Intermediate and Advanced School



Rocky Mountain Water and Wastewater Intermediate and Advanced School

April 11 - 15, 2022

Registration for Intermediate/Advanced Course


 The Intermediate and Advanced School offers courses that are designed to furnish established operators with information needed to better understand treatment processes and to perform their duties in an ever-changing environment. The courses offered at this school include:


These courses provide opportunities to prepare for the certification exams. However, the courses should not be used as the only study guide for the exams. The conference is NOT affiliated with the Colorado Operator Certification Program Office.  The school registration does not include the exam.
The Rocky Mountain Water and Wastewater Plant Operators School also offers fundamentals courses that are geared towards the basics of water and wastewater treatment for operators new to the field. The Fundamentals School is held annually.

Industrial Wastewater
This course is designed to train operators in the safe and effective operation of industrial wastewater treatment plants, with emphasis on physical-chemical processes. Special emphasis is given to facilities that neutralize acidic and basic water and that remove metals from wastewaters.

The following topics are covered:

 Neutralization/Metals Precipitation

 Air Stripping

Chemistry

 Carbon Adsorption/Ion Exchange

 Clarification Sludge Processes

UV Oxidation

 Math for the Process Operator

 Wastewater Microbiology

Trickling Filters

 Activated Sludge Processes

 Industrial Pretreatment Program

Advanced Nitrification/De-Nitrification

 Stream Standards

 Filtration

Pumps

 EPA Enforcement

 System Safety

Sampling/Preservation

Intermediate/Advanced Wastewater
This basic course is geared toward the operation and maintenance of wastewater treatment plants. It includes practical approaches to problem solving, as well as awareness of moral, legal, and ethical responsibilities of an operator. The following topics are covered during this week-long course:

 Activated Sludge Processes – SBRs/MBRs/MBBRs    

 Aerobic/Anaerobic Sludge Digestion

 Advanced Nitrification/Denitrification

 Wastewater Microbiology

 Safety in Wastewater

 Phosphorus Treatment

 Chlorination Equipment/Instrumentation

 Math

 Chlorination/Dechlorination

 Trickling Filters

 Confined Spaces

 O & M Lagoons

 Data Interpretation/Presentation

 Ethics & Professionalism

 Discharge Monitoring Reports

 Practical Pump Operation

 Industrial Pretreatment Program

 Clarification/Sedimentation

Intermediate Water
The intermediate water course is an operator training course designed for “C” and “B” operators. The following topics are covered during the week-long course:

 Operations and Maintenance

 Math

 Microbiology

 Disinfection and Chlorine Chemistry

 Water Chemistry

 Chlorination and Chlorine Safety

 Operator Certification – Regulation 100

 Cross-Connection Control and Backflow Prevention

 Conventional Surface Water Treatment

 Plant Safety

 Sampling and Testing

 Hydraulics

 Principles of Sanitary Surveys

 Pumps and Valves

 Regulations

 Water Security and Emergency Response Planning

Advanced Water
This course is designed to provide information on new topics facing the water field. The course is not geared toward the operator’s testing for certification. There is new information about certification and regulations. The course is geared for operators with multiple years’ experience in the field.
Topics include:

 Unit Process Optimization

 Emerging Contaminants

 Taste and Odor

 Regulations

 Security/Vulnerability Assessment

 Coagulation

 Plant Tours

 Granular Media Filter Operation

 Biological Filter Operation

 GAC Adsorption

 Advanced Oxidation    

 Disinfection

 Sanitary Survey and Inspections

 Reservoir Management/Microbiology

 Residuals

 Management/Project Management

 Advanced Treatment Technologies

Activated Sludge
The activated sludge process control course provides a basic understanding of the process and how to control it. Activated sludge process control is the most difficult activity in wastewater treatment. This course teaches you to monitor and control activated sludge microbial environments to improve effluent quality, and shows you how to save money, if at all possible.  You only have a few key controls available to effectively operate an activated sludge system, so learn how to use them effectively!  The course includes a field trip to a wastewater treatment plant where you become the troubleshooter and figure out how to improve operation and/or save money. Enrollment restricted to 35 people.
Topics include:

 Application of Process Control Data

 Overview of Activated Sludge Process

 Foam, Bulking, and Filament Control

 Activated Sludge Microbiology

 Hand-Held Meters

 Mass Balance and Wasting control

 Trend Charts

 Oxygen Uptake & Respiration Rate

 Process Awareness and Physical Observations

 Settleometer Test

 Return Sludge Control

 Representative Data Collection

 Nitrification/Denitrification

 Process Pressures

 Process Control Plan

 Field Trip for Evaluation

 Evaluation of Plant

 Elements of Process Control

Biological Phosphorus Removal

Bantam Slough Presentation