After a record number of responses poured in for the Let’s Be Clear column titled “What’s in a Name? Or a Title?” in the January 2014 issue of Treatment Plant Operator, we knew we had a hot-topic issue on our hands.
Response continues to come in, so we've compiled a second batch of letters to share with you. (Catch up on the discussion by reading the first set of letters.) See how other industry professionals feel about the advantages — and disadvantages — of calling treatment plant operators something else and giving people who work there different titles to express the pride each of you have for your individual positions and the overall industry.
When you’re done reading, be sure to post a comment with your thoughts.
Respect Follows Knowledge
I am of two minds regarding this subject. Does the industry need a more positive reputation among the non-wastewater general public? Sure it does.
Does changing the name from “sewage treatment plant operator” to “water reclamation facility specialist” help in this effort? I don't think so, but I don’t really know. One thing I do know is that if you put a tutu and lipstick on a pig, it’s still a pig.
The thing that needs to be done is to educate the public in what it is we really do, and what it is we have to know to be able to do what we do. Then the respect will come. When I married my wife, her 13-year-old daughter wouldn’t tell her friends what it was I did for a living. Now, some 21 years later, she has no such qualms. She's proud of the work I do. It’s not what we call ourselves, it’s what people know about what we do that will make the most difference.
And speaking of specialists, if you’re a clean water plant specialist, what is your specialty? Process control testing? Troubleshooting? Maintenance? Instrumentation? Laboratory analysis? It would make more sense to call yourself a generalist, as you have to do so many things well that you’re really not a specialist, are you?
And, by the way, if we need to change our titles, shouldn’t this periodical change its name from TPO to WRS (Water Reclamation Specialist)?
David E. Bloyer
Compliance Coordinator
Public Utilities Department
Unified Government of Athens-Clarke County, Ga.
Better Names Needed
The whole root of the issue as I understand it is that our titles do not accurately reflect what we do. Mine, for instance, is “co-superintendent, wastewater treatment facility.” Our staff members are called “utility operators.” Neither name is bad by any means, but they surely could be better. We have gotten away from calling our facilities “sewage treatment plants” or “sewage disposal plants” and have upgraded to “wastewater treatment facilities” for the same reason. We must have expanded our vocabulary in the past 25 years. Also, we no longer use the word “sludge.” We now use the word “biosolids.”
Operators are by first perception someone who turns on a machine, pushes buttons, and when the job is done, turns it off. This sounds too mundane, boring, requiring a minimal skill set. Anyone can flip a switch or push a button.
A specialist is an expert operator, troubleshooter and repair technician. A problem solver. An authority on the subject. Isn’t that what we really do at our facilities? I think so. It’s what our staff does at our facility. These are not Webster’s definitions, but I think most people perceive these titles as described.
When you go to the doctor for a serious problem, do you wish to see just a doctor, or a specialist? When you have a whole community depending on outstanding water resources, would you wish to have an operator in charge, or a specialist? We are specialists. There is no false glorification of our positions by renaming them.
I am all for changing the titles and names of our facilities for the following reasons;
• We need to eliminate any negative wording in order to attract our young people into this profession.
• We need to promote the importance of what we do. We serve mankind by protecting the public heath, the environment and arguably our most valuable resource: clean water.
When I enrolled at Vermilion Community College in Ely, Minn., the program was called Water Resources with a Hydrology option or a Pollution Control option.
I like the titles of “water resource protection specialist” and “public water supply specialist,” or some variation of these. We should change the titles not so much for us, but for those who come after us. We have to do a better job of selling the profession than we are currently doing.
I would like our facility name to change to “water resource preservation facility” or “water resource protection facility.” To me, these names depict what our purpose is in a more positive way than “wastewater treatment facility.” Plus, it really doesn’t cost anything to change a name, compared to other things that we could do. Let’s waste the waste!
Al Gorick
City of Bemidji, Minn.
Co-Superintendent
Wastewater Treatment Facility
