H2M’s Commitment to Professional Development
H2M recently provided water and wastewater treatment plant operators with continuing educational opportunities as part of H2M’s long-term commitment to growth in the water field. Professional development provides a chance for water professionals to grow within their field and fulfill a requirement for continuing education, which is necessary for maintaining professional certification levels. As a major part of that commitment, H2M water engineers work with local water works conferences and through several sections of the American Water Works Association.
At H2M, we focus on our voluntary training opportunities provided through the NY Section of the American Water Works Association (NYSAWWA). This commitment goes back more than 20 years and now totals more than 120 training events and over 400 hours of training. The water sector is an area of constantly expanding technical, regulatory, management, and operational challenges, and our objective is to keep these critical water section professionals ahead of the curve.
We rely on feedback through our active involvement with the NYSAWWA’s Training Coordinator Committee, helping to select and assist in the development of some 60 training sessions offered statewide by the Section in a typical year. Included in our contribution this year was a new course offered in our Melville office, “Reading & Understanding Engineering Plans and Specs for Water and Wastewater.” Spearheaded by Tony Trombino and assisted by Joseph Kocaj, the session reviewed types of drawings, schematics, and diagrams, plan element schedules, and developed a process for reading drawings and acquiring needed information. This was aimed at operators who may not be engaged in these activities daily but who need a basic working knowledge of plan and specification organization. This was accomplished with a combination of a PowerPoint presentation and group tabletop exercises.
As a first-time offering, the session was well received by some 25 participants, and we anticipate this will be one of several core offerings that will be given periodically in Melville and other H2M locations as well as other sites selected by the Section
