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By Kitt Farrell-Poe
Because of the lack of federal funding for centralized wastewater collection and treatment, a dramatic shift has occurred in the interest among professionals and the public toward decentralized wastewater technologies. Decentralized wastewater technologies reduce construction costs, improve water quality, lower energy consumption, replenish groundwater, encourage recycling and reuse of wastewater, and reduce infrastructure requirements when compared to centralized treatment systems. In many communities, decentralized wastewater treatment may be part of the continuum of choices to solve wastewater problems permanently. In some regions, the effective approach to the management and treatment of wastewater may include a combination of both decentralized and centralized collection and treatment.
Methods to change current practices and bring decentralized technologies into the mainstream have met with a number of barriers. Universities, in general, are not exposing engineering and environmental science students to decentralized wastewater treatment options. In many areas, educational opportunities for citizens, decision-makers, regulators, and consultants have been unavailable, ineffective, or not adequately coordinated to provide information necessary for making informed decisions. A national and international effort to coordinate the few focused local activities is not available. Although considerable research advances have occurred over the past three decades, many questions still exist which are of great importance to widespread utilization of decentralized systems. Research in key areas is essential to address lingering questions and to move the science and technology forward and into practice.
To serve as part of the solution, the Consortium of Institutes for Decentralized Wastewater Treatment (CIDWT) was established in 1998 to encourage research, outreach, and education about decentralized wastewater treatment. It is an independent group of education institutions, industry organizations, and agencies cooperating on decentralized wastewater education, training, and research. We have been growing from a handful of higher education institutions to a membership representing 33 higher education institutions; 22 training centers, programs, organizations; and 41 advisory members.
What Does The Consortium Do?
There is a need for high-quality educational and training materials for all sectors of the onsite wastewater treatment industry. The membership has performed a wide array of activities to address the many needs in the decentralized wastewater arena. The CIDWT membership:
- Develops educational materials that expose university soil and environmental sciences and engineering students to decentralized wastewater treatment options and career tracks
- Offers educational opportunities for citizens, decision-makers, regulators, industry professionals, practitioners, land use planners, and consultants
- Conducts research and demonstrations to address issues and adaptivity of new technologies in the decentralized wastewater treatment industry
The CIDWT has ongoing and completed projects focusing on developing curriculum for education and training and conducting a student design project.
Past Projects
University Curriculum Development Project—Under the University Curriculum project, a full range of modules was developed for teaching a one-semester course containing laboratory and field exercises in onsite/decentralized wastewater treatment and natural water reclamation systems. The target audience for the materials is third- and fourth-year engineering students. The modules can also be adapted for undergraduate and graduate-level university courses in environmental health and other nonengineering curricula. A complete set of instructor materials was developed, including PowerPoint slide presentations, MS Word text materials, instructors’ guides, problem sets, and evaluation forms.
Practitioner Curriculum Development Project—The Practitioner Curriculum Development Project was an effort to formalize and coordinate training opportunities for field practitioners in onsite/decentralized wastewater treatment. The goals of the curriculum were to:
- Improve the field practitioner’s ability to effectively utilize onsite and decentralized technologies to improve the state of practice
- Enhance opportunities for the general public to make the best use of onsite/decentralized technologies in their approach to a community’s wastewater needs
This project provided a consistent technical educational base from which to launch nationwide training programs. However, the modules may be modified to address specific local needs. The materials currently developed include a model practitioner curriculum that can be used to organize training programs, as well as four detailed training modules (septic tanks, soil and site evaluation, water movement and treatment in soil, and technology overview). Again, a complete set of instructor materials was developed.
Student Design Competition—The overall goal of the Student Design Competition was to provide an opportunity for young professionals to develop skills and expertise in decentralized wastewater technologies in a “real-world” setting to overcome the “Lack of Knowledge and Public Misperception” barrier noted in the 1977 US EPA Response to Congress on Use of Decentralized Wastewater Treatment Systems. The intent of the Student Design Competition was to bring together students from the fields of soils and environmental science, engineering, landscape architecture, and public policy development to form a team to solve a community decentralized wastewater treatment problem. The objectives of the competition
were to:
- Promote multidisciplinary teamwork within institutions
- Enhance students’ awareness of aspects of community and small-scale wastewater treatment in a watershed context
- Embrace the fundamentals of engineering, soil science, hydrology, watershed science, communications, and public policy development
- Stimulate innovative ideas and solutions to primary environmental concerns associated with onsite wastewater treatment and dispersal
The project team developed a process to conduct a design competition for undergraduate engineers and piloted the process twice in subsequent years (spring semester 2002 and academic year 2003-2004) using lessons learned from the first round of competition to improve the process and design problem of the second round. The home page of the CIDWT provided the location for participants of the Student Design Competition to register, obtain the design problem and ancillary data and information to assemble a solution, and conduct discussions and ask questions through a forum of threaded discussions (questions could be identified by topic and responded to specifically).
