Entries for the 'Training/CEUs' Category

17

SmallWaterSupply.org Loves: USEPA's Energy Use Assessment Tool 

These days we're hearing a lot about the intersection of water issues and energy issues. It is no doubt the challenges are intertwined, especially for small communities. 

The US Environmental Protection Agency has developed a Microsoft Excel-based tool that helps small-to-medium water and wastewater systems conduct a utility bill and equipment analysis to determine their individual baseline energy use and costs.

This type of simple assessment is the first step a system should take before conducting a full-scale energy audit. Looking at your energy usage is one way to reduce operational costs and improve the financial sustainability of the system.

Before you get started using the tool (or attending the training below), you might want to check out this handout on Understanding Your Electric Bill

Learn How to Use the Tool
Join USEPA for an instructional webinar on Thursday, May 31 at 1:30pm Eastern. Find out how your system can become more energy efficient by using this simple tool. 

03
 Now that the Tribal Resources page is active, we thought it would be a good time to go through some of the best ways to search our site for tribal events and training.
 
The Tribal Difference
Tribal water and wastewater operators have a different process for certification.  They follow the certification requirements for the National Tribal Operator Certification program.  Because this certification doesn't follow any state boundaries, a tribal operator can't easily find training nearby using the "State" search in our event calendar, even though one of the options is "National Tribal Operator Certification"  If you select State=National Tribal Operator Certification, your results will include tribal events from all over the country. 
 
How The 'State' Criteria Works In the Event Search
Our database and search program uses both the location of the event and the state offering CEU's as criteria when you search by state.  So, if you search by State=Arizona, then all events in Arizona, including tribal events, will be displayed.  Any training in a different state that is accepted by Arizona for CEU credit will also be displayed. 
 
Our System Narrows It Down For You
The best approach for finding tribal events near you is to use a series of conditions.  For instance, if you are in Arizona, then first select, 'State=Arizona", then use the 2nd filter select button to choose 'Category=Tribal'.  You could also put 'tribal' in the key word filter, or if you were searching for training from a specific organization, like the Indian Health Service, you could use the 2nd filter select button to choose, 'Sponsor=Indian Health Service', and only IHS events in Arizona would be displayed.
 
Be Creative
Searching for information is all about the words you use.  If you are looking for a specific training, say about arsenic, you can use the 3rd filter select button to narrow the search down even further to only those tribal events in Arizona that have a component of the training dealing with arsenic.  Or you could select 'State=National Tribal Operator Certification', and then 'Category=Arsenic' in the 2nd filter. Most of the time you won't need to get that specific, there aren't so many events on the calendar that you have to use the 3rd filter, but sometimes it can happen.   
 
Here's a what a search would look like after applying all three filters:
 
 
 
Most importantly, if you have any trouble finding events, or documents of interest for that matter, call or email us.  We will gladly assist you in searching for information, or even walking through a short tutorial over the phone to answer your questions and help you find what you are looking for.
 
16

There is only one thing we love more than free webinars and easy access to them: a repository of past webinars ready-for-viewing! We came across two different listings of archived webinars recently:

1. Webinars on Demand from The Groundwater Foundation
Fifteen webinar trainings on relevant groundwater topics. Perfect for newer operators as well as board member training.

2. Past Webcasts from USEPA's Watershed Academy
More that 60 archived webcasts on a broad range of clean water issues.

We know you don't have a ton of extra time, but web-based training is often the next best thing to in person interaction. You can see and hear examples, which makes the information easier to digest and remember. We'll be adding these to our document library so you can always find the training you need, when you need it.

02

Earlier this year, we picked free & low cost webinars as one of the things we love here at SmallWaterSupply.org - and we still love 'em. Webinars are web-based training seminars and events that you watch and listen to from your computer.

In fact, so many other organizations love them too. In the face of budget cuts, many training providers are turning to these online training formats to still reach you. So many in fact, we have found the need to do a better job of keeping track of them all for you.

On the front page of SmallWaterSupply.org we've swapped out out around-the-nation style events calendar for a listing of free (and only free) webinars that you can attend wherever you have an internet connection. Just as we did before, we'll keep this listing updated with the events coming up soon. Some of these events offer CEUs!

Do you attend webinars? We've love to know what you think of this format. Please tell us in the comments.

 

 

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