r/Wastewater

Current state employee for the dept of water resources. Raw water. Utility craftworker civil maintenance. Just completed my first course to become a source control inspector, pretreatment inspections. Trying desperately to get out of the labor side low paying nonsense and into 6 figures easier on the body position.

Fingers crossed

I large city is asking us, a much smaller village if we would take landfill runoff and essentially dispose of it for them. They will pay $0.10 a gallon They also have to truck it 75 miles .

Im hesitant to accept it.

Looking for opinions. We're 1.5 mgd plant that averages .8 mgd. We struggle with I&I during the rainy season

Hey everyone,

I’m currently working for Los Angeles County in social services and have been seriously considering transitioning into the wastewater/water utility field as a long-term career. I currently have a cozy desk job with decent pay and great benefits. I’m just not happy here, it’s soul sucking work. I have a bachelors in Liberal Arts (educator). Im in the SoCal area and recently found out that my local community college will be restarting its water utility program this fall.

I’ve been researching different paths into the industry and wanted to get advice from people already working in the field. My main goal is to build a stable career with lower public interaction, and long term growth potential.
For someone starting fresh with no direct utility experience, what pathway would you personally recommend today, especially in Southern California where I hear competition can be pretty strong?

Would you prioritize:

1. Community college coursework first?
2. Online cert prep and exams first?
3. Applying to trainee/public works roles immediately?
4. Getting multiple certs (wastewater + distribution + treatment)?

I’m especially interested in wastewater treatment right now, but I’m also open to water treatment or distribution if that creates better opportunities.

Would really appreciate any honest advice or things you wish you knew when entering the industry. Thanks everyone.

Relatively new operator here just took over as lead from all the old operators retiring and looking for some outside opinions from people with more extended aeration activated sludge experience.

We run a small extended aeration plant rated around 400,000 USG/day, and I inherited what appears to have been a heavily over-wasted system from our previous head operator. Since spring flows increased, it feels like we’ve been stuck walking a tightrope between very young sludge and hydraulic overload conditions.

What I’m consistently seeing:

Persistent pin floc in the clarifier

Fine floc carryover during higher flow periods

Poor settleability once MLSS starts climbing

Difficulty retaining solids long enough for the biomass to mature

As soon as MLSS gets into the low 2000s, clarifier performance seems to deteriorate again. The last few years as when the plant was running well, we would operate with an MLSS as high as 6000mg/L successfully. Now we keep washing out and have been as low as 1600.

Aeration setup is three aspirating aerators plus one splashing aerator. Lately I’ve been trying to run gentler on the floc by operating two aspirators at night and three during warmer daytime conditions while leaving the splasher off entirely. The aeration tank is also fairly foamy right now, which seems to support the idea that the sludge is still very young.

Our D.O is in a healthy range between 1.6-2.6m and the PH is maintain between 7.1-7.5.

One challenge is our RAS control is limited — no VFDs, so operationally it’s basically either one RAS pump or two pumps on, with not much fine adjustment available between those points.

Peak spring flows are pushing the plant hydraulically pretty hard at times, and despite trying multiple approaches to retain solids and slowly rebuild the biomass, the floc just doesn’t seem to stabilize before we start losing it again.

At this point I’m trying to determine whether:

1.)The primary issue is still under-aged sludge from historical over-wasting

2.)Hydraulic loading is preventing proper floc development and settling

3.)Or both issues are feeding into each other and keeping the plant unstable

I do have limited ability to use our digester temporarily as an aerated holding tank when absolutely necessary to avoid losing solids, but otherwise options are fairly limited.

Has anyone dealt with a similar situation where the plant can’t seem to “break through” into a stable sludge age? Especially where MLSS begins to recover, then settleability falls apart again before the biomass can mature?

I have attached a picture of the fine solids loss that we start getting at low flow, which leads to a rolling loss later in the day as flow increases. Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated.

I probably just need to vent here if I’m being honest, but I’m also genuinely curious if this is an industry wide issue or not. I got into this field two years ago because it’s stable but we absolutely cannot keep any employees.

