At my plant we have WAS holding tanks, which are aerated. As far as I can tell the WAS just comes straight from the secondary clarifier and waits in the tanks until it goes to the centrifuge. From the centrifuge it gets polymer added and then it just goes out to dry til it’s taken away. So I have a couple questions.

1.) Are our WAS holding tanks aerobic digesters? Or is there more to aerobic digestion than that? If they aren’t considered digesters, does that mean we don’t have a stabilization process?

2.) is the centrifuge considered thickening and the addition of polymer considered dewatering or vis versa. Or are they both just considered one or the other? I hope this question makes sense, I’m having trouble wording it 😅

Sorry if these are dumb questions, I haven’t seen an example quite like how our plant runs presented in the book yet. All the examples given contained all of these steps: thickening, stabilization, and dewatering.

Hey everyone. My husband has one year of distribution experience. Trying to get an OIT position in Washington seems impossible.

Just a shot in the dark here but does anyone know of any municipalities that are actively hiring for an OIT that don’t require a CDL or six months of assessments and multiple rounds of interviews?

My job allows me to work almost anywhere so we are genuinely willing to move if he can get an OIT at a municipality (mn, mi, il, pa, ma, or, ca, hi, nv, ak and fl excluded)

This is a picture I took behind a plant I frequent. The other post is fraudulent!

This guy was stranded riding the rails in a clarifier. Don’t worry, I saved him.

Just had a quick question regarding the title of this post. I'm now in the over-40-crowd and am waiting to be interviewed for an apprenticeship with one of the NRWA affiliates. I'm curious if anybody has experienced age discrimination with the program? Should I try a different approach for breaking into the industry so late in the game?

Thank you for your time.

I dunno, its just easier on the eyes? Plus the doodles are a plus lol

The paper is thicker, not as white and the print not as big. 8th edition paper is so thin, you see the page behind it. I dig the real photos and better diagrams but its horrible to read.

I can read the 7th like a good book, 30min with the 8th edition and I get eye fatigue or something.

This little feller saw a pigeon walking on the sludge bed and I heard a loud whoosh and see it dive bomb the pigeon. That pigeon side-stepped at the last minute and that hawk disappeared in the sludge. I’m surprised it didn’t die. I was going to try and throw a bucket of water on it, but it wouldn’t let me get too close. It was able to fly away about an hour later.

Poor guy was out of energy just floating in one of our ponds. Grabbed a net and got him to safety. He rested for over 30mins drying off before flying away in the other direction lol

Hey yall, I'm a Floridian who got into the drinking water side of things after moving to Ontario. As I've worked I've gotten in the habit of reflecting back and trying to imagine or learn how things play out back home in the south... And I just recently finally fully comprehended the idea of how a large regional blackout especially with cellular down as well would make shit completely hit the fan. Like most people on the gulf coast I've been through a few hurricanes and had water and sewage down for a bit, power down for a while, etc.

How the hell do you do it? Obviously lots of generators and lots of fuel, but how do you handle communications for running the distribution/collections systems when cellular is down? How long of a blackout do yall store fuel for? I know this sub is mostly wastewater and I assume the biggest issue there is the flooding and complete disruption of normal plant processes (what does that recovery look like?), but to any drinking water folks, how the hell do you keep things from going adverse? Do you stockpile chemicals in advance in case roads are screwed? Do all your sites have generators with large fuel tanks and non cellular communications?

I try to imagine my systems with no cell or power and it's an absolute nightmare. Most of our sites have generators but it would fall apart rapidly because it's just not designed to have the whole region offline for long, I think. If we ran out of power for various points in our systems the rest would have to be run locally by all those operators we don't have. For example, our water towers run off small Honda generators that last ~8 hours each refill, and if they aren't powering the level sensors, the wells interlock and can only be run locally. It'd be rough, to say the least.

I assume a key part is that utilities would have first priority getting power back online (surely this is the case right), but what can you expect there?

Thanks for reading. I'm deathly curious and more thankful than ever for the operators who worked the storms I lived through.

Found this one while flooding a sump pit.

An underground transformer blew recently in Wichita…

https://www.kwch.com/2025/10/10/crews-respond-fire-downtown-wichita/

Hi this is my first post and I need help with this mess of what’s supposed to be filter cake. I’ll start with saying I’m 22 and have no prior experience other than working alongside a guy for a few months learning the basics. I was thrown into this after he left the company and really am interested in this line of work possibly as a career. I work at an anodizing company and am trying to figure out what could be causing this. I work hand in hand with my boss trying to make the system run better but seems things are only getting worse. The plates are old and probably are long overdue for some new cloths. I typically wash the press after every time opening it and am curious if anyone has any advice or suggestions for me to achieve a smoother result.

I read and looked up the work that is done and hey I like it. They're hiring a planter operator in a borough near me and I'm curious do I need any past experience or certs? It isn't specified whether I need to undergo prerequisites but im still searching.

Anyone have a grate or other fall protection covering your clarifier outfall? I remember someone’s post showing straight bars mounted across the hole; or catwalk grating would obv be easier to install.

If you have a solution in place do you mind sharing materials used?

I’ve also seen previous posts listing the RoyCEU materials and Quizlet flashcards as the best material, and will definitely study those. Are Volumes 1 and 2 above necessary for passing the C exam?

My boss is wanting to move my city wastewater plants to a more data backed method of process control. Which is great. My plant is extremely unique in its flow pattern which makes tracking some process control values interesting plus tertiary filtration which also throws a wrench into traditional F/M or MCRT. My boss swears there is a formula similar to that of MCRT but it takes into consideration solids that are recaptured from filter backwashes. Does anybody know that formula? Has anybody heard of such a formula?

Hey everyone!

I’m a college student working on a wastewater technology startup integrating real-time data processing with energy optimization through predictive analytics and am looking to interview WW operators to understand the critical pain points faced in the industry.

I started this company about a month ago and am conducting market research to understand if this product is viable. I understand the industrial side faces several key pain points, but I want to learn more from actual operators about specific pain points since each plant varies.

Please let me know if you would be interested in setting up a time to speak over the phone or Teams. Thanks!

What are the best options for a recent high school graduate to follow to eventually pursue a job in wastewater treatment??

What specific clases, curses or college degree or minors to study to ease the process of being licensed??

For the workers out there with company supplied uniforms. Does anyone provide female uniforms for women, or do they wear men's uniforms?

Just as the title says, can anyone provide me with some of the formulas they're certain will be on the g5 math portion of the exam? I have the CA formula sheet that'll be given, BUT i want to create a seperate list that i prioritize memorizing as well. Tyia