Education/training
Testing the watersIt’s somehow appropriate that as the temperature creeps into the 30s, Durham College in Oshawa is readying for a new water quality technician program that starts in September. DAVID CHILTON |
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 [ 2006-07-12 ] |
Durham College
Sue Todd, program co-ordinator, says the new course was set in motion about a year ago following an approach from Durham Region, concerned about training for its water treatment operators and the ever present fact of mass retirement now that the oldest of the boomers are pushing 60. There’s also the Walkerton factor, which has raised the bar on water quality training, Todd says.
By that she means the 2000 disaster in Walkerton in southwestern Ontario when seven people died — some of them children — and hundreds of others were horribly sick after drinking water contaminated with e-coli bacteria.
The two-year, full-time program that starts in September has the goal of enrolling 24 students, with the college creating enough space for 36. Applicants need at least a high school diploma with a Grade 12 credit in English and a Grade 11 credit in math. Although they are not required, Todd says a Grade 11 credit in biology and Grade 12 credit in chemistry are recommended.
During the program, students will study such subjects as water treatment, water analysis, emerging pathogens, hydrology and water regulations and enforcement.
“They will know water inside and out. Not only to work in municipalities, but also to work in the water use industry,” Todd says, noting many manufacturers, including GM, Oshawa’s largest employer, have water quality technicians in their plants.
As well as their classroom work, students must complete work placement requirements. Todd says at the moment the placement details haven’t been fixed. It could mean students will have to work during the summer — for which they’ll be paid — or one or two days a week during their second year. Tuition costs are the same as many other college courses — about $1,800 a year.
There really isn’t a water quality program as such in the GTA, Todd says, although some colleges, including her own and Fanshawe College in London, offer environmental technician programs that have a water quality component to them.
Todd expects the make up of her first class to be split fairly evenly male-female. “I think people think of this as a guy who gets in a truck, has the work boots on and they have to be able to work with large valves and pumps and wrenches. But at the same time I have a lot of women who are working in that area (in other programs she co-ordinates) now.” Todd also says some mature students will be in Durham’s classrooms this fall as part of the first class of water quality technicians.
Proactive
Yvonne Tindall, a Durham Region training officer and co-chair of the new program’s advisory committee, says her region and many others will soon be hitting their 30th anniversary and retirement is in sight for many. “We need to be proactive, know where we will be and where we will find this pool of people (to replace retirees),” Tindall says.
As for the pay of a newly qualified water quality technician, Tindall says much will depend on where graduates work and what they do. Most municipal jobs are unionized, she points out, and pay is determined by a collective bargaining agreement. That’s also the case for large manufacturers, incidentally, so a dollar figure is difficult to pin down.
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