C Factor—Kenneth Enlow

C FACTOR Training Programs, State Short School, and Awards: Educating and Recognizing Industry Members

Kenneth Enlow

President, FWPCOA

Greetings everyone. Here we are in October already, the last quarter of 2021. Many of you are working on the progress of your careers in the utility industry. The FWPCOA is your training center to provide the training and certification you need and the association has a comprehensive list of programs that provide training for its members and operators in Florida.

We have also developed training manuals to use for many of these courses and provide a training manual with every registration that’s included in the course cost. Please refer to the FWPCOA website at www.fwpcoa.org for the availability of all the courses, registration, and costs.

FWPCOA Short School Training Programs

One of the ways FWPCOA provides training is through short school programs. State short schools are held twice a year: one

Pete Tyson (left) receives an appreciation award for service as Safety Committee chair from Renee Moticker, chair of the Awards Committee. Isaiah Moss instructs the Water Distribution Level 3 and Reclaimed Water C class at the 2021 Fall State Short School. President Enlow (left), with instructor David Pachuki (seated right), addresses the Wastewater Collection B class at the 2021 Fall State Short School.

in the spring and one in the fall. Also, many of the 13 FWPCOA regions offer regional short schools. These are in-class courses designed to provide the needed requirements for operators to understand the technical aspects of their disciplines and prepare them for their certification exams. I’ve listed a more detailed description of each program. S Water Distribution Level 3, 2, and 1 – Our water distribution residency courses provide the requisite training required by the Florida

Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) for a water distribution system operator to take the Florida operator licensing exam. These courses are also available for water plant and water distribution operator continuing education. S Wastewater Collection C, B, and A – Our voluntary certification program is developed for the wastewater collection system operator.

These courses are also available for wastewater plant operator continuing education. S Stormwater C, B, and A – Our voluntary certification program is developed for the stormwater management operator.

These courses are also available for water and wastewater plant operator continuing education. S Reclaimed Water Distribution C, B, and

A – Our voluntary certification program is developed for the reclaimed water distribution

system operator. These courses are also available for water and wastewater plant operator and water distribution operator continuing education. (Note: Persons who have successfully completed an FWPCOA water distribution course may take an abbreviated version of the reclaimed water course.) S Utility Customer Relations Level III, II, and

I – Our voluntary certification program is developed for utility customer service representatives. These courses are also available for water and wastewater plant operator and water distribution operator continuing education. S Backflow Prevention Assembly Tester – Our certification program is developed for backflow prevention assembly testers. This course is also available for water and wastewater plant operator and water distribution operator continuing education. S Backflow Prevention Assembly Repair – Our certification program is developed for backflow prevention assembly repairers. Applicants must possess an FWPCOA backflow tester certification. This course is also available for water and wastewater plant operator and water distribution operator continuing education. S Backflow Tester Recertification – Our exam is provided to recertify backflow prevention assembly testers.

Continued on page 36

Continued from page 35 S Facility Management Module I – A prerequisite course for the Florida Class A water and wastewater treatment plant operator exam.

This course is also available for water plant operator, wastewater plant operator, and distribution system operator continuing education. S Utilities Maintenance III and II – These courses are designed for utility maintenance personnel, such as plant and pump station mechanics and electricians. The level III course covers pumps, motors, basic electrical, backflow and cross connection control, types of maintenance, valves, and safety. The level II course covers pumping and hydraulics, electrical systems, lubrication, math, crane and hoist safety, and confined space awareness. These courses are also available for water, water distribution, and wastewater plant operator continuing education. S Wastewater Process Control – This is a 30-hour continuing education course focusing on wastewater treatment process control concepts.

The course topics include pretreatment, rules and regulations, disinfection and odor control, wastewater process math, activated sludge process, biological nutrient removal, and biosolids handling. The course is also available for wastewater plant operator continuing education. S Wastewater Troubleshooting – This is a 30-hour continuing education course emphasizing wastewater treatment process troubleshooting.

The course topics include activated sludge troubleshooting, laboratory procedures, optimizing process instrumentation, wastewater process math, disinfection and odor control, plant design, and rules and regulations. The course is also available for wastewater plant operator continuing education. S Basic Electrical and Instrumentation – This is a 30-hour continuing education course designed to teach students the basic concepts of electricity and plant process instrumentation. The course covers theory, instrumentation, programmable logic controller basics, digital multimeter fundamentals, controls troubleshooting, supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA), and radio telemetry fundamentals. It features classroom and handson demonstrations led by an experienced instructor and is also available for water and wastewater continuing education.

President Enlow (right) speaks with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection instructors in the Wastewater Treatment Operators class at the 2021 Fall State Short School.

President Enlow (standing at back) speaks with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection instructors in the Wastewater Treatment Operators class at the 2021 Fall State Short School.

Courses that are offered for short schools will be available if sufficient registrations are submitted. Class sizes can be limited and minimum student registration may apply.

Short School Instructors and Exam Proctors

As an organization, FWPCOA’s primary purpose is to provide quality education and training to Florida utility professionals. It takes a lot of effort to develop short school courses and

President Enlow, with instructor Bob Case (right), addresses the Utilities Maintenance II class.

find qualified instructors to teach these classes. Courses must be updated with advances in technology and as new issues in the industry arise.

