Industry trends indicate that an increasing number of tenured treatment plant operators are reaching retirement age, so developing a new generation of water and wastewater treatment plant operators has become an urgent need. The Knoxville Utilities Board’s (KUB) Operator Qualification Program was established to meet this need. The program ensures a consistent knowledge base for all operators, reduces the probability and potential of incidents caused by human error, and improves plant and operator efficiency.

This special edition of the Current will begin with a note from our Chief Executive Officer, Adam Krantz:

In the past week, two widely read and respected media outlets with a focus on Washington, DC policymaking ran in-depth stories on two critical clean water issues.

While there continues to be some back and forth between the White House and Congress on a potential COVID-19 relief package, it remains very unlikely that any final comprehensive bill comes together before the election, regardless of the pandemic’s continuing impact and devastation around the country.

The Southeast Stormwater Association (SESWA) held their 15th annual regional stormwater conference October 7-9 virtually this year.

NACWA is pleased to release to the membership today a new white paper on considerations around utility governance issues, especially in light of the impacts to utilities and ratepayers resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.

NACWA this week filed its second brief to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in litigation over the legality of a Clean Water Act (CWA) water quality standards variance for municipal discharges issued by the State of Montana and approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The Association filed its opening brief in June.

After passage last week by the U.S. House of an updated and “pared-down” HEROES Act COVID-19 relief package, which once again included $1.5 billion in aid to water and sewer utilities to assist low-income ratepayers impacted by the pandemic, talks have stalled again with the White House and U.S. Senate on agreeing to a final package.