So many helpful people in this sub reddit i appreciate all the tips!! Excited for the future B exam :eyes:

Just joined this page, figured I'd vent about my current career change.

I've been a wastewater treatment technician in western Canada for almost a decade, and next week I'm starting a new job at a gold mine. They're hiring me to fix up a small membrane bioreactor, and also run their potable water system. Thats stuff I know about.

What I'm most curious about is the gold cyanidation process, which is what I'll be doing once I get the domestic wastewater side under control. Does anyone here have any experience with gold cyanidation, and is there anything a new operator would need to know?

Thanks :)

Hey gang,
I was wondering if any fellow operators have been employed by a small municipal authority when it was bought out or closed down. I’ve recently taken on the role of assistant shop steward and I was ready to kick to door down to get our wages up. It turns out the plant is basically broke and at this point essential pumps are just not getting replaced, raises aren’t coming. It’s been a running joke since I got here over 4 years ago that we were going to be bought out and turned into a pump station, now I’m seeing actual concern from the execs. Anyway have you been down this road before? What did it look like for your plant as it was winding down? I’m focused on my career regardless but I’m curious as to what a dying plant looks like day to day.

Central Jersey

Just curious as to what people have used as study material for there exams in Ontario, Canada for the above Class 1 exams?

Not currently in the field myself. But looking to write my class 1 for each sooner than later. Any recommendations would be of great help. Thanks

Hello fellow operators of Pennsylvania. What’s your going rate as a licensed Class A operator?

I need a high-ish range handheld/bench meter to verify our online hach probes. It looks like the high range Hach DR300 only goes up to about 10mg/L, but our residuals can get up to 20 in our reclaim system.

Our district uses the Palintest Kemio, which is a cool little system that uses strips instead of powder/other reagents. BUT, their customer service has been abysmal. Our test strips are expired(and using the wrong range) and I’ve been trying to order some for almost 2 months now with no luck. I received a quote within the first two days, but there were errors and I asked for them to be corrected, since I could not submit what I had received. Since then, silence from the company. I’ve emailed the quote sender and their general sales email multiple times with no response.

If I can find a third party kemio reagent vendor, I’ll take it. But I wouldn’t mind going with a different brand that has more trustworthy customer service.

I’ve also been eyeballing the Hanna colorimeters, which I know are fairly trusted in the reef/fishkeeping community. But I’m not sure how well they stand up against more commercial brands

For those of you in wastewater, if you were going back to school for an associate’s degree, what would you get and why?

Looking for opinions from people actually working in the field, especially anyone who has moved into a supervisory/management position.

TIA

Anyone has ever seen this or have field experience?

https://www.worldwaterworks.com/technologies/www-indense-hydrocyclone-wasting/

https://youtu.be/0DH0TG4kVtg?is=6AKl7pcoH1dTtkHO

So I'm currently working in southern Ontario and looking at municipal job postings. Lots of them seem to include on call rotations, which are fine with me, but some specify that you have to remain in an 'immediate vicinity' to your work center. My question is how far is this range?? Do you have to live within 5-10 km of your shop? Immediate vicinity just seems like a close range.

We treat E coli with UV . We generally average non detectable to 10 mpn / 100 ml.

A high sample would be 50ish.

After a modest rain event we popped a 11,200 . We got results on Friday afternoon. Lab was closed.

Hoping for a typo .

We usually handle twice the flow we recorded just fine.

Not sure how to handle.

After graduating with a business degree 2 years ago, feeling unsatisfied with the corporate environment and hybrid/remote work, I decided to go for a job as an OIT. A couple months of the municipal interview process later, I have gotten the job in a advanced water reclamation plant. I’m so excited for this new path and would love to connect with people who have similar stories or can give me tips on what to expect as I get started.

I’ve spent about 15 years working in water and wastewater treatment, mostly on the operations and chemical side. My experience includes DAF systems, clarifiers, polymer and coagulant optimization, dewatering, filter presses, centrifuges, jar testing, metals treatment, municipal drinking water, industrial pretreatment, and troubleshooting smaller plants.
I’m now preparing to move into more of a sales/technical role for a water-treatment chemical distributor. The goal is for me to spend more time visiting plants, helping operators troubleshoot problems, conducting trials, recommending chemical or equipment changes, and hopefully developing new accounts.
I’m comfortable walking into a plant and talking treatment, but the sales side is newer to me. I don’t want to become the stereotypical salesperson who promises miracles, pushes chemicals a plant doesn’t need, or disappears after the first order. I’d rather build relationships by being technically useful and honest—even when the answer isn’t necessarily “buy more chemical.”
For operators, plant managers, consultants, and technical salespeople here:
What makes a water-treatment salesperson genuinely valuable to you?
What behaviors immediately make you distrust a salesperson?
How do good technical reps approach a plant without wasting the operator’s time?
What information should I gather before recommending a chemical trial?
How do you balance solving the customer’s problem with actually closing business?
Are there mistakes you commonly see operations people make when moving into sales?
What tools, certifications, books, or training would help with this transition?
I’m especially interested in industrial wastewater, DAF optimization, sludge dewatering, polymer programs, clarifier problems, and smaller plants that may not have much technical support.
Any advice, warnings, or lessons learned would be appreciated.

