The Many Meanings of ‘Mentorship’
Ask anybody in the water sector how they first entered the profession, and most answers will have something in common: the influence of a mentor. Read the full article in May 2022 Water Environment & Technology
Author Archives: Jessica Rozek
Words On Water #218: Andy Kricun on Best Practices in Workforce Development
LISTEN to @AndyKricun of @MoonshotWater discuss a compendium of 21 case studies on how water utilities improved workforces through educational programs and internships, recruitment practices, employee optimization, and transfer of institutional knowledge.
WEF’s Compendium of Successful Water Workforce Practices
“Perhaps no aspect of water and wastewater treatment is more important than the workforce that performs the day-to-day work needed to provide safe drinking water and to protect our public waterways.” says Andy Kircun in his WEF Blog about WEF’s Compendium of Successful Water Workforce Practices. Read the full blog. Download the full Compendium on …
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5 Ways to Use Social Media to Promote the Value of Water
Nowadays, it’s rare to find someone without an account on at least one social network, whether that be Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or Snapchat. For water professionals, social media represents one of the simplest ways to convey the value of water — and your organization’s role in ensuring its safety — to customers and community members.
Tapping the Gray Reserve
By: A Newly Minted Retiree Most people reading this are currently working for an employer. Many have worked for several employers over their career. Some are no longer on any employers’ payroll. Most organizations, be they public or private, should outlast individuals’ terms of service with them. This presents the challenge to the organization of …
Operations Challenge 2021 Coverage
Coverage of the 2021 Operations Challenge competition in Water Environment & Technology magazine is now live! Take a look: PART 1 PART 2 This year’s coverage features stories from all three divisions and all five events, with many new and familiar faces making appearances. Congratulations again to this year’s competitors, especially Mount Pleasant Waterworks Controlled …
Green Infrastructure Students Target Tennessee River
Implementing green infrastructure often provides a diverse range of benefits, from keeping stormwater contaminants out of waterways to improving property values. For a group of seven University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture (UTIA; Knoxville) students who designed, constructed, and released floating wetlands in a tributary of the Tennessee River this semester, pursuing green infrastructure came with an additional reward: class credit.
Collections Systems Professionals Invent New Tools for Battle Against Non-Flushables
Written by: Justin Jacques Flushing household products – such as wet wipes for restroom use or cosmetic wipes for removing makeup – is a global issue for the wastewater sector. These products are often mislabeled as “flushable” despite their inability to disperse in conventional collections systems. Flushing them can result in costly and messy septic …
University OF Hawai’i Program Schools Young Engineers in Stormwater Management
Population density on the Hawaiian Islands is growing rapidly, with figures from the 2020 U.S. Census suggesting more than 100,000 people have immigrated to the state since 2010. At the same time, research from the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa (UH; Honolulu) indicates that the effects of climate change are manifesting as lower overall rainfall volumes, but more frequent intense downpours across the archipelago in recent years. For these reasons, attention to stormwater management is growing among Hawaiian conservationists, municipal governments, utilities, and researchers. The City and County of Honolulu, for example, is in the process of establishing a new stormwater utility that would join more than 2,000 U.S. municipalities in charging user fees based on the impervious space of their property, with proceeds funding new stormwater-management improvements.
Getting Ready for Operations Challenge 2021
WEFTEC 2021 will host the 34th annual Operations Challenge. This five-event competition demonstrates the precision, speed, and safety of the wastewater sector’s most elite specialists. Teams of wastewater collection and treatment operators are sponsored by a WEF Member Association or recognized Operator Association. They will face off in the Laboratory and Process Control events on …
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