Education Day at the 2012 Pumper & Cleaner Environmental Expo moves to Monday (Feb. 27) with a full lineup of seminars given by representatives from the industry’s leading trade associations.

You can learn about new tools, technologies and methods for solving specific problems, fine-tune your knowledge of basic in-the-field practices, and learn leadership practices that can help transform your company. Here is a list of seminars of special interest to onsite treatment system installers, designers and regulators.

The Expo runs Feb. 27 to March 1 at the Indiana Convention Center. For a complete list of Education Day and other seminars and other information about the Expo, visit www.pumpershow.com. The early registration price through Jan. 20 is $50, a savings of $20.

 

National Association of Wastewater Transporters (NAWT)

8 to 9 a.m.: Bob Kolvey, What I Need to Know About Trucking Safety

This seminar looks at Compliance, Safety & Accountability (CSA) requirements and how they affect companies and hold drivers accountable. There will also be a short discussion about logbooks: How to make sure they are filled out correctly and honestly.

9:30 to 10:30 a.m.: Kit Rosefield, Setting the Dose

Dosing of effluent to an advanced treatment system or the soil treatment unit is a critical task to ensure proper performance of an onsite system. This session reveals tricks of the trade about choosing pumps and sensors, measuring tank capacities, performing a drawdown test, determining the pump delivery rate and more.

11 a.m. to noon: Jim Anderson, Certification and Septic System Inspections

This presentation looks at the importance of three basic types of inspections: Compliance inspections done when a system is installed, inspection and evaluation as part of system operation and maintenance, and inspection at property transfer. The NAWT property transfer inspection will be described and the importance of inspector certification will be emphasized.

1:30 to 2:30 p.m.: Tim Frank, Is There Value in Processing My Own Sludge?

If you are tired of hauling septage to a municipality every time your tank truck is full and tired of seeing disposal costs rise, you can build and operate your own dewatering facility. This walk-through of an Excel cost spreadsheet, created through NAWT, will help you determine whether processing your own septage is a good investment.

3 to 4 p.m.: Jeff Rachlin, Maintenance Frequency Standards and Requirements

Maintenance practices for onsite systems should be based on the system technology and the lifestyles of the people using the system. This presentation looks at multiple scenarios of how to approach maintenance frequency standards and requirements based on the technology and the dynamic factors that affect performance.

4:30 to 5:30 p.m.: David Gustafson, Working with Small Communities

Working with small communities can be challenging for small service providers and full-service O&M companies. This session covers the basic activities surrounding management for small-community soil-based treatment systems, including homeowner education, maintenance, reporting, and getting paid. It looks at case studies of successful and less-successful programs.

 

National Environmental Health Association (NEHA)

8 to 9 a.m.: Anthony Smithson, Promoting Competence: What’s in it for Me?

This seminar focuses on how obtaining credentials can benefit an onsite business and the onsite wastewater industry. It includes ways to promote a business and industry as a competent, knowledgeable professional.

9:30 to 10:30 a.m.: A. Robert Rubin, Septic Tank Science

This presentation covers the basic science of what happens inside septic tanks. It will help beginning and experienced professionals understand the biological and chemical processes at work in the tank and how they affect the overall treatment process.

11 a.m. to noon: Kevin M. Sherman, Advanced Treatment: What Does that Mean?

This presentation explains how sewage is chemically and physically altered as it goes through various advanced treatment unit processes.

1:30 to 2:30 p.m.: Kevin M. Sherman, Successfully Dosing Pipe Networks

Dosing a pipe network requires a firm grasp of centrifugal pump performance and pipe hydraulics. This in-depth presentation uses computer animation, Internet resources and low-cost spreadsheets. It demonstrates pump selection software for multiple manufacturers. The goal is to give attendees tools to create better-operating and longer-lasting systems.

3 to 4 p.m.: A. Robert Rubin, Pump Replacement

This presentation covers the types of pumps available for septic systems and when and how they can be replaced.

