Water Conference Observations

I returned yesterday from a water/waste water conference I attended for work. It was two days of classes and demonstrations from various government agencies and companies. I enjoyed myself, made some new work contacts, and spent time with some of our vendors and contractors in a bit more of a laid back setting. There were a couple of things I noted while I was there.
There are basically one of two ways to become a water professional. One is to start at the bottom, as a laborer, meter reader, or such, and work your way up from there. This is how I began with the City. I started as a meter reader, became an operator, and then became Water Coordinator. Water professionals with this background tend to be rooted in tradition and resistant to both new technologies and work philosophies.
The second type earn degrees and attend classes. They tend to have little practical experience in the field, but are often more open to new ideas and technology. I realize these stereotypes apply to many fields of work, but they were very much on display for me at the convention. Young, college graduate engineers debating with grizzled vets over the most efficient ways to repair water mains and lay sewer lines. It was interesting.

New work computer.

I finally received a new computer for work. It's so much faster than the previous one and it's in a much smaller tower, as well. I am pleased.

More classes...

On Monday and Tuesday, I had to take more classes. These were for a 1B Erosion and Sediment License (assuming I passed the test, of course). If I passed the test, I'll be certified to inspect construction sites to make sure they're using prope erosion control practices. It's not as exciting as it sounds, but, for better or worse, it'll give me something else to do at work.

Water Blues

Politically, I consider myself an Independant, though I straddle the line between Libertarian and Republican for the most part. Today, the Libertarian in me is really on the rise as I had to deal with one branch of government I have little use for, the Georgia EPD.
Now, just so people understand, I realize we need an EPD. We just don't need the current, monolithic, Byzantine, unapproachable, bureacratic EPD we have. The town I work for, which will go unnamed, has to turn in six samples a month to check for organic contamination (E. Coli, etc.) to the State labs. Last month, one came back positive, so we did a re-test with four more samples. One of these came back positive (not the same one) so we have to alert every water customer in the City that we may contaminated water. The problem is, any number of things may have compromised the samples. We take these from outside faucets and while the bottles are sterile, the environment isn't. However, there is no appeal process for this situation. We have to notify several thousand people (small town) and let them know the water may have been compromised. Therefore, at the very least, I can look forward to days of people calling me blaming us for diarhea and stomach aches and possibly even lawsuits.