Wastewater operators were hired by the thousands in the early 1970s after passage of the Clean Water Act. Now, many of those operators are nearing retirement, and that’s a big challenge for the wastewater treatment industry.Almost as serious as the loss of people power is the loss of institutional memory — of operators who know their plants intimately and understand the moods, quirks and intricacies of the treatment processes and equipment.The Water Environment Federation and state and regional associations are addressing the staffing crisis (and it is a crisis) in various ways. Meanwhile, in California, a group of 14 clean
