There’s something new in this month’s Onsite Installer. We’re bringing you Onsite Journal, the official publication of the National Onsite Wastewater Recycling Association (NOWRA).
It’s an experiment that we hope works out to the benefit of NOWRA, COLE Publishing and, most of all, the industry professionals who read Onsite Installer. Once per quarter, OSJ will be stitched right into the magazine, along with the practitioner profiles, system profiles, machinery information, and instruc-tional pieces you’re used to.
Just makes sense
Of course, NOWRA used to produce and mail OSJ separately. But by combining it with Onsite Installer, the association can produce it at less cost and will now distribute it to some 21,000 readers, instead of about 4,000.
Everyone gains when industry allies share resources. NOWRA and COLE Publishing have worked together since the association’s inception; through articles and advertising in Pumper and Onsite Installer magazines, through NOWRA instructional sessions on Education Day at the annual Pumper & Cleaner Environmental Expo International, and in many other ways. This latest development brings the connection a step closer.
How does this help you as an onsite system designer or installer? Well, NOWRA has been a strong voice for the industry, and OSJ contains lots of information about the association’s activities — many of which go on outside the limelight.
OSJ is a great place to follow issues with big implications, such as the U.S. EPA model code, NOWRA’s own performance-based code proposal and, more recently, discussions of uniform regional codes covering several states.
OSJ is also a good way to track NOWRA’s state affiliates and the political, regulatory and other issues they’re engaged in. You might know perfectly well what’s happening in your own state, but here’s a way to see what’s going on elsewhere and what might be coming your way sooner or later.
Solid information
The journal also has a record for delivering sound, practical information to help designers and installers work more effectively. That includes everything from technical matters like understanding soils and soil treatment systems, to safety concerns like proper shoring of trenches and the prevention of illnesses borne by ticks and mosquitoes.
In short, OSJ helps give you a bigger picture of the issues facing the industry and another way to share information with your peers. When you see all that NOWRA is doing, you may see more good reasons to become a member yourself, if you are not already.
Many professionals ask: If I join NOWRA, what’s in it for me? Part of the answer is that a bigger membership and a stronger association means more resources available to deliver the kinds of benefits members desire. Sometimes it takes a certain critical mass of membership to make a full slate of benefits feasible.
Pulling together
So here’s our effort not just to help NOWRA operate more efficiently but to give the association wider exposure and deliver more useful information to our readers.
There’s more cooperation in store, too. You know about the NOWRA Installer Academy, held the past four years during December in Las Vegas. Well, in 2010, the fifth annual Academy will be run in Louisville, Ky. on Monday and Tuesday, Feb. 22 and 23, just before the annual Pumper & Cleaner Environmental Expo.
Now you can easily benefit from all the instruction at the Academy, and stay a few days more to experience the Expo’s extensive education program and vast show hall filled with the latest tools and technologies. One tank of gas or one plane ticket does it all. It’s just another way in which collaboration makes sense.
In addition, the National Association of Wastewater Transporters will hold its Vacuum Truck Training Program concurrent with the Installer Academy.
We hope you enjoy getting OSJ through our magazine. Tell us how you like it. Drop me a note to editor@onsiteinstaller.com. We’ll use your feedback to keep on improving the service we offer you through Onsite Installer.
