High-level wastewater treatment and regulations training for new EA staff

The Challenge

The Environment Agency needed a training package to bring all their new Water Quality officers up to the same level of training and knowledge across several high-level learning objectives.

The Solution 

WRc combined CIWEM’s position as a Royal Chartered Institute with its unrivalled database of research and knowledge, along with collective access to industry-leading trainers and industry professionals. From this collaboration, WRc created a comprehensive training solution that delivered the best possible development programme for the EA. The result was a bespoke training package tailored to meet the needs of the EA’s new Water Quality officers who were from a variety of backgrounds and levels of water industry experience. The package delivered four high-level learning objectives: 1. Regulatory framework and performance measures. 2. Wastewater cycle, network design and operational activities. 3. Wastewater treatment. 4. Bio recycling assets.

The face-to-face sessions included site visits and use of the WRc Operator Training Tool: a unique SCADA simulator based on WRc's STOAT dynamic modelling software that replicates on-site wastewater events at a sewage treatment works, giving users the opportunity to recover the situation in a life-like setting and see what it looks like when everything is working correctly.

The Outcome

The EA’s Water Quality Managers reported greater confidence in their knowledge of what the wastewater treatment processes should look like and how they should operate when they are running smoothly, which allows for a far better appreciation of when things are not appearing or functioning as normal. The managers confirmed that the networking opportunity and support from classmates across the country was valuable, allowing them to recognise who has more experience in certain aspects of wastewater, and which peers they could learn from, including those they would never have otherwise met.

The delegates were assessed individually by professional interview at the end of the course, and were graded by CIWEM and WRc assessors. On successful completion of the interview, delegates received TechCIWEM certification.

All material was designed and mapped against CIWEM Chartership mandatory competencies, allowing participants to understand where it applies to their overall professional development journey.