Water and Wastewater Treatment

Overview
Program Outcomes
Placement Requirement

Overview

Bellingham Technical College’s Water and Wastewater Treatment program will train you for top jobs at water and wastewater treatment plants, including positions as water and wastewater treatment operators. WWT operators work to ensure that the safety, environmental and water quality standards for an employer’s treatment system are met. Currently, our primary employers in Washington State are municipalities and private contractors who run fresh water and wastewater treatment plants.

The water and wastewater treatment sector of the U.S. economy has 114,770 jobs, with an average of 7,500 positions opening per year. All municipalities are required to meet rigorous fresh water and wastewater treatment standards, and these facilities require highly skilled employees who are trained in advanced treatment methods. BTC’s Water and Wastewater Treatment program gives you training in technical skills and interpersonal skills to get you ready for top jobs in the field of water treatment.

Program Outcomes

Appraise the typical hazards found in water and wastewater treatment plants, basic PPE, and know the requirements of regulating bodies regarding safety, health, and environmental issues (OSHA, DOT, EPA).
Combine mathematics, chemistry and physics theory to apply to process applications such as fluid flow, the nature of heat, chemical reaction, boing points, vapor pressure and electrical currents.
Recognize typical organizational structures, economics, and quality control systems of the water and wastewater treatment industry.
Apprise fundamentals of water and wastewater treatment processes; know core functions and principles of operation of typical process equipment such as pumps, compressors, filters and dryers, lubrication systems, valves, piping systems, and draw from memory Process Flow Diagrams.
Integrate the principles of process automatic control and Data Control Systems (DCS) to manage simulated DCS scenarios.
Graduates will have the ability to compare actual water and wastewater plant experience versus preconceived notions.

Placement Requirements

Admissions application and assessment testing in Reading, Math, and Sentence Skills are required. Your score on the test and/or your previous transcripts will determine where you begin your course sequence. Contact Admissions at 360.752.8345 or at admissions@btc.edu for assistance with academic planning.

Degree and Certificate Requirements

Water and Wastewater Treatment AAS Degree and Certificate completion requires a cumulative GPA of 2.0 or greater and minimum grade of C/2.0 for AMATH 111 course.