Steve Wilson posted on August 19, 2011 05:12
When I first got involved in this business, my view of the small community operator was that of an older operator who possibly grew up in the town he was working for. As I got more involved, I realized that contract operations is commonplace, and in some cases big business.
In Illinois, there are currently about 1750 community water supplies, and those supplies are being managed by about 1180 operators. That means that at least 1/3 of the community water supplies in Illinois are being managed by a contract operator, who operates more than one system. That doesn't even consider those who are contracted that only have one system. Wow, thats many more than I realized.
Is It Getting Out Of Hand?
I was at the USEPA Capacity Development Workshop last fall where most of the state programs were represented. In a large group discussion about contract operations, it was brought up by one state that they had an operator request to be the operator in charge of over 300 systems. That was the extreme case, but it points out how a contract operator can take advantage of a small communities needs and lack of adequate funding for a full time operator to create a better income for themselves.
Am I Naive?
My impression of a contract operator, based on the few I know, is that its an operator who is in charge of a decent sized system, which is his permanent position, who takes on one or a couple of small systems that are between operators or that is close enough and simple enough that they can juggle the added effort needed. Now I am beginning to wonder.
Interesting Call
I got a call from an operator who was asking about job possibilities and if we knew of any available operator jobs that might be available. I wasn't able to help him, but in talking to him, he is an operator with 20 years experience who is trying to contract himself out. He just lost out on a job to an operator with 37 years experience who was applying for the same position. That's not that surprising, but then he said it was for a contact operator job for a small mobile home park and that there were well over 50 applicants for the job.
Doesn't That Seem Backward?
If we are having an operator shortage, how can there be so many operators applying for a part-time position like that. I talked to a technical assistance provider who had been an operator early in their career and she suggested that being a contract operator can be a lucretive business, earning well over $1000 a facility per month. It wouldn't take too many of these facilitiies to make a decent living for sure.
So What Is Really Going On?
I don't claim to know what is going on, and I imagine it is different in different states. Some states have strict rules for their operators. Either they have to spend a certain number of hours at their facilities or they limit the number of facilities they can be responsible for. Others, I suspect, may not have such rules in place. So, the real question is what does this mean for the future? Is there really a shortage, or has the profession found a way to reduce the number of operators necessary by allowing them to operate multiple facilities? I'd love to hear your thoughts on this issue.