Hello! I'm 32 turning 33 soon and looking for a change in careers. I've been in manufacturing for the last five years and am looking to get into wastewater with no experience in this field. Am too old to try to get into it or should I just make the jump and go for it? I am located out in the East valley of Arizona. Where should I look to start this journey?

Just curious. Have a potential job offer (potable side) in a few days and have a 3 year old at home + want more.

Wondering how it affects the family life/having kids.

Thanks for any input.

Tough ride through the municipal sewer and up some archimede screw pumps into a mechanical bar screen.

Settle volume in SBR was slowly declining until one day it reached the lower acceptable limit and turbidity in the Effluent sky rocketed. I performed several reseedings and have been adding clarifying solutions to try to lower turbidity. I suspect pin floc because we process water from a chemical treatment plant with high organic load but the plant was sending very low quantities of aqueous waste for about 4 months. They began giving normal loads in February but SBR was not able to bounce back. What else can I do?

Hello,

I have been invited to do an onsite assessment for a Utility worker position. One of the things listed that I will be asked to do is “run a trash pump”.

Does anyone know what that might entail or what I can prepare for? I have never been onsite at a plant before. But, I have very strong mechanical skills and physical ability, just wondering if there is anything technical I should know going into this? Plant average is around 90mgd.

Thank you.

I’m in the Chicago area looking into this industry and wondering if someone had any links/info on getting into the industry with no experience?

Can someone please list the required correspondence courses from Sacramento and other organizations to complete so that I can take the Class A exam? I cannot find clarification anywhere online.

We have a 2x aeration cell setup to an unfinished plant which was phase 1, completed 4? years ago I think.

The last 1.5 years the mbbr was built various upgrades ect to go from phase one to 2 to commissioning. The whole time the plumbers and welders were told the welds were unacceptable, didnt even pickle. We are about 1 month from filling the mbbr for testing and the engineering company brings in a weld xray company.

Every. Single Weld Failed. Welding company disappears.

It is all being pulled out currently and my lil plant goes to the back burner once again.

It is what it is, was legitimately hyped as fuck for this though.

Just here to share a shitshow that all of you have probably seen in one form or another in your lifetimes.

Take care treaters.

I am having trouble passing my weekly enteroccoci samples, I have failed two weeks in a row. Any ideas to improve my effluent to pass next sample grab?

Greetings, Wastewater community. First, a little background. I am a Grade 3 Operator with going on 4 years of experience and will soon be thrown into Chief Operator and Pretreatment Coordinator position. Needless to say, I'm shitting my pants. Before I got into this line of work, I had never given wastewater the first thought. It was magic. You flush the toilet, and it magically goes away. Boy, I could not have been more wrong.

On my system, I have a surfactant plant as one of my few industrial users. My plant is small( around.500 MGD on average). So the impact they have on my system is significant. This plant wields a great amount of political power in my small town and I find myself regularly with my hands tied on enforcement. I have learned this is very common in our line of work. I have less of a question and more of a desire to open up a discussing in this community about how you all deal with such issues. Do any of you have a surfactant plant of your system? If so, what issues do they cause for you and your facility?

Are there any good design guidelines for determining the airflow needed to keep solids suspended in a reactor? Considering replacing floating aerators with diffused aerators in an existing aerated lagoon, and have been told by a manufacturer that 10 SCFM to 1000 CF is what they used to find our mixing requirement in our application.

Can anyone confirm whether this sounds reasonable or if it might be too low?

2 mg/d plant, usually don’t see more than 1mg/day originally our RAS was .75mg/d it has gradually gone down. Recently we saw a drastic drop. Down to .27 and fluctuating now the clarifier has a high blanket. I am taking the RAS pump apart almost daily just to occasionally bring it up to .50, I swapped it out with a replacement, took the original clarifier offline and swapped to another. Flushing the pickups when they stop working. It’s hard to get into the sludge line but it doesn’t seem to be clogged. Does anyone have any input? I’m running out of ideas.

The aeration tank currently has 1300 mg/L of solids which is reducing as the clarifiers cannot hold with the load feeded to them and all of it is flowing into the Clarifier effluent. The plant is suffering with filamentous microorganisms which is worsening hence less settlement. We are dosing aeration tank with chlorine to get rid of the filamentous microorganisms. Can anyone please suggest how to increase the MLSS of the tank and lose less solids. Cannot use the cow dung method as it’s a waste water plant for a food factory.

For his "Water Treatment Operator Certification" Practice Exams, there's 4 total practice tests. Are all of these exams different variations of the same test? Some of the questions are similar, so I'm asking what is the purpose of the 4 exams. Thanks

So I’ve been doing some reading and I’ve been lead to believe that sulfur compounds (like sulfite) and nitrate/nitrites are included in BOD and COD tests. Is that the case? If so why?

How often do you have to empty the tank? Thanks!

I'm super nervous about this as it'd be a huge life strain/loss of money/juggling of life, being shift work. I also have 0 mechanical ability but am very interested in the science...it's at a 45gpd drinking water plan, no waste.

Any advice for the interview? Or words of wisdom for taking the dive into a career change such as this? I am bringing work boots, jeans, and pole.

