Kirkwood training set to meet growing demand for workers as U.S. retirement pace picks up
–By Cindy Cullen Chapman, Freelance writer
For most of us, water to drink and use is not usually an item Americans think about. We turn on the tap, the garden hose or shower and that’s that.
Our society takes the availability of clean, safe water for granted, says Steve Mrstik, the lead instructor for the Water Environmental Technology degree program at Kirkwood Community College.
“Young people – they can see what a fireman or a nurse does. Nobody ‘sees’ what our profession does, but they experience it every day when they get a drink of water, but they don’t see the people behind it,” Mrstik observes.
Like many service industries, the public works industry is facing a shortage of qualified workers, as Baby Boomers reach retirement age. As these experienced employees leave the job force, the clean-water industry faces a challenge in attracting qualified workers to fill the void.
In a story published on the public works site, Public Works Online, ( www.pwmag.com ), the principal engineer with the Division of Water in Buffalo, N.Y., was quoted as saying, “I see a train coming. I wish we had better programs in place to get more people into this industry.”
Mrstik agrees. “We’re losing a whole generation (of employees) who are retiring, and people aren’t going to be prepared for those opportunities.”
As a nationally recognized training source, Kirkwood’s Water and Wastewater Treatment program in Cedar Rapids, Iowa is answering the need through on-campus classes, as well as online opportunities. The college offers a two-year degree program that teaches water and wastewater treatment plant operations, along with general education topics. The State of Iowa, Department of Natural Resources, along with other states, recognizes the program’s courses in water and wastewater treatment, along with continuing education for municipal workers mandated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
An EPA grant awarded through the State of Iowa in the 1970s helped Kirkwood start its program. On-campus training began as a one-year course in water and wastewater treatment, Mrstik explains. By the end of the 1990s, however, the environment was not as high a national priority as it had been with the passage of the 1972 Clean Water Act more than 20 years before.
“Water and wastewater treatment was not on the radar screen, and young people did not see a career in utility work of any type as an option,” Mrstik says.
Kirkwood’s response, he says, was to convert all face-to-face courses into self-sustaining online classes and share the program throughout the nation, beginning in 2004. Today, Kirkwood licenses the program to colleges in all 50 states.
“Our goal is twofold,” said Mrstik. “We offer professionals already working in the field the opportunity to get a degree and continue their education because that is tied in with certification. Each state has a certification program. Also, we intend the program to be a career track for individuals coming out of high school.”
The State of Iowa, along with public works programs nationwide, requires all licensed municipal water and wastewater operators to maintain certification through the completion of approved courses. This parallels the training regimens for service providers in health care and other professional fields.
There are two lines of study to Kirkwood’s program: water treatment and wastewater treatment.
To put it simply, “one you drink and one you flush,” Mrstik says.
“Water treatment deals with water from a surface or groundwater source. After analysis, it’s treated, mostly chemically, to make it drinkable. Wastewater is taken from homes, businesses and industry and is treated biologically so it can be returned to the natural environment like rivers and streams.
“This is all done under the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The EPA mandates safe levels, and the states administer and enforce them.”
A typical entry-level employee likely would hold a municipal job, Mrstik explains, working at a wastewater or industrial treatment plant, or a water distribution operation. The latter, he says, is the delivery system for getting water to homes, buildings and fire hydrants, for example.
Once certified, what are the career options for a professional in the water/wastewater field?
“It depends on their interests and growth, but they could end up just about anywhere,” he says. “I’m a good example.”
Graduating from Kirkwood’s wastewater program in 1977, Mrstik embarked on a career that has lasted 33 years. His background includes industrial plants, municipal water quality management and on-site technical assistance to small community wastewater plants. In the early 1990s, he provided OSHA safety training for the Iowa Association of Municipal Utilities. In 1998, he was hired as faculty for Kirkwood’s water wastewater program and is now (adapting to ever-changing technological trends) an Internet-delivery credit course instructor.
Even the trainer’s children spent many years in wastewater facilities while growing up. “The fastest way I embarrass my kids is to tell people that I have a passion for wastewater treatment,” smiles Mrstik.
As the wastewater field moves forward into the 21st century, other career areas available to professionals include lab analysis; computer technology, which is part of many operations; maintenance; and other support processes.
“The opportunities are almost too numerous to count,” Steve Mrstik notes. He recalls one student who enrolled in the program as a sideline.
“That student remarked to me, ‘Wow, this is like running a big-budget corporation!’ He ended up making it his career and is now a district distribution system manager for a Chicago suburb,” Mrstik added.