One of the most common items of discussion among treatment plant superintendents is staffing. Specifically, the need for more trained operators. The conversation always lead to some grousing about the State’s licensing rules, the shortage of training opportunities, and the aging workforce.
The irony is this. Those of us who are already licensed benefit financially from the shortage of licensed operators. It may be hard for us to find qualified licensed personnel to work for us, but the rules of supply and demand kick in and we find ourselves in a seller’s market.
I’m down with the need to license wastewater treatment plant operators. No issue there. We need to ensure some level of professionalism. The ABC classifications make sense to me; more or less. I do take issue with the educational, years of in-plant experience, and limitations on very small treatment plants being applied by some State regulatory authorities. Others have legitimate beefs.
Like me, most everyone in the business has their opinions about the certification rules. But, in all my conversations, I’ve never heard anybody discuss the following.
Why do the wastewater operator licensing requirements apply to people who work at wastewater treatment plants but NOT to people who design them?
Why do the wastewater operator licensing requirements apply to people who work at wastewater treatment plants but NOT to people who regulate them?
My opinion: designers and regulators need to spend time at treatment plants to understand how to design and regulate them. Being crotchety, I find it hard to defer to the thinking of unlicensed regulators when they explain to me why the qualifications that they establish for wastewater treatment plant operators to be licensed are just and fair. My opinion: if you haven’t walked the walk, don’t talk the talk.
As to design engineers. Since beginning this blog, I’ve learned that there are more than a few others who share my belief that it is nigh on impossible for excellent designs to come from engineers with no plant experience. Yet, for some reason, our field uniquely empowers inexperienced personnel to design equipment for us to operate.
It’s as if judges never practiced law. It’s as if naval architects never went to sea. It’s as if automobile executives never drove a car; oops, I understand that to be the case with some of the newly appointed overseers of GM and Chrysler. My bad…
Thanks for reading.
Grant