Continuing education for engineers

How it works

• In most states, you decide. The board does not approve each course. You choose courses that advance your engineering knowledge, report the hours when you renew, and keep the certificates in case you are audited.
• One hour of course is one hour. A PDH is one hour of instruction, and each course states its length in hours.
• Some required hours need an approved provider. In Florida, the laws-and-rules and ethics hours (2 of the 18) must come from a board-approved provider; the other hours are your choice. New York is reported to require board-approved providers for all hours. AquaCert is not an approved provider with any state's engineering board, so it cannot supply those hours, and in New York these courses may not count.
• Check your own board. Rules differ by state, including how many hours are needed, any required topics such as ethics or state law, and how much can carry over. Your board's word is the one that counts.

What you keep

Every course ends with a graded quiz, and a certificate is issued only after you pass it. The certificate shows your name, AquaCert LLC as the provider, the course title, the completion date and the hours, and it carries a link anyone can use to confirm it is genuine. That is the record a board audit asks for.

These courses are written for wastewater professionals and reviewed by a licensed Class 1 wastewater operator who is also an industrial engineer. None of them is approved by an engineering board.

Best fit: design parameters

Each teaches something that appears in a design basis: a flow, a loading rate, a contact time.

• Flow Splitting: Why One Tank Fails First
  Hydraulic distribution between parallel units: a design defect before it is an operating one.
• The Baffle That Works and the One That Does Not
  A baffle is a physical modification an engineer specifies.
• Standby Power: Proved Under Load, or Not Proved
  Reliability class and proving standby power under load.
• Protecting the Process Through a Peak Flow
  Peak-flow management, which is designed for before it is operated.
• Storm Modes: What To Switch and When It Is Late
  Storm operating modes, and the design that makes them possible.
• The Four Design Flows and What Your Permit Uses Illinois rules
  The four design flows and which one a permit uses.
• Hydraulic vs Organic Capacity Illinois rules
  Hydraulic versus organic capacity: a capacity rating is an engineering determination.
• Disinfection CT: Contact Time Is Not Volume/Flow Illinois rules
  Contact time and baffling factors are design calculations.
• Clarifier Weirs: Loading, Level and Blocks Illinois rules
  Weir loading rate, a design criterion.
• Filter Media: Depth, Grading and BOD Credit Illinois rules
  Filter media depth, grading and the loading formula behind BOD credit.

Good fit for engineers who run or manage a plant

Process control with design consequences. Strongest for a utility or municipal engineer.

• Wasting Rate, Sludge Age and the F/M Lever
  Sludge age and F/M, in the design basis and the daily log alike.
• Nitrification: Alkalinity, Cold and Sludge Age
  Nitrification: alkalinity, cold and sludge age.
• Infiltration or Inflow: Telling Them Apart
  Infiltration or inflow, and what each means for the collection system.
• Solids in the Effluent: Which Failure Is It?
  Solids in the effluent, traced to their cause.
• Primary Clarifiers: Withdrawal Rate and Septicity
  Primary clarifier withdrawal rate and septicity.
• Clarifier Operation and Troubleshooting
  Clarifier operation and troubleshooting.
• Rising Sludge or Bulking: Telling Them Apart
  Rising sludge or bulking: telling them apart.
• Secondary Clarifier Blanket and RAS Control Illinois rules
  Secondary clarifier blanket and RAS control.
• RBCs: Shaft Weight, Film Control and Failure Illinois rules
  RBC shaft weight, film control and failure.
• Trickling Filter Arm Speed and Recirculation Illinois rules
  Trickling filter arm speed and recirculation.