nasty01cummims

My names josh, I work for the City Of Monroe in North Carolina. Got my state certification to treat water for drinking purposes when I was 19 (21 now) and I'm still the youngest certified operator in the state. I'm just wonderin if we got any other operators on here

bigfoot

Yes sir, I think there are several of us here.
I’m an “A’ certified operator in Texas.
Started out 27 years ago repairing leaks in the north Dallas area. Now I work for a smaller city in Ellis County Texas and am the manger of the water treatment plant. We are rated at 12 MGD.

nasty01cummims

I'm hoping ill make it to my "A" one day. I've just got my "C" but then again I'm only 21. We run a 3 filter (4.5 mgd each) 3 basin plant. Rated at 12 mgd. We pull out of a 270 surface acre ( 2.7 billion +/- gallon) reservoir. Its a pretty cool job. I'm the youngest at the plant. The next oldest guy is 44. So I take great pride in what I do considering I'm half the age of everybody else. It still amazes me how many people think there drinking water magically appears out of thin air. Ha ha.

bigfoot

The old way of thinking was that when you were to worn out to work on the streets, they (management) would move you to the treatment plant and let you finish your time .But them days are over thank god.
I know what you are talking about on the water magically appearing, I get complaints all the time about water bills being too high and that we are making to much money off of the citizens.
My standard answer is: from now on your water is free the city will come to your home and disconnect the meter and leave you a bucket. You may travel to the lake and get all the water that you want free of charge. I even offer to come to their home and show then how to make the water safe to drink.
After this and I have there attention I explain that its really not the water they are paying for it is the treatment to make it safe and the piping and pumping to get it to their home.
Most of the time it opens their eyes.


Are you on duty today? I ve worked my share of holidays.

Elshadow001

26 years in a water treatment plant

Now retired

rockcrawler304

I drive by a treatment plant every day I have seen how they take the nasty stuff and actually make it drinkable. No small task that's for sure.

Does anybody still add flouride to the water? I remember hearing as a kid that they would do this to help promote beter teeth. Seems like myself and all my friends had great teeth but kids nowadays all have crappy teeth.

PistolWhipt

I have a small treatment plant on my facility but contract out the operation & maintenance.

Bigfoot ... where does a guy start for obtaining their operator permits in Texas ??

Cheers,
PISTOL

Elshadow001

How many kidneys has it gone through before you swallowed it?

nasty01cummims

Yea we still add flouride to our water. Usually between 1.0 and 1.2 ppm (parts per million).I lot of people love the fact that we do and a lot of people hate the fact that we do. But if itd done right it can be very beneficial

nasty01cummims

And yes big foot. I'm workin today. Worked every holiday this year. But with the way the economy is....I'm not complaining.

ktpauley

I have an A, E, 1-14 certification in Pa. Unlimited flow, distribution and every treatment process. I work for the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) regulating the drinking water facilities. I've worked for DEP for over 11 years. In the Southeast portion of PA we have 6 systems that fluoridate. Keith

nasty01cummims

what kind of water qualityu standerds do yall have up there in pa kieth? Im always interested to find out how the other WTP operate.

ktpauley

Turbidity less than 3 unless in the Partnership for Safe Drinking water. Then it is less than 1. Other than that everything is as per EPA.

The certified operators need 30 CEUs every 3 years to keep their certification. that is for systems larger than a C.

My supervisor nagged me till I took the test to become an operator.

Keith

bigfoot

Some do some do not. We do not, a few years ago the dental professionals in the area where trying to get the city to add fluoride. I brought a copy of the MSDS sheet to the meeting and told them that I would buy the chemical and supply all the safety equipment and injection equipment so long as they would fill the day tank, because my personnel were not going to do it. After some of the fine folks read the MSDS they decided maybe I had a point.
Now the ADA has decided that fluoride is not generally needed in drinking water.


Talk to the TCEQ also the Texas Rural water association (TRWA) and Texas engineering extension service (TEEX) and the Texas water utility association (TWUA) they should be able to point you in the right direction. Training classes are not so tough for a small plant you may only need a D certificate this is depending on the flow. Are you talking WA WA or CA CA? If you can give me some particulars I may be able to help with more details.

We are all drinking dinosaur pee. What the world was made with is still here. There has never been another drop made.

It sure beats cooking squirrel under a bridge. As I said I’ve worked my share and I still have my phone on. The guys/ gals know they can call me day or night no questions asked.

Watch out boys he’s from the dark side. Very knowledgeable but still from the dark side.


In Texas max turbidity is 0.3NTU, but if your plant is optimized 95% of the readings must be under 0.1 NTU

ktpauley

Oh come on. I'm not from the darkside. Heck there have been times I corrected the utility's engineer on where a chemical should be injected. I also learn lots from companies that specialize in remediation to help utilities treat contaminants. Keith