BonnerSprings.com

In the past, Rick Sailler has traveled to Emporia, Topeka and Wichita for the training necessary to maintain water supply operator certification.

But this week, the Bonner Springs utilities director just had to go right up the street.

The city of Bonner Springs found a new use for the recently expanded Bonner Springs Fire Station as it played host Tuesday and Wednesday to a workshop for water supply system operators working in the state of Kansas at the training room in the station. The Kansas Department of Health and Environment also will conduct operator certification testing for about 45 operators at the fire station today.

Sailler has been a member of the Kansas section of American Waterworks Association’s Operator Training Committee for two years and had previously hoped to bring the certification classes to Bonner, but there were no facilities that could support the classes.

“When it came up this year, where to have this one, I thought about this fine facility,” he said of the newly revamped fire station, which was completed last year. “It has all the audio/visual that we would need.”

All water systems in the state of Kansas are required to have professional certified operators to oversee and operate drinking water systems. Operators are required to obtain 10 hours of training credit every two years to learn new regulations, treatment techniques, and safety and security issues for water systems to ensure they provide safe drinking water. This week’s classes equaled 10 hours of credit.

About 30 operators came for the workshop, all from Johnson County WaterOne and the Kansas City Board of Public Utilities, as well as the cities of Olathe, Basehor, Ottawa and Atchison. Because the workshop took place in Bonner, two operators from Bonner were able to attend the class for no charge.

The workshop covered several topics like safety issues, chlorine, chemical feeds and pumps. There was even a math session discussing the calculations operators must use for chemicals and flow rates. Sailler himself taught a session on laboratory procedures.

“This training is vital for Kansas water operators, who are responsible for the protection of public health, to acquire additional knowledge of treatment practices and techniques,” Sailler said. “The city takes pride in hosting this workshop for operators in our region.”

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