Profession wastewater treatment operator

Wastewater treatment operators operate equipment used in a water or wastewater plant. They treat and clean drinking water before it is distributed to the consumer and process wastewater to remove harmful substances before returning it to rivers and seas. They take samples and perform tests to analyse the water quality.

Personality Type

• Enterprising / Realistic
• Realistic / Conventional

Knowledge

• Water chemistry analysis

  Principles of complex water chemistry.

Skills

• Perform water treatments

  Perform regularly water testing, ensuring that water management and filtration processes follow reasonable management practices, industry standards, or commonly accepted farming practices. Record previous water contaminations, the source of contamination and contamination remedied. Take mitigation measures to guard against further contamination.

• Perform water treatment procedures

  Perform operations such as filtering, sterilising, and dechlorinating in order to purify water for consumption and food production using different procedures and technologies such as micro-filtration, reverse osmosis, ozonation, carbon filtration, or ultraviolet (UV) light.

• Perform water chemistry analysis

  Perform water chemistry analysis

• Use water disinfection equipment

  Operate equipment for water disinfection, using different methods and techniques, such as mechanical filtration, depending on needs.

• Measure water quality parameters

  Quality assure water by taking into consideration various elements, such as temperature.

• Document analysis results

  Document on paper or on electronic devices the process and the results of the samples analysis performed.

• Carry out waste water treatment

  Perform waste water treatment according to regulations checking for biological waste and chemical waste.

• Interpret scientific data to assess water quality

  Analyse and interpret data like biological properties to know the quality of water.

• Operate water purifying equipment

  Operate and adjust equipment controls to purify and clarify water, process and treat wastewater, air and solids, recycle or discharge treated water, and generate power.

• Maintain water treatment equipment

  Perform repairs and routine maintenance tasks on equipment used in the purification and treatment processes of water and waste water.

• Monitor water quality

  Measure water quality: temperature, oxygen, salinity, pH, N2, NO2,NH4, CO2, turbidity, chlorophyll. Monitor microbiological water quality.

• Dispose of sewage sludge

  Operate equipment to pump the sewage sludge and store it into containers in order to transform the gases it emits into energy. After this phase, dry the sludge and evaluate its potential reuse as fertilizer. Dispose of the sludge if it contains hazardous elements.

Optional knowledge and skills

Source: Sisyphus ODB