New water treatment training course offered
A collaboration between Confederation College and the Walkerton Clean Water Centre has resulted in the development of a new course about conventional water treatment processes. The course aims to provide water treatment training for the next generation of workers to ensure the sustainability and safety of the region's water resources. Sandra Stiles, the environmental technician program co-ordinator, said the course was developed by the Walkerton Clean Water Centre to provide hands-on training in some of the tests and operational processes in a conventional pilot water treatment plant. It uses a scaled-down version of a real water treatment plant for training purposes. "This is the first time that Walkerton Clean Water Centre has come to the college to provide the training for this year's environmental technician diploma graduates," Stiles said. "We are planning for this to be a yearly training opportunity for prospective graduates of the environmental technician diploma program. Stiles explained that the environmental technician students write their entry level course for drinking water test as part of their curriculum and students who obtained at least 70 per cent on this test will receive this provincial certificate upon their graduation in June. "Each year, graduating students have the opportunity to write their operator-in-training certificate test for water and wastewater operations, at the college as well," she said, adding all of this year's graduates who chose to write the operator-in-training licence tests passed. Stiles pointed out that students who pass their provincial tests and choose to work in water and wastewater can expect jobs in municipal and community water and wastewater treatment operations, water and wastewater operations on mine sites, and in environmental co-ordinating, among other areas. Environmental technician program graduates can work as surface water technicians, environmental regulatory compliance officers and water survey technicians, and perform sampling and testing in analytical laboratories. The course is open to any drinking water operator, post-secondary students, and other professionals in the water treatment industry who want to improve their practical skills.
Sandi Krasowski, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Chronicle-Journal