We only have 4 operators here. Two day shift (I’m a dayshift) and two nightshift, we work 12s to keep the plant running 24/7. In my two years here we have had 6 different nightshift operators. Yes, 6 lol we get someone in, train them, and within a few months they’re gone. I know it’s an industry issue where people will come in and get licensed and go to a higher paying plant, but these guys aren’t getting licensed and leaving to another plant, they’re just leaving to a different type of job all together lol

Every time we post a job it takes literal weeks to get a single applicant. It gets posted on indeed, LinkedIn Etc. The plant pays much higher than the average wage (in general) for the area and we post in the job we don’t expect any experience. I just don’t get it lol I get it’s nightshift but holy cow

We are not the highest paying plant in the area but we are the average wage in the area for plants for sure. This job is not that hard…. We have it pretty cake here to be honest.

In my two years here I’ve maybe had 3 months total of working my true dayshift, otherwise I’ve been on some type rotating schedule to cover the vacant second shifts.

I’ll give the company credit though, they gave us authorization to hire another person to have on “standby” as a floater operator to cover those shifts if they happen, but again we have zero applicants in two weeks lol

I’m have both WW and DW licenses and I’m at the point I’m looking for basically any plant that doesn’t need to be staffed 24/7 because I cannot do these rotating shifts anymore. It is a regular occurrence for me to get off work at 5am and then have to be back at work at 5am 24hrs later

Anyway, that’s enough of my rant lol what’s turnover like at your plant?

I have my grade II wastewater license and my T2 in water. I'm going to work on my grade III soon. I may relocate to Washington. How hard will it be to transfer my license to Washington? If I'm looking at any positions, what would my grade II be equivalent to, and what would a grade III be equivalent to? Is the overall job market good? Thanks

I am looking for a vacuum pump/blower to transfer biogas from the storage bladders to our mini flare. We have a research-scale anaerobic digester (3000 gallons) for aquaculture waste solids at my organization, and can produce up to 350 cf/day of biogas (currently around 35 cf/day due to low solids concentration). We have a small ATEX/C1D2 vacuum pump that can only transfer around 0.5 cfm, but we need something that can handle 15 - 20 cfm, so we can flare large volumes relatively quickly (we may buy another flare if necessary). I have often seen regenerative gas blowers being used on farm-scale digesters to move the biogas to the generator/flare (not sure if they use ATEX/C1D2 rated equipment), but I cannot seem to find something suitably sized for our scale at a reasonable price (under $3000). An ATEX/C1D2 liquid ring vacuum pump could be another option, based on my limited experience (research background, limited industrial experience). There might be other options too, but I am not sure. Do you have any suggestions or vendors I could reach out to for my application needs (preferably US-based)?

Hi u/wastewater! a few months back I posted here asking small-plant operators to walk me through their compliance day: what you track, what's annoying, what you wish existed. A bunch of you did, in detail (the multi-app juggling, the separate permit spreadsheet, the "I don't really know where I stand until I sit down to file.") Appreciate you all! This is what came out of it:

Limit Sight does one thing - you upload your NPDES permit, it pulls out the limits/monitoring/deadlines, builds a compliance calendar, and lets you punch in monthly lab results and see green/yellow/red before filing day instead of when you sit down to do the DMR.

Honest caveat: the extraction is AI, so it will get things wrong but it's a head start you check against your real permit, and official reporting still goes through your state's setup.

This is a free, invite-only pilot because I want to talk to the first handful of people and fix what's broken. If you run a plant and want to kick the tires - or tell me it's useless because XYZ - comment or DM me. The XYZ feedback is the part I actually want :)

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for some honest career advice from people working in wastewater treatment/environmental engineering.

My academic background is a bit unconventional for this field. I completed my Master’s in Organic Chemistry, and later joined a PhD program in a Biological Sciences department. My thesis work is focused on MBBR (Moving Bed Biofilm Reactor) wastewater treatment.

Before starting my PhD, I had some practical exposure in wastewater treatment system design. I’ve worked on designing MBBR and SBR systems up to around 50 KLD capacity. I also have some understanding of constructed wetlands/natural treatment systems, although I haven’t had the opportunity to work on a full-scale wetland project site yet.

The problem is that I’m not from a traditional engineering background (civil/environmental engineering), and I’m unsure how much the industry values candidates like me for wastewater treatment design roles.

A few things I’m worried about:

* Will companies consider someone without an engineering degree for roles related to wastewater process/design? * Is my chemistry + biological sciences background still valuable in this field? * How important are software skills like AutoCAD, SolidWorks, Civil 3D, etc. for getting hired? * Can process knowledge compensate for the lack of formal civil design training? * What skills should I focus on learning during my PhD to become employable in the wastewater industry?