The two teams participating both years were featured in a special session at their respective National Onsite Wastewater Recycling Association (NOWRA) Annual Conferences (2002 and 2004) to orally present their design reports, as well as display their designs on posters that were exhibited to the conference participants. For both competitions, separate judging panels were assembled that had a representative from each of several sectors: general public, consulting firm, USEPA, higher education, and attorney (for first competition only). There were six general categories of criteria by which the design reports were judged: completeness of design package, creativity of design, quality of engineering design, quality of management plan, effective use of project costs/budget, and effectiveness of presentation.
There were two main outcomes of this project. The primary outcome was that 13 undergraduate seniors in engineering were exposed to a real-life, practical design experience, participated in a national conference, and learned more about designing decentralized wastewater treatment systems. The secondary outcome was that a design competition methodology was developed and piloted and lessons learned were obtained for improving future design competitions.
Operation & Maintenance (O&M) Service Provider Program—The USEPA, along with state and local government entities, recognizes the importance of decentralized wastewater treatment systems as an essential component of the wastewater infrastructure. Through routine inspections and proper operation and maintenance, onsite wastewater treatment systems can be a permanent and effective part of the wastewater infrastructure. The Operation and Maintenance (O&M) Service Provider Program was established to develop standardized O&M checklists and provide training to practitioners on the operation and maintenance of single-family residential onsite wastewater treatment systems.
The heart of the O&M Service Provider Program is a complete set of operational checklists. These checklists were developed as a way to help make organized, well-informed decisions when servicing systems. The goal of the checklists was to facilitate uniformity and consistency in the evaluation of a single-family residential system.When homeowners have the ability to receive the needed objective service at a fair price, they will gain confidence in the industry and the credibility of the onsite industry will also increase. They will be confident that they can get the service they need and not push for other avenues to obtain wastewater service.
Current Projects
Glossary & Train-the-Trainer Program—This project will address critical needs for education and training through the development of a glossary and implementation of train-the-trainer academies targeting trainers who provide education for practitioners in onsite/decentralized wastewater treatment. Inconsistent terminology is a barrier to the acceptance of nationally developed training materials and guidance documents. Local regulators continue to express a concern about acceptance of nationally developed materials because of nonuniformity with their local terminology. Inconsistency in published materials has compounded the problem.
This initiative will help the profession move past the use of multiple terms for the same technology or required function.
Training programs and centers around the country provide a network to reach the practitioners working in the onsite wastewater treatment industry. These training programs are developing a demand for quality training materials and effective delivery of these materials. The need to continually develop new materials and update current materials is a common concern shared by many of the center directors. Train-the-trainer academies provide a means to present new training materials to the instructors and assist them in development and/or improvement of their training skills.
Future Projects
Installer Training Program—In cooperation with the National Environmental Health Association, CIDWT is proposing to develop a national practitioner training curriculum for installing onsite wastewater treatment systems. The project would include developing a training manual complete with descriptions of critical skills, knowledge, and abilities required for a proper installation, as well as checklists describing the critical components of the installation process.
Industry Interaction—CIDWT membership includes an advisory board of manufacturers, design professionals, consulting engineers, installers, service providers, regulatory officials, public health agents, and citizen partners. The board provides input into the CIDWT on issues pertinent to the decentralized wastewater field and is an integral part of all our curriculum development projects including:
- Identifying potential projects for CIDWT involvement
- Serving on writing teams for CIDWT curriculum development projects
- Reviewing curriculum materials during developmental stages
- Donating educational aids for use at decentralized wastewater training centers
- Providing photos and graphics for inclusion in CIDWT publications
The mission of the CIDWT is to stimulate and enhance the capabilities of educational institutions to help protect public health and maintain a sustainable environment by advancing research and development, education, and training for decentralized wastewater treatment and management. We are meeting this challenge through many diverse programs, projects, and collaborations in which we are participating.
KITT FARRELL-POE is chairwoman of the CIDWT Executive Board. She can be reached at kittfp@ag.arizona.edu.
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- May/June 2006 |