That being said, all training programs are developed and taught by volunteers. Many FWPCOA members have dedicated years making sure that quality training is available for association members and the operators of Florida.

The FWPCOA has programs that are recognized by FDEP as approved prerequisites for water, wastewater, and water distribution state exams. Our certified programs are also recognized by utilities throughout the state as prerequisites for many operators to advance in their employment.

To maintain this effort, we must have new volunteers willing to give their time to instruct classes and proctor exams. I have often said it’s no different to instruct a room filled with students than it is to train one employee on the job—it’s only the number of ears listening that changes.

Please volunteer your time and knowledge to give those new operators coming up in their careers the benefit you were given by a volunteer when you were starting out. Feel free to contact the training office at training@fwpcoa.org and make a difference.

So, let’s look at the 2021 summer short school. From August 9 through August 13, FWPCOA held its annual summer short school at the Indian River State Collage in Ft. Pierce. I would like to highlight some of the features of yet another successful FWPCOA short school.

There were 250 students who attended this short school to take certification classes. I have noted, in parentheses, the courses using the newly published FWPCOA manuals. S Backflow Tester (FWPCOA backflow manual) S Facility Management S Reclaimed Water Distribution C, B, and A S SCADA S Stormwater C, B, and A (FWPCOA stormwater manual for C and B level) S Water Distribution 3, 2, and 1 S Utility Maintenance Level 3 and 2 (FWPCOA utility maintenance level 3 manual) S Utility Customer Relation Level 1 (FWPCOA utility customer relations manual) S Wastewater Collection C, B, and A (FWPCOA wastewater collection manual for

C and B) S Wastewater Optimization

Social distancing was considered when determining each training room setup based on the class size, and the wearing of masks was encouraged. First-day check-in and registration were done in each classroom to avoid having a large gathering of students. Final exams were also done in the classroom.

As the president of FWPCOA I visited many of the classrooms to greet the students and thank them for their service and dedication. I also took the opportunity to talk to them about the need for instructors and how they can help the training effort to pass their knowledge and life experiences on to the new operators advancing in their careers.

2021 FWPCOA Awards

The traditional awards banquet that is normally held with the summer short school was cancelled as a result of the Covid-19 variant. I want to recognize the award recipients here and thank them for their dedicated service and excellence of operation. The awards are for 2021 unless otherwise noted.

I want to recognize Tim McVeigh for his Continued on page 38

William Anderson (standing) instructs the Stormwater C class. President Enlow, with instructor Tom King (standing left), addresses the Supervision class. Duke Hawkins (standing at chart) instructs math for the Water Distribution Level 2 and Reclaimed Water B class.

2021 FWPCOA Awards

Dr. A.P. Black Award

Isaiah Moss Tampa Bay Water Water

Clifford “Kip” Dollar Polk County Utilities Reclaim

Victor Kelley Polk County Utilities Wastewater

Raymond Bordner Award

Steve Stanton

U.S. Water Corp.

Water

William Finch Polk County Utilities Wastewater/Water

Tim Vanasdale City of Port St. Lucie Honorable Mention

Walt Smyser Award

City of Port St. Lucie

Robert Heilman Award

Kevin Palmer City of Port St. Lucie

Utilities Maintenance Award

City of Jacksonville Beach Wastewater Treatment Plant Eric McGill Water Conserv II

Joseph V. Towry Award

Stephen Arnold Schwab

Water Conserv II

Emory Dawkins Award

Region 10

Edward Clark

Editor

Region 7 Deborah T. Wallace Editor Honorable Mention

David B. Lee Award

Nathan Silveira Polk County Utilities Northeast/Northwest Regional Wastewater Treatment Facility

Pat Flanagan Award

John Curls Sr.

Barney’s Pump Inc. (2020)

Richard P. Vogh Award

Region 7

Deborah T. Wallace (2020) Continued from page 37 dedicated service as the Online Institute chair. Tim was instrumental in developing the institute and administering the program. Through his effort the institute has become a resounding success. Tim is stepping down and turning his chair duties over to Darin Bishop.

I also want to take time to honor Pete Tyson for his longtime service as the chair of the Safety Awards Committee. He will be stepping down and turning over his duties to Chuck Nichols. Pete also served as a math instructor for many years, demonstrating his dedication and service to FWPCOA training.

Both of these people are an example to all about what dedication and professionalism are and we cannot thank them enough.

FWPCOA Training Update

The training office is in need of proctors for online courses in all regions. If you are available to be a proctor, please contact the training office at 321-383-9690.

In the meantime, and as always, our Online Training Institute is up and running. You can access our online training by going to the FWPCOA website at www.fwpcoa.org and selecting the “Online Institute” button at the upper right-hand area of the home page to open the login page. You then scroll down to the bottom of this screen and click on “View Catalog” to open the catalog of the many training programs offered. Select your preferred training program and register online to take the course.

For more information, contact the Online Institute program manager at onlinetraining@ fwpcoa.org or the FWPCOA training office at: training@fwpcoa.org.

That’s all I have for this C Factor. Everyone take care, and as usual, keep up the good work! S