“By supporting our staff to become EOCP-recognized trainers and to deliver training at home and in nearby communities, we are making a very cost-effective investment in the City’s long-term human resource capacity for water utility excellence, while also meeting our regulatory requirements for continuing education,” stated Joe McGowan, Director of Public Works for the City of Cranbrook
Note to Reader:
When the water utility operators at the Village of Canal Flats heard about the Peer-to-Peer (P2P) training pilot project being led by Columbia Basin Water Smart and the Environmental Operators Certification Program (EOCP), they knew they had a perfect case study for testing the model: in May 2015, water utility staff from Canal Flats contacted Joe McGowan at the City of Cranbrook and requested peer-to-peer training support from Cranbrook utility personnel with expertise in Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) sewer camera operation. The outcomes of this training exercise indicate that the P2P training model provides multiple, cost-effective benefits for peer-to-peer trainers and trainees.
News from the Columbia Basin: Peer-to-Peer Training Delivers Tangible Results in Canal Flats
“Canal Flats had been experiencing multiple challenges with recently installed sanitary sewer mains and were unable to determine the source of the problems. Utility personnel at the City of Cranbrook had recently registered a relevant in-house water operator training activity with the EOCP, so an effective training match and arrangements for an inter-community training activity were made,” states Meredith Hamstead, Water Smart Coordinator.
A Practical Training Model
“We were experiencing problems that we did not have the technical expertise to solve,” reported Bill Doroshuk, Public Works Coordinator at the Village of Canal Flats. “By collaborating with a water operator from the City of Cranbrook we are able to learn practical skills in a hands-on setting, properly diagnose the specific problems we were facing, and earn CEUs. This a very practical training model that gives many benefits to utilities.”
“On May 27 the City of Cranbrook sent a flusher truck and an experienced EOCP-certified water operator with CCTV equipment to Canal Flats to deliver an EOCP-recognized on-site training activity to two Canal Flats operators,” adds Joe McGowan, Director of Public Works for the City of Cranbrook . “The City of Cranbrook supplied the employees and equipment at no cost to Canal Flats. The Village did host the two Cranbrook employees to an excellent lunch!)”