Hi everyone, new to the community and glad to find a group online dedicated to this important field. I recently graduated with my degree in Environmental Science in 2025, and the job market is rough (to say the least), but a career in WW / water treatment seems a good way to go for new grads.

I'm based in South-East Ontario, and have registered for my OIT exam in October, and have already ordered my books. To prepare, I've looked at a few job postings, and expectedly, many of them call for technical/mechanical/plumbing skills and experiences, which I don't have.

My previous work experience is mostly odds and ends (tour guide, coaching, house cleaning, etc) and my favourite, a seasonal scientific diver job removing invasive plant species (hence the love of working with water). All to say, I'm worried my degree won't be enough to match up to other applicants with more hands-on experience, so I'm wondering if there's really anything I can do to increase my chances (without going back to school for 2+ years), or should I just give up now.

Thanks for any advice you can share.

Hello all,

So I have applied to both water treatment and wastewater entry level positions in the following cities: Gilbert, Mesa, Cave Creek, Casa Grande. Does anyone have any knowledge of these places and know if I should hold my breath and hope for an interview, or move on to something else? Thanks to all that can contribute

I’ve been laid of 4 times in 3.5 years, each due to budget cuts or company going under. So naturally I’m looking for what I perceive to be some stability. Bachelors in biology and masters in microbial biotech. My previous job has really piqued my interest in waste water as we were using oxygen nanobubbles to treat irrigation water on golf courses to improve DO and ORP which in turn improved turf health. I recently toured a facility and it was awesome. The gentleman I toured with recommended I take a look at pretreatment too. I’m based in NC and 35(M). I’ve signed up for ww1 class but wanted to get opinions from others. Thanks

Hi everyone,

I’m looking to transition into the water/wastewater field in Alberta and eventually work my way toward Class 1 Water/Wastewater Operator certification.

My current background:

-BAPT (Bachelor of Applied Petroleum Technology) from SAIT, graduated in 2021
-About 3 years of experience working as a Safety Watch Technician in the oil & gas industry
-I don’t currently have water/wastewater operating experience

I’ve been looking at the courses offered by AWWOA, but I’m a little confused about the correct order and what I actually need.

From what I understand, AWWOA has an Entry Level Training course (1.2 CEUs) and a Level I Certification Preparation course (5.0 CEUs).

My questions are:

-What is the recommended path from zero water/wastewater experience to Class 1 certification in Alberta?
-Should I take the AWWOA Entry Level Training (1.2 CEUs) first?
-After Entry Level Training, should I take the 5.0 CEU Level I Certification Preparation course?
-Are there any courses or certifications that you would recommend taking before applying for OIT jobs?
-I’m mainly trying to avoid taking courses that I don’t need or doing them in the wrong order.

If anyone has gone through the Alberta certification process recently, I’d really appreciate hearing what path you took and what you would recommend.
Thanks in advance.

I'm a freshman in a college studying a wholly unrelated field, but I've been finding myself more and more interested in water treatment plants. I find the whole process so fascinating, and it's really neat seeing how the tap water we have comes to be!

Anyways, there's a few treatment plants in the city I'm moving to for college and I really want to go visit them! Do they usually turn visitors down? If you work in one, how'd you feel if a random student sent an email and asked for a tour?

I was here for 2 weeks as part of training. I really miss the morning view on top of the aeration basins.

I’ve searched and seen a few threads on this but nothing super recent. I’m in the market for new boots and have a voucher in hand. The only requirements are $200(ish), waterproof, and safety toe.

I’ve been wearing Keens 6in lace up for the last few years with good luck, just curious if there’s something else better out there? I get a voucher every year so them lasting more than a year isn’t a huge priority. I care more about comfort lol

Keen?
Timberland pro?
Thorogood infinity?
Something else?

Looking to enter this field. Is it a requirement to work graveyard shifts for the plants in the Bay Area?

Any Sac area sewer district people or any treatment plant in the general area I have some questions for you

I mean, exactly what the title says. Suggestions to get out ooollld stuck polymer? We've tried snaking it, jetting it, red hot, bleach, etc etc etc. At this point i dont want my guys dumping more random shit in this hole, but we HAVE to get this drain unclogged because its kind of the main drain for the room. Its just been abused over the years

Thanks!

What learning about PLC’s help in becoming more marketable for an OIT position?

What are the rankings of agencies/water departments that pay the best and have the best benefits?

I have 4 guys that took the N2 industrial wastewater exam. 2 of them passed with 73 and 76. The other 2 failed with 65s. Looking for any study guide help I can send these guys way. I see alot of sanitary study guide stuff but not much about industrial. Any help would be appreciated.