A member of our sub shared this job listing: https://www.thomasville-nc.gov/job_detail_T35_R218.php

Does anybody know good study material to use for this test Ive taken it about 4 times I am struggling a lot on it

Anyone have any good insight on what it is i need to study for the 1C? I have books but i don’t want to lab rat myself with information that’s not going to be beneficial. Anything other than royceceu?

Hello, first off don't wanna sound ungrateful for the opportunity just seeking any reassurance.

I've just got myself into a position as a trainee of WW and W treatment operator and within 3 years I'll be certified and licensed.

The pay is acceptable but could ask for me as anyone else could, but my main struggle has been how boring it has been...been here for a month now and every day 5 days a week 8 hr days have been me coming in at 0700 doing lab work for an hour then standing, quite literally just standing till 1500. I ask for tasks or even try doing anything, to the point of insanity. I've mopped swept and vacuumed 3 times yesterday while it was just me and my trainer, whom leaves to do distribution things and assigns me a full filling job of grabbing a wrench and putting it back in a tote. Granted I've been told no work is a good sign and this has all been drinking water I start my waste water next week but does this stay consistent or will things eventually not be this bad.

I'm usually a really go go go person, I come from infantry in marines, into a prison and left an active feed mill to come here hoping to have my final career.

(I don't mean to belittle or disvalue anyone in this field)

Was studying the official OIT manual enough, or did you use other resources?
Looking back, what would you spend more time studying?
Any tips that helped you pass on your first attempt?

Hello Reddit - I am the solicitor for a small town in eastern Ohio. We are in dire need of finding a replacement for water/sewer operator but we have had 0 luck so far. They have tried advertising on indeed but it costs a chunk of money and hasn’t been fruitful.

Just a brief google search and I found the Ohio WEA and the Operator Training Committee of Ohio. Are there other professional organizations that we could tap into? I’d appreciate any advice. Thank you!

Putting out feelers here. I’ve got a little practice-test project for water/wastewater certs and I’m looking for people who’ve written exam-style questions before or operators who know the material cold and want to help build some out.

Happy to pay for good work. Drop a comment or DM if that’s you.

Any help would be amazing 😂 How should we determine the dosing for 60% Mg(OH)2 in ras to achieve a specific pH around 7? First guess is a lab titration dropping a known quantity of MgOH2 into 100mL of RAS then timing the reaction and measuring pH over time? Would we also want to know alkalinity and/or ammonia for dosing purposes? Alkalinity for buffering purposes/ammonia to see the concentration of what we are precipitating? Just trying to pick the bright minds of ww Reddit today thanks for any help you’ve got :)

Just did my first day which was all computer work but they gave me my foreman name and told me what crew I'm on. Just wondering what type of work the "stoppage crew" does and what to expect when I go into the field. Also I work 2nd shift if that makes a difference

I've been a regulator, IT, and database guy for 20 years with a state regulatory program.

I've had utility folks tell me they wouldn't hire someone with our organization because of their perception of us and our staff. Wondering how universal that attitude is.

Hey guys, I’m currently working in VA plant and am coming up on taking my first certification test and I’m super stressed as idrk what to focus on I’ve just been given a bunch of material and just been told to read without actually knowing what information to retain.. it’s especially hard because my plant was built in 89 and is only built for 750k gallons/day😅so I learned quickly our methods are a bit outdated compared to other plants.. is there any tips you guys could give me as far as what to focus on to prepare for my first certification test? Thanks 🙏🏾

Edit: thank you to those who responded in the comments and messaged me personally all you guys were saying the same stuff so Ik it’s sound advice and I will happily take it lol thanks🫡

Hi folks,

I have an E/one D series (2008 vintage) pump that has been running for 18 years. It had a switch failure one time (on/off failed so it overflowed), but otherwise it has worked fine. The service is residential and it has had light use (2nd home). It also has not have to deal with abrasives or too much debris. In other words, the grinder parts are unlikely to have worn out.

Does it make sense to buy a rebuilt unit as a backup, or just have the parts handy to repair it? I'm a mechanic so working on it myself is not an issue. Or should I just pull it while it still works and replace the worn parts, of course I will not know what ones are worn until tear down. Recommendations for spares are welcome.

What do you folks think? Thanks!

Paul

Hello! I recently graduated from school, and I’ve been working for a water/wastewater engineering firm for the last year. I’ve really enjoy reading the posts on this subreddit, and I wanted to finally make a post of my own! Specifically, I want to pose a question to the community of WWTP operators. What’s one pain point/issue at your plant that you wish was considered during design?

I have been talking with a few small water and irrigation systems about incidents where the equipment appeared to operating normally in SCADA but the actual process was not responding the way operations expected.

The few examples I have gotten were a pump staying on but a tank stopped filling normally, level reading flattened but jumped later, low pressure condition triggered automation that caused problems elsewhere in the system and Operators not getting useful warning until they were already dealing with an overflow or drained reservoir.

Im curious how often this is happening in wastewater and small municipal (or even large) systems..

Have you all seen any sort of cases like this and did your existing alarms catch it or did someone have to go back and dig in historian data and piece meal together what happened.

I am mainly trying to understand whether this is a real recurring problem especially in smaller or older systems,

I am a member of a water company and as part of some requirement I need to get D1 / D2 certified.

