U.S. Water will be taking place in year two of Florida Rural Water Association’s apprenticeship program, a nationally recognized water and wastewater apprenticeship program. This program aims to help develop tomorrow’s water and wastewater workforce by providing technical, on-the-job training and learning experiences needed to become an effective and skilled operator. The program is an approved Department of Labor Federally Registered Apprenticeship Program in the state of Florida.
We just successfully completed year one with most, if not all of the students passing the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) Operator Examinations. Year one was book knowledge, a fast way of becoming aware of and grasping the concepts and structures of the drinking and wastewater process control profession. In year two, we move beyond book knowledge to gain hands-on experience that is key to deeply understanding the knowledge obtained from studying textbooks.
Year #2 in-depth experiences will provide the apprentices practical, real-world opportunities to expand what we learned in Year #1. The opportunities include: engineering and as-built plan reading; rebuilding and troubleshooting chlorine equipment; sampling methods, procedures, and scheduling; Arc Flash, VFD, and electrical safety; FRWA Utility Management Certification; emergency response; public communication; Class B License readiness, all presented by guest professionals and subject matter experts.
U.S. Water is a proud sponsor of the FRWA Apprenticeship program. We have had major success due to sending our very own operator trainees through this program. We are excited to be a part of this program that develops the water and wastewater industry in extraordinary ways!