Dr. Sidney Innerebner, author of Wastewater Treatment Fundamentals I: Liquid Treatment, blogs about the new training resource for operators on wastewater treatment fundamentals.
Wastewater treatment is complicated. Every facility is a little bit different from the next because each is required to meet different treatment goals depending on where their final effluent ends up. Over the years, a multitude of different technologies from lagoons to trickling filters to activated sludge to anaerobic digesters have been developed to meet specific treatment goals. There is a lot to know--wastewater certification exams require operators to have detailed knowledge of all of those processes plus laboratory methods, safety, and management, and an individual operator may not have ever seen, much less operated, some of the technologies they may be questioned about on a certification exam.
So how can operators learn and progress in their careers and certification levels? The answer is Wastewater Treatment Fundamentals, the book designed to help operators do all of these things.
Wastewater Treatment Fundamentals I: Liquid Treatment examines the liquid side of water resource recovery facility (WRRF) operation from headworks to disinfection. Unlike other training manuals, the Wastewater Treatment Fundamentals has been reviewed for accuracy by a team of subject matter experts and contains current, up to date information. Because the manual was developed in cooperation with the Association of Boards of Certification (ABC), the content is related directly to their 2017 Need-to-Know Criteria.
The manual is easy to read, without unnecessary jargon, and contains tons of beautiful, full color images and diagrams to complement all learning styles. Math problems are worked out step-by-step using the same formulas as they are given on the ABC certification exams. Written and reviewed by operators for other operators, the manual is packed with practice questions and exercises – almost 1,000 overall – and each chapter includes a handy, cliff notes summary chart. I’m thrilled to have been a part of this project with WEF, saving the world one operator at a time.
Other titles in the Wastewater Treatment Fundamentals Series:
Wastewater Treatment Fundamentals I: Online Course, Exam and Print Book
Wastewater Treatment Fundamentals I: Liquid Treatment (Spanish Translation)
Wastewater Treatment Fundamentals I—Liquid Treatment Operator Certification Study Questions
Wastewater Treatment Fundamentals II: Solids Handling and Support Systems is currently scheduled to be published in Spring 2021. Request more information.
Sidney Innerebner has over 28 years of experience in the environmental arena spanning laboratory testing, plant operations, and engineering. She is a licensed wastewater operator in Colorado (A Wastewater and A Industrial), holds a Grade IV Professional Wastewater Operations license, and is a registered Professional Engineer. She received her PhD in Environmental Science and Engineering from the Colorado School of Mines in 2001. Her doctoral thesis focused on nitrifying trickling filters. Sidney has had the pleasure of working for the Littleton/Englewood WWTP, which supported her doctoral research and opened many doors for her and for Integra Engineering (now part of Dewberry) which taught her how amazing wastewater can be. Sidney started Indigo Water Group in 2007 and specializes in operations, operator training, and nutrient removal. She has created over 55 on-line operations training courses that are available through the Indigo Water Group website. Sidney is a WEF volunteer and has had the pleasure of participating in many fantastic WEF projects. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her family, ballroom dancing, hiking in Moab, and playing board games.