Hello, This comment comes…

Hello,
This comment comes from a Water Treatment Operator with an emergency and disaster management background. The following is my opinion, based on experience, and is shared by many fellow operators across numerous municipalities.

Water and Wastewater services are essential, regardless of how our employers and owners classify us. I am fully supportive of making exceptions during natural and pandemic/epidemic related emergencies for certified and recently expired operators. Many of these hazards can be out of our control and it has become clear that this service is essential for society to function smoothly.

The Operator role does not require a post-secondary degree, however it requires experience and training that cannot be substituted. I (and many fellow operators) wholeheartedly disagree with allowing non-certified personnel and engineering practitioners to operate a drinking water system in any case. Treatment facilities are living systems, each with their own quarks varying greatly from their original design and O&M manuals. The consequences are severe for both WWT and WT mistakes. Every shift, we hold in our hands the public health of our entire town or city, and in some cases multiple cities, and the integrity of our receiving environment. I disagree with leaving this responsibility in the hands of someone without certifications or without direct supervision from an experienced operator of our system.

I (and many fellow operators) would like to see strikes and lock-outs explicitly exempted or included in the definition of "Emergency". These changes leave ambiguity in this regard, and we fear this could be abused by employers.

I believe our service is essential. I believe our service should continue to be provided, even in the event of a disagreement between employers and unions and most especially during emergency situations. I strongly urge you to ensure that treatment plants are operated by their trained operators if at all possible.

Allowing owners to replace certified operators, in any event, strongly implies that we are essential workers and that Water and Wastewater services are essential services. This point is further supported when using the example of strikes and lock-outs and non-certified personnel. Speaking from experience, owners do not treat us as essential. The importance of our service is not reflected in our contracts, in the way our contracts are negotiated, and most importantly, has not been reflected throughout this current pandemic emergency. This will create a challenge between unions and owners.

I agree with a 14-day deadline for a strike-plan. Having studied disaster and emergency management, I have learnt that this is the sort of situation that should be preemptively planned for as part of a municipality’s business continuity plan. Preparing a strike-plan should be rudimentary for any prepared municipality and thus 14 days should be sufficient… however, I would like to see efforts made to explicitly consider the water and wastewater industry as essential to build environments.

Thank you for reaching out to the industry for comments. This means a lot to me.