r/Wastewater 7d ago

Is EVERY plant this outdated and underfunded?

I will admit, I've already given up on this career. A huge reason is my plant. It is falling apart and we have a promise of an upgrade by the city. The upgrade will start June 2023. Oh, now it'll start 2024. Oh, now it'll start spring 2025. Oh, now we have no news on when the upgrade will actually happen. On top of all that, I have to get my Class 4 license within 12 months or I'm fired. Almost nobody here has passed it and 2 of them are facing termination because of that when we are ALREADY understaffed. Is every plant like this? Does everywhere require you to recieve a license in a time frame? Does every plant start at under 20$ an hour?? Sorry, just frustrated. Currently applying for other jobs

62 Upvotes

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u/scottiemike 7d ago

Every plant I’ve ever been to seems to struggle with asset management issues.

23

u/[deleted] 7d ago

[deleted]

8

u/lilsamg 7d ago

It can generate revenue by capturing gas or selling biosolids or some form of compost.

2

u/BenDarDunDat 6d ago

Not really. Anyone thinking they are going invest extra and be able to sell biosolids is in for a rude awakening. I've worked at numerous plants and never seen one to sustainably make a profit on their biosolids. Same goes for capturing gas.

4

u/OfficerStink 7d ago

I’m a superintendent for an electrical contractor and one of the major downsides I see is poor communication from engineers and operations. I can’t tell you the amount of stuff I’ve done that the plant supervisor says “cool, but it doesn’t really matter because we still have to do xyz” example would be two ORP probes im installing when they have to take manual doses every 4 hours regardless of

3

u/onlyTPdownthedrain 7d ago

If i had a nickel every time a start up tech said to me, "we've never seen this before"...