Lower Rio Grande Valley Water & Wastewater Training Expo

I'm really excited about our trip to McAllen, Texas, next week to host the Texas Engineering Extension Service (TEEX) Lower Rio Grande Valley Water & Wastewater Training Expo. We're packing up our training trailers and heading to the McAllen Convention Center, where we are looking forward to making and training many new friends.


Never before has TEEX been able to bring so much training, in an Expo format, to one area at one time.The three-day schedule is packed, beginning with registration at 7 a.m. on Tuesday, February 2, 2010, and continuing until the conference's conclusion at 5 p.m. on Thursday, February 4, 2010.

The Expo is going to have a lot of training opportunities, including traditional classroom-based courses required for Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) licensing, as well as guest speakers, special presentations, and evening study sessions to help students prepare for licensing exams. We'll be teaching basic water, basic wastewater, pump and motor, and valve and hydrant maintenance as well as utilities calculations and confined space entry.

We've also got some grant-funded courses in Disaster Management for Water and Wastewater for both senior managers and system employees. For example, Disaster Management for Water & Wastewater (MGT343) covers preparing for, responding to, and recovering from natural or man-made incidents affecting water and wastewater facilities. Participants are guided through portions of the Environmental Protection Agency's Response Protocol Toolbox to identify steps in the response and recovery process, and create a recovery plan.

MGT342, Senior Officials Disaster Management for Water & Wastewater, is a second, shorter course for senior officials who may be required to manage or react to any natural or man-made incident affecting water or wastewater systems. Both courses are available at no cost to qualified systems.

Our brochure for the Lower Rio Grande Valley Water & Wastewater Training Expo contains the complete list of course offerings as well as the agenda, along with some great photos of our classes and training aids. Join us, even if it's just for the opening session, or visit with our trainers and share what you know.

If you can't make it to McAllen, our website at www.teex.org/www contains a complete course schedule. There, you can choose from nearly 50 entry-level to advanced-level courses, most of which are eligible for credit from the TCEQ. You can also register for classes on the website or call TEEX at 800-SAFE-811 (800-723-3811) for help.

There aren't many things more important than clean, safe water, and we enjoy our contribution to that end. As a Member of the Texas A&M University System, TEEX's Water & Wastewater Training Program has some of the most knowledgeable instructors in the country, top-quality training materials, and many of the industry's best training aids. We train our operators to improve public health and provide clean, safe drinking water for the citizens of Texas, and we're proud to have been doing it for 60 years.

Andrew Wenzel is the water and environmental training director for the Infrastructure Training and Safety Institute at the Texas Engineering Extension Service.