Sanitary Survey Training for State PWS Inspectors

The Maryland Center for Environmental Training delivers comprehensive training titled, How to Conduct a Sanitary Survey of a Small Water System to State regulatory staff and local health officials across the United States. This program is affiliated with the EPA Drinking Water Academy.

Our goal is to train, upgrade and/or maintain the ability of State inspectors so they may conduct comprehensive, technically sound sanitary surveys of small water systems.  Further, the training will be sufficient in content that inspectors should obtain a level of knowledge enabling them to ensure that their sanitary surveys of small water systems address the following eight elements: water source; treatment; distribution system; finished water storage; pumps, pump facilities and controls; monitoring, reporting and data verification; water system management and operations; and, operator compliance with State requirements.  We use the EPA Drinking Water Academy’s Training materials during this training.

Each participant in a sanitary survey training course will receive copies of the Learner's Guide and the Field References.

These materials include:

• Learner's Guide Drinking Water Instructor’s Field Reference Guide for Surface Water Systems

• Drinking Water Instructor’s Field Reference Guide for Ground Water Systems

• DVD: Cross Connections Storage Facilities, Hypochlorination, Gas Chlorination, Distribution Systems, Sampling and Monitoring GWUDI

• DVD: Small Systems and Emergency Response

• CD: Sanitary Survey Fundamentals Prep Course

The Learner's Guide covers the following topics: organizing the sanitary survey; drinking water regulations; water sources; water supply pumps and pumping; storage facilities; water treatment processes; distribution systems; cross-connections; monitoring and laboratory testing; and water system management. The Guide contains numerous graphics of key water system components.

The Field Reference Guide provides comprehensive checklists of questions to be considered during a sanitary survey of a small system. They are in a small-sized format for field use and include graphics needed to identify and understand water system components and procedures.
 

Meet the MCET Sanitary Survey Training Team:

Lenny Gold, Senior Operations Specialist
Lenny is an engineer and certified operator with 30 years of experience in the water and wastewater treatment field.  His experience includes regulatory inspection and management of a state affiliated contract operations and maintenance program for water and wastewater facilities.  For the past 24 years, Lenny has been providing services for utilities, to include training, technical assistance, and implementation of process control strategies designed to optimize the performance of water and wastewater facilities.  Projects have included CPE’s as well as conducting sanitary surveys.  Lenny has been providing sanitary survey training nationally for more than 20 years.

Doug Abbott, Senior Operations Specialist
Doug is a specialist in drinking water and wastewater systems operation, maintenance and management.  He is a Maryland certified water and wastewater system operator.  For more than 20 years, Doug has provided training and technical assistance for a broad spectrum of utility organizations, both nationally and internationally.  Projects have included on-site troubleshooting, process optimization, system operations and maintenance evaluations, and water and wastewater Comprehensive Performance Evaluations (CPEs).  Over the past 20 years, Doug has been involved with the sanitary survey program, including providing training and participating in conducting sanitary surveys of water systems.

Peter Karalekas, Senior Training Specialist
Peter is a consulting engineer with over 30 years of experience in the water supply field.  He is a retired U.S. Public Health Service Officer and spent most of his career in government assigned to EPA’s drinking water program.  He is a registered professional engineer and a Diplomate of the American Academy of Environmental Engineers.  In addition, Peter serves as editor of the Journal of New England Water Works Association and is a member of the Massachusetts Board of Certification of Drinking Water Operators.  Peter has been involved in the development and delivery of sanitary survey training for more than 20 years.

What the PWS inspectors had to say about the training...

"This was a very insightful course.  Provides great information.  So happy I chose to attend."  (Honolulu, HI - January 2009)

"Great program, good examples, lively pertinent discussions."
(Honolulu, HI - January 2009)

"Very good job at incorporating presentations with practical experiences."  (Leesburg, VA - April 2009)

"I have more confidence with inspections."  (Leesburg, VA - April 2009)

"Appreciated the way the course was presented. Information was first, practical hands on second and finally discussion."
(Reno, NV - October 2009)

"I felt the course provided great background on how systems work and how to evaluate them."  (Reno, NV - October 2009)

For more information on this program please contact MCET at info@mcet.org