The West Central Operators Section

Author

Matt Etzel is the Section President for the West Central Operators Section.

The West Central Oregon Section (WCOS) of the PNCWA covers 7 Oregon Counties including Lane, Linn, Marion, Polk, Benton, Tillamook, and Lincoln County.  Our mission is to provide high-quality learning opportunities for Operators and students in our section and throughout the state.​

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Our section is known for our “Plant Profiles” we have been organizing these for many years now and are well attended.  Every year we work with wastewater treatment facilities in our section and host a tour and free lunch.  First, we start with a lunch of the facilities choice, normally at a restaurant near the treatment plant.  The tour consists of a plant overview where staff from the facility talk about the plant and any unique treatment techniques or equipment and any challenges their facility may face.  Attendees then walk through the facility and can network and ask questions from staff and other area operators.  We generally plan for 3-4 of these tours annually from June to October and usually are able to offer .2 CEUs for each of these tours free of charge.  Facilities that volunteer to host a tour are then voted on for the WCOS Plant of the Year Award which is presented to the staff at a City Council or Water District meeting.

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We also hold fundraisers like our annual golf tournament which is held at the Middlefield Golf Course in Cottage Grove Oregon.  This golf course is irrigated with reuse water from the City of Cottage Grove wastewater treatment facility.  Funds from this fundraiser go towards workshops, plant profiles, and our Edward Hildebrand III memorial scholarship that our section started by offering funds to a second-year student at Linn Benton Community College.  We would cover the cost of the last term and even pay for a certification exam so they can focus on applying for jobs and getting hired in the wastewater industry.  Recently LBCC dropped the Water Environmental Technology program, and we have since diverted those funds to help fund the Operator Training/Certification/Continuing Education Scholarship and offering a free hands-on Lab Workshop in 2023. 

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​Many of the Operators that are active in our section come from small utilities and we think it’s important to provide the highest quality training while offering it at a very reasonable price or even free.  We also have a lot of dual-certified operators and have recently added water treatment tours to the Plant Profiles for those communities that operate both systems.