AWWA ACE65085

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) teamed with the University of Texas at Austin to develop a two-day training course in an initiative to increase the education of their inspectors on filtration processes used to treat potable water from surface water and groundwater sources. The course provides practical information on the history and theory of potable water filters and how each is related to the design, operation, maintenance, and regulatory requirements of potable water filters. The course includes lessons on gravity filters; pressure filters, including manganese greensand and potassium permanganate feed systems; membrane filters; and other, less common types of filters, such as biological filters, roughing filters, and riverbank filtration. The course materials include a course manual, and each chapter of the manual covers a separate topic that is incorporated into individual lessons during the course. Each lesson has an associated lesson plan, presentation, and review including questions and answers. The manual also serves to supplement the course by describing concepts more thoroughly than during the presentation and provides a reference for the inspectors to use after completion of the course. The primary objectives of the course include having the staff member obtain the following knowledge: understand the various chemical and physical processes involved in filtration; understand the importance of pretreatment chemistry to the success of most filters; identify and distinguish between the various filter technologies used in the potable water industry and summarize their advantages and disadvantages; understand the impact of design, operations, and maintenance practices on filter performance; summarize the advantages and disadvantages of the various technologies; explain the basis for the TECQ's design requirements for potable water filters; and, describe routine and special monitoring requirements, as well as reporting requirements, for the various filtration technologies. This paper provides an overview of the topics, the learning objectives, the structure, benefits, and lessons learned. The conference presentation includes showing representative materials from the course to provide the audience with an understanding of the value of the program and these educational materials. Includes figure.