Intermediate and Advanced School

Rocky Mountain Water and Wastewater Intermediate and Advanced School

 

6/7/2021 - 6/11/2021

 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:

• Intermediate Water

• Advanced Water

• Intermediate/Advanced Wastewater

• Activated Sludge

• Industrial Wastewater

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