I genuinely enjoy wastewater treatment and would like to build a long-term career in this area, especially process design, biological treatment systems, decentralized treatment, wetlands, etc. But right now I feel stuck between science and engineering.

If i could get guidance from someone working in this field that would be great. Thank you in advance

So, I posted a few days ago about getting my WW-D license as a drinking water operator of two years. I just got word that the highest paying water/wastewater job in my area has an operator retiring and they’ll be posting the job in the next week or so. From what Ive gathered from several people in the industry the only way to get a job there is to wait for someone to retire because absolutely nobody leaves.

They pay around $10hr more than anywhere else within an hour of here, it’s a true M-F, union, basically fully paid benefits, you get the idea, it’s basically the job that everyone in the area waits around for.

To be clear, I absolutely do not expect to get this job lol I know EVERY operator within an hour of the plant will be applying for this position and many of them with A level licenses. I’m just trying to see if there’s anything I’m missing to give myself a better shot at it, if anything I’m hoping they’ll remember me for future openings.

The main things I usually touch on during interviews is:

1. safety
2. Will work any shift. (Not as relevant for this one)
3. Willingness to learn
4. Just overall being competent and showing i can do the job and im not a jackass to work with

Honestly, part of my pitch might be that I’m still in my 20s, and the likelihood of me working there for the next 30-40 years is basically 100%.

Curious to hear others thoughts?

Long time lurker but just getting used to this whole online community thing. I’m a grade 4 ww orc supervisor looking to help others with career and general wwtp questions. Thanks for having me.

Hello! Long time lurker first time poster. Im wanting to switch my career path to wastewater and have recently had the opportunity to work in an area at my current company that uses wastewater water infrastructure and a comparable process. Ive signed an NDA so I can only disclose so much.

I have a question about operational safety and Im looking for some outside perspective to help me decide if Im overreacting to the current situation.

At my current job we use an ~8000gallon cone bottom tank to collect liquified solids after a separation process. The tank is recirculating from the bottom cone back to the top. The recirc path passes through a heat exchanger to keep the product chilled. After our collection process, the product is transferred out to a different tank and then we clean the storage tank after the transfer is complete.

To clean, we couple the recirc line at the top of the tank to the sprayball that showers the tank from top to bottom. We then add about 300gallons of 165F water and use a cleaning solution. This cleaning solution is recirculated for 30 min from the cone bottom, to the pump, heat exchanger, and back up to the sprayball.

The hose at the bottom of the tank to the pump is 2” Spiralite 115. The same hose is used from the pump to the heat exchanger.

The ~3’ length of 2” Spiralite 115 between the pump and heat exchanger visibly swells when recirculating 165F water. Upon checking the manufacturer specs it appears this tubing is rated up to 130F. No one knows how much pressure is in that line.

I started looking into this because the previous old, crusty, oxidized, yellow/brown piece of Spiralite 115 that was there split and shot at arch of 165F water that was ~6’ high and 14’ long across our working area. The broken Spiralite 115 hose was replaced with a new piece of Spiralite 115.

I got the safety guy involved and documented the near miss. There has been no follow up meeting. I emailed the director of operations about that and informed him that the replacement hose probably isn't right for the job. I have yet to receive a reply and Ive followed up once. The department manager and team lead were responsible for the repair.

I called the director of operations and spoke with him privately. I told him I was uncomfortable working with that tank. He asked me to help resolve the issue but gave me no authority or money. I pointed out that we already have a 3’ piece of continental rubber coated 250 psi hose that we could use. The problem is that continental hose doest “fit the area well” according to the department lead.

Am I overreacting when Im thinking that this feels like safety 4th? That temperature of water can cause 2nd degree burns in seconds. They keep asking me to clean the tank and I hate working near that hose after watching the last one fail. I feel like that could have been a life changing injury.

I get why they like using the Spiralite tubing, its clear, flexible and cheap. However, to me it seems like the wrong hose for the job.

This is a private for profit company and the experience has been great. I feel with my 10yrs experience in an environmental testing lab and three years working with this company Im a strong candidate for a wastewater position. I've been taking my time researching, learning on the job, and studying a book for the test. Im now concerned that I might be putting myself in a hazardous situation and should submit my two weeks notice. The money has been great and I dont want to quit my job before I find a new one.

Please advise. Ive signed an NDA so I can only say so much, but feel free to ask question.

tldr: hose rated for 130F has pressurized 165F water during operations. Hose failed once and was replaced with same material. Is this extremely unsafe?