Charlotte (N.C.) Water has a fresh approach to finding new utility technicians. That approach is a yearlong apprenticeship program offered by the utility trains recruits in a variety of skills — and even guarantees them a job upon completion. The program was created to tackle a high turnover and vacancy rate for the city’s utility […]
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Regulator pens sci-fi murder mystery exploring tensions between engineers and operators
July 24, 2019
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Environmental regulator Bill Patenaude’s commitment to addressing climate change does not stop when he heads home from the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM), where he assesses the effects of climate change on the state’s wastewater infrastructure. Last year, Patenaude published “A Printer’s Choice,” a science fiction novel set in the year 2088, when […]
New Jersey high-schooler Sonja Michaluk wins 2019 U.S. Stockholm Junior Water Prize competition
July 17, 2019
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Sonja Michaluk, a junior at Hopewell Valley Central High School (Pennington, N.J.), already boasts a career in water research that would be impressive for a scientist twice her age. And after the Water Environment Federation (WEF; Alexandria, Va.) announced last month that she will represent the U.S. at the 2019 Stockholm Junior Water Prize (SJWP) […]
As Seen on Television: Part 2
July 10, 2019
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Although water and wastewater treatment is a vital public service, often it is difficult for customers to understand the processes, products, and people that keep our water safe and our environment clean. Luckily, Hollywood has a way of bringing unseen and undiscussed concepts into the public eye through theaters and living rooms. Last November, WEF […]
Phoenix suburb encourages residents to “Be G.R.O.S.S.”
June 28, 2019
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A new public education campaign is relying on social media, community outreach and kid-friendly messaging to motivate residents of a Phoenix suburb to rethink their waste disposal habits. Developed by the Water Resource Management (WRM) department in Surprise, Ariz., the campaign invites residents to “Be G.R.O.S.S” — that is, Guardians Regarding Our Sewer System. It […]
Washington inmates bring drinking water to Ethiopian prisons through one-of-a-kind program
June 17, 2019
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This story begins with a bicycle-powered swimming pool pump in Haiti and ends with 400 inmates in Washington building water filtration systems for Ethiopian prisons. Many dots must be connected to get from one to the other, and they all pass through a California plumbing contractor named Andy Pierce. From aid worker to entrepreneur Pierce’s […]
PERL: This gem of an educational partnership is helping build Indiana’s water workforce
May 21, 2019
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While known for top-rated university science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) programs that are educating the next generation of water professionals, the state of Indiana has a problem: convincing graduating students to stay. Half of the 2014-to-2016 bachelor’s-level STEM graduates of Purdue University (West Lafayette, Ind.), for example, found employment out of state, according to […]
Columbia, S.C.’s atypical apprenticeship program is working, and here’s proof
May 14, 2019
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When it rains, it doesn’t always pour — at least not at the City of Columbia (S.C.) Metropolitan Wastewater Treatment Plant. Even after a historic 1,000-year flood in 2015 and the wettest December on record 3 years later, the 227-ML/d (60-mgd) facility remained well within its regulatory limits every day, according to superintendent David Wiman. […]
July 31, 2019
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