment that I lack a lot of basic tools that I hear about other people using on the internet.

*Do not have list:*

• Jar Tester
• Microscope
• BOD Bottles
• Titration Equipment
• Fancy Analytical Scale
• Spectrophotometer

*Currently Performing List*

• Mixed Liquid Solids Analysis (MLSS, MLVSS, SS (30min), SVI, %Volatiles )
• Food/Microorganism Ratio
• Solids Retention Time (days)
• Removal Efficiency % (Influent Vs Effluent)
• Alkalinity Sufficiency
• Aluminum Ion Residual
• Effluent Analysis (pH, Temp, Total Phosphorus, Total Ammonia-Nitrogen, TSS, Turbidity)

This is my first internet post about my career ever so please be kind. I really love wastewater in general and want to pursue more every day. If anyone has any advice or experience they would like to share with me I would really appreciate. Thank you. :)

Just passed my CO water distribution and wastewater collections class 1 exams today. Did them back to back. Adding them to my wastewater treatment operator certification. Thanks to all the operators in this group who continue to share info, links, and study materials. You guys rock. Soon to schedule my water treatment operator exam.

I need to go back to class soon and my company is gonna pay for it. I already have my Class D waste/water operator, class c waste operator, class c labs, and CSU Sacramento vol.1 course A. I'm wondering if it would be more beneficial to go for my B waste operator, or C water operator? What's ya'll opinion on the matter?