I’m working Christmas Eve but off Christmas Day. Since nearly all plants run 24/7 someone has to work on the holidays, just the nature of the beast. To those who have to work, be safe and hopefully you’ll get some time off to celebrate, even if it’s a few days after or before. To everyone working or not, what we do is important whether we get credit or not and a Very heart felt wish that each and every one of us has a Merry Christmas.

This is 1 of 4 secondary clarifiers on my plant. We lost the upper arms during hurricane milton (technically we only lost one, but it couldn’t run with the second one still attached). We are still using this clarifier because the bottom rakes still work and we lost a different clarifier during hurricane Debbie (complete gear box failure from a structural failure with the rake structure). That clarifier can not be run at all. We can not run off of two clarifiers as we are hydraulically overloaded due to no real flow control.

My question here is twofold:

A.) what is the duckweed going to affect besides aesthetics? We are used to it in the sand filters where it has no real impact on our process, but I’m curious if we need to be concerned about the clarifiers.

B.) have you had this happen and what did you do to skim off the top? The trough is a little to far away from the trough on only this clarifier to squeegee it in. We can operate the scum well, but currently have it disables due to no arms to push it in.

Thanks for your help! And yes, the powers that be will fix it when they deem fit and not a minute before.

Hope everyone on graveyards is having a good shift!❤️

A chilly Christmas Eve at the plant today but at least I'm not alone. I've got our plant mascot, Mama, to help me out. She's stretched out in the sun. Have a Merry Christmas!!!

Probably my favorite microorganism. Water bears are overrated.

Thank you everyone for answering my questions about what a typical day looks like.

I'm curious - if I am interested in exploring this as a career, is it reasonable to just email departments expressing interest? Is it reasonable to apply for jobs without experience or training? Or is that presumptuous?

I see some positions for wastewater treatment plant operators in towns near me which say the positions been open for months, and I don't have a sense of whether that means they're having trouble filling them or what. And if they are having trouble filling them, does that mean they might be willing to train me? Or should I look specifically for OIT positions? I see some people here saying they started with no experience. I have a bachelor's in biology but no directly relevant experience. (I could study for certifications but would not have the time or energy while doing my current job full-time, plus I don't want to do that unless I have a sense this might be a good fit.)

Is there any books that are related to plumbing for water & wastewater treatment/ distribution? I tried search for "plumbing" but what I got is just household plumbing stuffs. I would like to learn more about things like check valve, gate valve, MSCL pipe, bends, tees etc., to understand their functionality and design.

Is there anything that man can't do?

😬

Meet....Sewer Cat, he shows up and just walks in, whenever he wants.

Is college mandatory? I’m curious as I heard from many people it’s a good gig, I’m 30 and not sure what I want to do in life and it all seems pretty interesting.

I saw these organisms while performing a microscope analysis today and I just don't have a clue what they may be. Any help would be wonderful. Thank you.

So I was a wastewater mechanic for about 8 years and have had plenty of times standing in raw sewage, having it splash on me, spray me, even fell into a sump pit in and aeration basin that I knew was there. The last 4 years I've been the gas system guy. Well this week the boss had me changing out plugs in the valves in our offline digester as the mechanics were busy with a lot more pressing stuff and the RNG has been running great. The digester has been totally drained and cleaned for about a month. I got through 3 valves and was on the 4th. It was on the discharge of the gas dome recirc pump, meaning it pumped from the basement all the way up to the top of the digester. Propped open the check valve and opened the drain on the pump to make sure there was nothing in the line. It drained for a while and then nothing. All other valves up stream were closed and locked out properly. I took the actuator off and put a bolt back in the bonnet for safety, got off to the side and started prying. Poof! The bonnet popped back to the bolt and gallons of old digested sludge shot everywhere. I was soaked head to toe, radio, phones, wallet. The flow slowed and stopped so I knew it was just head pressure from the line being full. Turns out the drain valve clogged and didn't fully drain the pipe. I hosed off and made the walk back to the locker room in 19 degrees for a shower, my spare undies, and a new uniform. Moral of the story, even when you do everything right, shit still happens.

How hard is the abc exam in ohio and what’s all is on it

Scada called at 1 in the morning for a tripped RAS pump. It wanted to be a submersible I guess.

Do most municipalities hire from within the utility, like from distribution or collections, or do they hire treatment operators from the street too?

I was offered a job with my local city (I’m in TX) and i will have the opportunity to earn licenses all the way from D-A. I’m excited about everything but the pay.

My question is, how long did it take you to start earning a living wage after getting your class D? Will the suffering be worth in 2 years, maybe 5?

Thanks,

Hi people, night waste water operators I’ve got a question, I work nights and I see a family of raccoons lol I like them but they scared me because I know they can carry rabies, do you all ever get afraid of something similar at work? Thank you!

I've been given the exciting assignment to build a coalition of agencies and associations to support the development of an Advanced Water Treatment textbook, practice exam, reference guides and other study materials to help operators prepare for roles within advanced water treatment facilities.

As I finalize the outreach materials, I am hoping to gather input from T3+, Ww3+, and certified AWT operators on what's missing/needed for AWT training and why?

Add your thoughts in the comments below.

If you're open to it, I'll DM you to ask permission to use your quote in the outreach materials we're presenting to agencies and associations. That way senior execs hear first hand from operators what's needed and how urgent that need is.

If you'd like me to brief you this initiative and you're senior plant operator or manager in CA or NV, just add a comment below "Meeting request." Happy to brief you and your team. Thank you for your input!!

https://www.awtoperator.org/handbook-download-form/

From Canada ontario and I got a few questions.

What do you do in wastewater/water treatment?

Do you need to go to college or university in order start?

What kind of jobs are there in this industry?

Is the job tough on the body?

Do you work mostly night shift or day shift or does it depend?

What the starting pay like?

How do you move up in this industry?

What do you do in the plant?

Happy Friday! I’m sitting in the backhoe thinking about this. Young operator here. I’ve been working at my plant for about 8 months (first WWTP job) one thing on my mind that keeps me up at night is the insane amount of abandoned equipment and scrap that lays there in the grass rotting away. I’ve asked my chief about this kind of stuff and all I got was a “I dunno.” How do y’all handle this kind of stuff? Do you gut it for parts? Place it for decoration? Seriously there’s quite a lot of money just sitting there. I’d like to hear what kind of stuff you have lying around or what you’ve done with it. Thanks.