Also nervous because this particular city has very bad reviews online for working there.. But they're willing to hire me with no experience or certs for op1 to train so...

Thanks for any help! Would love to talk to someone one on one more in depth if possible.

All the obvious ways don’t work…have the mods blocked them?

I have no experience in the industry but this is something I’m interested in as a career. Do I take the schooling and exams before getting a job in the industry or do I try to find work in the industry first ? Any advice on getting started working and the schooling would be helpful !

1. Another guy and I were cleaning a splitter box leading to the primaries. I was a trainee. We had to take the stainless grate off (2x6) to pull out the grease and crap that accumulated over time. It was a 10ft drop into flowing wastewater. We used a long 15ft net to do this. Not tied off!

Finished the job

We each took a side of the grate and attempted to set it back in place. It didn’t sit correctly and it fell through as we set it and our fingers were through it to hold it. My fingers came out first so my side fell as he’s holding it still and he BARELY got his hand out in time or it wouldn’t taken him down. Scary and I always tie off now.

2. Our crew was cleaning stones in an aeration tank with acid sprayers. We had the tyvak suits and forced air respirators that our team lead had given us. Great!

Only problem was half an hour into the job we realized something smelled sweet and our respirators had particulate filters in them. Derp!!! Lesson learned……….never take someone else’s word for it. Always check before you work on anything.

What u guys got?

We had our own union up until a few years ago and now we’re in local 49. Dues are way less, but your a small fish in a vast ocean! lol

I be taking this exam soon. How much harder is it than OIT exam? Please give me some pointers. I have already searched past topics.

Thanks

Hi! I have just been offered a municipal job that, althought at first glance seemed more a ''general maintenance'' type thing, turns out to be mostly installing and repairing pipes for the city's water, drainage (and I'm guessing wastewater as well).

I have had some experience in maintenance, hauling heavy things around, light carpentry, driving small tractors and general handywork in the pas few years, but I have never EVER installed a pipe, not even small housepipes. I know nothing about plumbing. I mentionned this several times during the interview but they said that anyone who wants to learn can learn this stuff and they just need to find someone willing to work. They made it seem like it would be a pretty easy gig but then I started looking at videos and reading up on it when I got back...

I was happy about until I began to research it more (Like I said, I know NOTHING about this, I've seen people in holes dug in the street but THAT. IS. IT). I don't mind the heavy lifting and getting dirty, but it seems this job is more dangerous that I was given the impression.

Just wondering, how dangerous is this, specifically chemical and electrical hazards? (was completely unaware of those until I read up a little bit) How common are injuries on the job sites? The boss indicated that they were very serious about safety, but I freaked out a little when I read of many incidents involving accidentally hitting electrical wires etc.

They explained at the interview there would always be 4 of us at every job: One operating the machinery, two in the hole, and one giving the tools. I'm supposed to alternate between handing the tools and doing the work in the hole.

Have you seen any succesful females in the fields doing the digging and the installing? I'm fairly strong for a woman, but I am not a man. I was told at the interview there should be no issue, and I'll learn everything on the go but I'd just like some feedback from people who have actually dug holes in the street to install and repair water pipes. Just want to know what to expect, so if anyone could give me a general feel for what this job is like it would be very appreciated :)

I like being outdoors, I like physical work but is it realistic for a woman to do this?

Thanks so much

It's happening now at the Ft Worth convention center. Hope to see you there!

About to take my 1 today, anyone got any tips or questions I might see, I don’t know what to expect, should be basic which I am knowladge able at the basics and more but I doubt it

Hi! (Southern ontario)

Im just looking for some advice. Regarding to job etiquette.

Essentially, i have a conditional offer with a private company upon achieving my OIT (im waiting for results). The position pays 22 an hour and will require a ton of commute time (they do have a vehicle allowance).

But my mother in law is pretty certain she can get me in on an apprenticeship with the municipality, which is essentually where i want to be... (pays 30 an hour plus OHMERs), but im not sure how quick that process will be or when it will be, or if it will even happen, it cant start until i get my OIT results.

I want to accept this conditional offer so i can get started on my hours and get experience right away, but it doesnt sit right with me taking it and leaving in a month or 3.

How often do people in this industry accept jobs while still looking for others? Is that common? Is it a bad idea to accept this offer and then still interview for the city?

I also know people in the private company that have put in a good word for me (i didnt ask them too but they did) so i feel like id be letting them down. I am genuinely interested in the company but if i can get into municipal i need to do that.

Maybe im over thinking it but ive been self employed for the past 10 years and just dont want to be rude or make a bad name for myself right out the gate.

Currently using water champ injection mixers on our 15mgd plant. Three chambers so three mixers. We’re in south Florida and the water temps are usually 90° year round or higher in summer. These water champs have issues with the high heat. We do have the high temp models. The highest they offer. What other options do your plants have? We are not using the water champs as designed with injection because we have dosing pumps. The pump issues are nothing to do with our lack of use on the injection. I am thinking we are going to go with some kind of submersible pump with a manifold to create enough flow or disturbance to mix the chlorine/ammonia.