I recently purchased "Water distribution system operation and maintenance: a field study training program" book. 5th edition.

Instead of studying the traditional way I used AI and built a tutor for myself.

The website for the tutor is https://water-pathways.vercel.app

Goal: my goal is to study the material one category at a time. The tutor will explain concepts then quiz me so the concept is ingrained in my memory.

Request: Folks who are studying for D1/D2 or those who cleared their exam, can you provide me feedback on is this tutor going in the right direction? Can I use it as a self study resource?

Modifications: Is the coverage good? I have around 600 questions over 6-7 categories in the repository for practice.

Please share your thoughts and help me !

I am not trying to advertise anything. This is an open source project that anyone can contribute to and freely use.

Hey whats up everyone. Im in drinking water, but the question I have is have is how do you avoid burnout? Im a senior operator and I have climbed the ranks in the last 10 years to get here. When I started we had 2 older guys who mentored me and I absorbed everything from them. Well, they have been gone for a couple years now and we have only hired one replacement apprentice..

Ontop of operating various well systems, filter backwashes, we have a small 3mgd membrane filtration plant. And beyond that, we have no maintenance department at all. The last maintenance guy quit right when i started, and they never refilled that position. Maintenance now falls under me to figure out. Whether thats chemical pumps, cla vals, scale weights, compressor issues, vfds, rtu equipment troubleshooting, slc500 troubleshooting, card replacement. The list goes on and on.

Right now I have 2 coworkers. One is out on injury. I dont want to put them down but I am light-years more reliable than them. I put a lot of extra stress on myself to try and pick up the slack. Because of this my education has been on pause for years. I currently only have a T1, which i had gotten in 2018, although im in a t4/w4/n2 facility. I want to continue but I just cant find the time to study. I feel like I should have my 3s by now.

I currently am working 19 straight 8hr days with 2 days off. But alot of those 8s turn into 10s or even some 12s. Its a lot and I fall victim to burnout often. Its not healthy for me, however the money is the motivator. But unfortunately the way this place is structured, they cant afford to pay anyone experienced. What we offer vs private sector is night and day..

Hi everyone, just wondering how your guys are compensated from responding to a callout remotely, meaning from home through scada. For us right now we just get 1 hour for each callout at the appropriate rates. This is good enough most of the time but occasionally a callout requires you to make a change and then sometimes monitor that change for longer periods of time, which then feels like 1 hour is not enough.

Just curious what other policy is common in the industry.

I successfully passed collections 3 in NC I’m now the ORC of my collection system and have been promoted to the supervisor role. I’m looking to test for the number 4 in September and currently being considered for another promotion. Certifications have made a huge difference in my professional career path.

I’m in the middle of a career transition and just passed my California D2. I’m waiting to take my T2. I’ve been in tech sales for 15 years for industrial sensors, and I have an engineering degree (BS engineering management w/minor in industrial engineering). I’m willing to move anywhere in the US to get started as an operator I or operator in training as long as I’m getting hours. Drinking water treatment would be ideal but I understand that’s usually not the entry point.

Does anyone know specific agencies that are eager to hire new operators? Thanks.

Has anybody here (or does anybody here know anybody has) transitioned out of wastewater plant operations into a completely different field? How transferable are these skills to any other type of plant work?

Based in Brisbane…
For those of you working in the water industry, how did you first get your foot in the door?
What qualifications did you have when you started?
Almost every job ad I come across asks for either 1–3 years of experience in the water industry or a Certificate III/IV (or equivalent). But from what I can tell, most training providers only offer on-the-job training through traineeships after you’ve already been hired.
I’m honestly a bit stuck because I can’t figure out how people get that first opportunity.

Hello,

I am new to the water treatment world. I have recently taken the American Water College Grade 1 Treatment course and passed my Alabama Grade 2 exam with a score of 88. I do not currently have a job with a treatment plant.

I am now debating on whether to skip to American Water College Grade 4 Treatment Course and go for Grade 4 Exam. Has anyone had any experience with American Water College's Grade 4 courses?

The math in Grade 1 course was quite extensive and I can imagine that it went over 85% of the math, but I am only speculating. But I do know that the math on the course was much more complicated and extensive than anything on the exam and I feel comfortable with all the math so far.

Anyhow. I appreciate any and all information that can help me prepare and make a sound decision.

Thanks

I've snooped around and discovered the water/wastewater treatment field to be really interesting. I want to start a career in water treatment, but I'd really prefer talking to someone with experience first about how they started out. Are there any of you here that work on the Operator side of water treatment in the region around Sacramento (Folsom specifically)? If so, do you mind reaching out to me and having a conversation about your work?

Hey everybody, the city I work for is in the beginning stages of building a new treatment plant. It’s been narrowed down to a MLE or MBBR. I’d appreciate anyone who works at either style plant to chime in with pros and cons of their plant.

Hi everyone, stupid dumb engineer here. We have a big pump station project at a WWTP where we are installing some high-head pumps, and the Owner has asked us to install cushioned swing check valves instead of normal weighted swing check valves.

Doing some research on them and it looks like the two main types are oil or air cylinders. Do yall have a preference for one or the other? I’m leaning towards air just because there’s nothing to leak, but figured I’d check with the people who have experience w them.