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Environmental Stewardship: It’s What We Do! Patrick “Murf ” Murphy President, FWPCOA
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ne of the topics for this month’s Journal is environmental stewardship. A quick web search for that definition brings very similar results, but let’s look at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office of Policy definition: “Environmental stewardship is the responsibility for environmental quality shared by all whose actions affect the environment.” It really is what we do! All of our disciplines have a role in this goal. Every single day, when we go into work and do the best we can do at our jobs, we are being environmental stewards. It’s not just the operators; it’s the engineers in our industry who are doing the same thing, working alongside the operators to give them the best designs and guidance for operating compliantly. It’s also the vendors who give us proven technologies and equipment that are reliable and effective. And it’s the
20 March 2022 • Florida Water Resources Journal
regulators who give us guidance in operating our systems and keep us on the straight and narrow. What is environmental stewardship? It’s everything to do with “Earth Day.” It’s public outreach, drawing in people to the concept of environmental stewardship, having everyone involved in making informed choices that are good for the environment and sustain our quality of life, and increasing their awareness about how to adopt stewardship practices. It’s about having a cleaner and safer future!
Operators and Environmental Stewardship As operators, how can we increase our level of environmental stewardship? By studying harder for our state certification exams. The drinking water (DW), wastewater (WW), and distribution system (DS) operator passing rates (A level license for DW and WW and Level I for DS) have run for years between 28 to 63 percent (since 2017). The B licenses and Level II kind of hang around 41 to 75 percent, with the WW B usually having the lower number. The C licenses for DW and WW range between 47 and 63 percent, with the DS Level III ranging between 73 and 80 percent. There’s a whole lot of finger-pointing going on here: the tests are too hard, there were trick questions, the instructors didn’t cover what was on the tests, etc. I don’t think I can put a number on how many years I’ve heard from the instructors at our short schools that the students show up without a book; some show up and don’t even know what class their boss signed them up for. At the voluntary certification exam courses, they don’t spend any time in their rooms during the weeklong course to crack the book that is provided because the pool table at Charlie’s II was calling their name! There cannot be enough emphasis put on studying to comprehend, instead of memorizing questions and answers just long enough to pass a test. If you study, and study correctly, you will pass! This is your profession, drive it like you own it; invest in yourself and don’t stop advancing! That’s just scratching the surface when you only study to pass an exam. Besides studying continually for the knowledge and betterment of your job skills, are you reading your operating permit? Can you place your hand on the emergency response plan (ERP) and spill response
