EVALUATION OF POLICIES RELATED TO OPERATOR TRAINING AND PERFORMANCE OF WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANTS (CERTIFICATION, CAPITAL INVESTMENT, HUMAN CAPITAL, GRANTS)

Through a nationwide capital investment program in publicly owned municipal wastewater treatment plants, the clean water program appears to be achieving its goal of reducing water pollution. The construction of these wastewater treatment plants by local governments has been encouraged through the use of federal construction grants and through the promulgation and enforcement of clean water legislation. However, studies have indicated that a sizable portion of the treatment plants constructed under the nationwide clean water program are not performing as anticipated. With construction grants providing up to seventy-five per cent of the cost of eligible construction projects, the question becomes whether or not current policies emphasizing capital investments for the construction of new treatment facilities have been adequate.; The research evaluates five general policy areas related to operator training and the performance of wastewater treatment plants. The policy areas are: (1) The effectiveness of the Illinois operator certification program. (2) The value of requiring minimum operator certification levels based on plant complexity. (3) The value of various measures of operator training such as wastewater courses, years of experience, and conferences and workshops. (4) The effect of the political organization of the wastewater agency. (5) The effect of the USEPA construction grant program on the allocation of financial resources. In particular, the trade off between an investment in facilities and an investment in operator training will be evaluated.; The research used northeastern Illinois as a study area and found both an effective state certification program and an underinvestment in operator training. A dollar invested in certain forms of training appeared twenty or more times as effective for improving wastewater treatment plant effluent as a dollar invested in additional plant capacity.