4:30 to 5:30 p.m.: Doug Lassiter, State of the Industry: The Forecast, The Strategy, The Tools

 

National Onsite Wastewater Recycling Association (NOWRA)

8 to 9 a.m.: Sara Heger, Aerobic or Anaerobic: Which One is Better?

Within most septic systems, both anaerobic and aerobic processes treat the wastewater. This presentation describes each process, tells where each process is dominant, and shows how to evaluate systems to determine if they are working properly.

9:30 to 10:30 a.m.: Tom Fritts, Mound Systems – Not Just for Wisconsin!

Mound systems are valuable soil treatment systems designed and installed when there is limited appropriate soil available on site for wastewater treatment. This presentation will go over the range of mound applications and options.

11 a.m. to noon: Sara Heger, Dead Bacteria: How Overuse of Cleaners and Household Products Kill!

More septic systems are being negatively affected by the use of varying chemicals, cleaners, medicines and antibacterial products. This presentation explains how to identify these problems and troubleshoot systems.

1:30 to 2:30 p.m.: Tom Fritts, Onsite Electrical

Understanding the basics of electricity in relation to onsite systems is critical for service providers and installers. This class covers those basics, including voltage choices, calculating electrical usage, and even minor electrical troubleshooting.

3 to 4 p.m.: Sara Heger, Managing Commercial Wastewater Treatments

Onsite systems serving commercial facilities are subject to many additional challenges, particularly surges in flows and organics. This course covers design and management options to help these systems operate more effectively.

4:30 to 5:30 p.m.: Tom Fritts, Choosing the Right Float to Control Your Pump

This seminar covers all the different float configurations, from the simplest two-float system to four-float duplex systems. It also looks at other nonfloat pump activation devices.

 

National Onsite Wastewater Recycling Association (NOWRA)

1:30 to 2:30 p.m.: Managing Cluster/Community Systems

Maintaining cluster and community systems can be profitable, but do you know what you are getting into? Attendees will learn the issues to consider when pursuing these contracts, and why many choices you make can affect your bottom line.

3 to 4 p.m.: Telemetry for Cost-Effective System Management

As more tech-savvy controls are available on the market, service providers have additional tools to manage systems for their clients. This session explains real-world experiences of the benefits telemetry, remote monitoring, and data-logging panels have for operators managing multiple systems.

4:30 to 5:30 p.m.: Maintenance by Contract – Opportunity or Obligation?

The U.S. EPA has identified maintenance contracts as a viable model for managing onsite and clustered wastewater treatment systems. This course looks at the benefits and limitations of maintenance contracts and the barriers to an effective maintenance business.

 

Northwest Michigan Onsite Wastewater Task Force

8 to 9 a.m.: Social Media – Friend or Foe

You have in your pocket an indispensable tool – a wireless phone or even a smartphone. But are you really using it to its full potential? Does the world of social media seem too nerdy to even consider? This session will teach you how to Tweet effectively, make Facebook your true friend, and more.

9:30 to 10:30 a.m.: Social Media – Taking it to the Web, Infinity and Beyond!

Do you need to be a graphics wizard to have a cool website? No, but a few basic design rules and a simple free Web service like Wordpress.com can help you get a website up and running in very little time. This session looks at how COLE Publishing organizes its Web content and how a city agency can incorporate the social media tools reviewed in the previous session.

 

Scott Hunter, Business Coach

8 a.m. to noon: Keeping Employees and Customers Happy

Ninety percent of new companies fail within 10 years. One key reason: unhappy employees or unhappy customers. It takes leadership to create and keep a winning atmosphere at work. This three-part session teaches how to do exactly that. It tells why people become unhappy and customers get disappointed – and how to produce the opposite result.

3 to 5:30 p.m.: How to Be Successful and Profitable in Any Economy

Many companies fail because their owners run them by the seat of their pants and have never learned what it takes for a company to succeed. This program tells what it takes, day in and day out, no matter what is going on in the economy, to have a company that is profitable and fulfills the owner’s vision and objectives.