New York Rural Water Association

Back in May, I had written an article for our magazine, with great concern on not being able to find a wastewater operator for our treatment facilities in Weedsport, NY. Since then, we still have not hired an operator and the Board has started looking into contract services. As Superintendent, I am not in favor of this avenue. The only good thing that I see coming out of all of this, is that many Boards will finally realize the importance of retention and start paying the salaries that these devoted individuals in this industry deserve. I recently read an article that Pat Scalera, CEO of the NYRWA sent me from West Virginia where their state has expressed the same concerns with regard to the shortage of water operators. This leads me to believe that with the new regulations and the new education requirements, these concerns are being raised across the nation. As the article states, written by Ed Teter of the West Virginia Rural Water Association, there isn't a whole lot of college graduates that want to repair water or sewer problems at one o'clock in the morning with temperatures 10-15 degrees below zero for $8.00 an hour and receive no thanks or recognition for their efforts from their customers or their employers. It makes you realize why there isn't a long line of people waiting to fill these positions. It's time for the municipalities to wake up and realize just how valuable we are to the communities we work for, and realize that the days of any Tom, Dick or Harry coming off the street corner to operator the wastewater or water plants is long over. As the responsibilities and requirements of these dedicated individuals increase, I believe that in the near future the attitudes towards operators will change and the communities will realize how important their operators and industry personnel are.

Just a side note, in Virginia the Circuit Rider, Andy Crocker wrote an article about a woman named Anna, who is a single mother of two young children. Anna was fortunate to have been apart of the state's TANF (Temporary Aid for Needy Families) program through the Department of Social Services. In Virginia the Governor was placing a high priority on reforming the state's welfare system and part of that reformation was making sure that those who were able, could move beyond the need for assistance (welfare). Anna made no secret of the fact that she wanted to better herself and after she was placed with a city water & wastewater system, she extended herself well in learning about the plant, maintenance and other areas of plant operation. Unfortunately the program ended but in place of the TANF program is the VIEW program (Virginia's Initiative for Employment not Welfare) and it has addressed some of the issues brought to light by cases like Anna's. You might be interested to know that Anna is now a full-time, Class II operator with the city. Maybe this is the answer to this dilemma.