The Academic Committee Delegates are:
Paul Trotta - (Chair) University of Northern Arizona
Kitt Farrell-Poe - University of Arizona
Del Mokma - Michigan State University
John Buchanan - University of Tennessee
Mark Gross - University of Arkansas
Donald Waller -Dalhousie University

The Advisory Committee Delegates are:
Bruce Douglas -Questa Engineering
Paul Gruver - SoilTech
David Venhuizen -Consultant

Current Activities

The University Curriculum:

Under the University Curriculum project, appropriate modules were developed for teaching a one-semester laboratory and field course in onsite/decentralized wastewater treatment and natural water reclamation systems.  The target audience for the materials is third- and fourth-year engineering students.  The modules can also be adapted for undergraduate and graduate-level university courses in Environmental Health and other non-engineering curricula.  The University Curriculum is available on CD-ROM with a navigational and organizational macro.  The format is such that the materials are accessible and modifiable using software that instructors will have readily available.

The Practitioner Curriculum:
The Practitioner Curriculum project is an effort to formalize and coordinate training opportunities for field practitioners in onsite/decentralized wastewater treatment.  The goals of the curriculum are to: 

1.  Improve the field practitioner's ability to effectivley utilize onsite and decentralized   technologies to improve the State of Practice (SOP), and

2.  Enhance opportunities for the general public to make the best use of onsite/decentralized technology in  their approach to a community's wastewater needs.

This project provides a consistent technical educational base from which to launch nationwide training programs, but the modules available on CD may be modified to address specific local needs.  The materials currently developed include a Model Practitioner Curriculum that can be used to organize training programs as well as four detailed training modules.

Consortium Educational Curriculum:
The Consortium of Institutes for Decentralized Wastewater Treatment has outlined an educational curriculum as a joint effort between Consortium delegates from the academic and advisory communities including individuals from public agencies (state, counties and towns) and private companies (consultants, manufacturers, engineers, designers soil scientists, and service providers). The effort to define an over-arching curriculum was prompted by two educational projects involving over 40 training and education specialists in the on-site wastewater field from throughout the U.S. and Canada. The goal of the projects was to increase professionalism and improve the state of practice in the onsite/decentralized wastewater field. The projects are in the final development stages.

The National O&M Service Provider Training Program:
The National Operation and Maintenance Service Provider Program is a training program that presents a standardized method for evaluating the status of treatment, distribution and dispersal technologies used in residential onsite wastewater treatment. This program will establish a benchmark for monitoring, operation and maintenance activities. Standardization of maintenance practices helps you compete for jobs and clarifies communication with your clients.

The Student Design Contest:
The Consortium is developing and conducting a student design competition for decentralized wastewater treatment to provide a forum for bringing young professionals into the field of decentralized wastewater treatment.

The development of these projects was supported by the
National Decentralized Water Resources Capacity Development Project
 with funding provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
 through a Cooperative Agreement (EPA No. CR827881-01-0) with Washington University in St. Louis.