The National Onsite Waste-water Recycling Association holds its fifth annual Installer Academy and third Roe-D-Hoe Feb. 22-23 at the Kentucky Exposition Center in Louisville, Ky., just before the Pumper & Cleaner Environmental Expo International.
NOWRA joined with Expo sponsor COLE Publishing to run the two events consecutively on the same site. The arrangement enables installers to take in the Academy and the larger and more diversified Expo in a single trip.
As always, the aim of the Academy is to give installers and service providers practical information they can put right to work in the field. Basic and advanced seminars and workshops are state-approved for CEUs.
Skills training
Practitioners will share their technical skills in design, installation, inspection, operation and maintenance. The two-day Instal-lation of Wastewater Treatment Systems course, presented by instructors from the Consortium of Institutes for Decentralized Waste-water Treatment, will include:
• Soils and Site Evaluation, Randy Miles, University of Missouri
• Installation Techniques and Material, Sara Heger Christopherson, University of Minnesota
• Installation Planning, Tom Fritts, Residential Sewage Treatment Co.
• Installation Safety, Nancy Deal, North Carolina State University
• Piping Installation, Sara Heger Christopherson
• Watertight Tank Installation, Randy Miles
• Installing Pressure and Gravity Distribution Components, Nancy Deal
• Installing Soil Treatment Areas I and II, Sara Heger Christopherson
• Installing Pressure Dosing Systems: Pumps & Controls, Tom Fritts
• Installing Aerobic Treatment Units, Randy Miles
• Media Filter Installation, Sara Heger Christopherson
• Installing Disinfection Systems, Nancy Deal
• Installing Drip Distribution Systems, Tom Fritts
An optional one-hour presentation by Miles and Fritts will review problems and calculations to prepare those taking the NEHA Certified Installer exam.
Business sessions
Representatives from Zoeller Co. in Louisville will host the business track. Matt Byers, onsite program manager, leads off with an overview of the onsite industry. Onsite sales manager Wes Combs discusses relationships with health departments, engineers, and local officials.
Dave Theobald, applications director, will explain effluent pump sizing for onsite applications, and Darren Meyers, applications engineer, will talk about secondary and advanced treatment. Service pro-vider Jason Nett will conclude with O&M coordination and business management. The afternoon concludes with a two-hour tour of the Zoeller plant highlighting the various pumps, effluent screens, and decentralized technologies manufactured there.
Vendor sessions
Vendors in training rooms will educate and certify attendees on their products. In individual sessions, Norweco Inc. sales director Don Bach and business development manager Robert Fletcher will troubleshoot chlorination and dechlorination systems and introduce remote monitoring of residential aerobic treatment systems.
Industry pioneer Harry Nurse and Peter Gavin, president and owner of Polylok Inc., will explain why septic tank filters are even more important today and describe how to sell an onsite business to a competitor.
Those interested in the design, installation, and O&M of the Pura-Mc compact membrane system from Bord na Mona Environmental Products U.S. Inc. will find answers in John Payne’s presentation.
Reza Shams will cover the installation and operation of membrane bioreactors from Bio-Microbics Inc. Sessions by Dennis Hallahan from Infiltrator Systems Inc. will investigate drainfield malfunctions and remedies, and explain effluent distribution.
Technical and mechanical skills
A third educational track provides an in-depth look at the design, installation, and operation of drip dispersal systems. The presenters are Mike Stoll, wastewater division market manager from Netafim USA, and David Morgan, regional manager from Geoflow Subsurface Drip Systems.
Mini-excavator operators can test their skills at the Roe-D-Hoe, held indoors during the Pumper & Cleaner Expo exhibit hours (Feb. 25-27). The event pits state associations against each other in timed accuracy events. Besides a $1,000 first place cash prize, the winning state receives a traveling World Wrestling Federation-style championship belt and buckle. Individual winners receive a commemorative reward. The event is sponsored by Jet Inc.
The Installer Academy is the place to learn about the latest onsite wastewater treatment technology and the new equipment that can install those systems. Register by calling 800/966-2942 or visiting www.nowra.org.
