The Wastewater Enthusiast

A big shoutout to the channel's latest members: Jamel (Chief Operator) and Rick (Shift Operator). Thank you for your support! I also want to share that Matt from ‪@OperatorMindset‬ and I have set our next date for Operator Support. Tune in on April 20th at 12PM Pacific / 3PM Eastern time to have your questions answered. We will also have a fun topic to discuss aside from the questions. If you have a question you want answered, email us at themattandshawnshow@gmail.com


I also want to give a big shoutout to all of my existing members of the channel!


Chief Operators: Donnie, Christian, Jose, Carlos, Michael C, Geoff, Michael B, Matthew P, Freddie, Matt R, Nicholas, and Cody


Shift Operators: Jonathan, Madeline, Ryan, Monterey Chameleons, Dave, Hank, Tahoe, Jesus, Whitney, Charles, Kris, and DeSean


Thank you all for your support!

5 days ago | [YT] | 34

The Wastewater Enthusiast

A big shout out to the channel’s newest members: Kris and DeSean! Both signed up as Shift Operators and I am very grateful for your support. Chief Operators, your member only live stream is tomorrow, March 27 at noon. See you then, or you can catch the replay afterward if you can’t make it live!

1 week ago | [YT] | 18

The Wastewater Enthusiast

New video on wastewater solids handling dropping next Monday the 30th! I toured City of San Luis Obispo’s brand new WRRF, and they took me through their entire solids handling process. Thickening, Digestion, Cogeneration, Dewatering, and a little bit of SCADA. It’s a 1,000 ft view and I’m super stoked to dive deeper into each process with them in future videos. Keep your eyes open for that on next week. Now I have a question for all of you as I look to building my next video: which do you want to see a video on after solids handling? Vote below!!

1 week ago | [YT] | 17

The Wastewater Enthusiast

Shout out to the newest channel members, Cody (Chief Operator) and Charles (Shift Operator). Thank you! The next member only livestream for the Chief Operators will be Friday March 27. We’re gonna be talking about my brand new OIT and my training strategy with him, and some cool stuff going on at the plant this spring.

Thanks to all the existing members as well:

Chief Operators: Donnie, Christian, Jose, Carlos, Michael C, Geoff, Matthew P, Michael B, Freddie, Matt R, & Nicholas W!

Shift Operators: Jonathan, Madeleine, Ryan, Java, MontereyChameleons, Dave, Hank, Tahoe, Jesus, & Whitney!

Thank you all so much for your support!

2 weeks ago | [YT] | 22

The Wastewater Enthusiast

Big news everybody! Matt of ‪@OperatorMindset‬ and I are starting a monthly live show geared toward answering any and all of your water and wastewater questions. It’s called Operator Support and we would like you to email us any of your super technical questions to themattandshawnshow@gmail.com and you can also drop some simpler questions in the live chat we will answer them in real time. The first episode is going to be March 17 at 1 PM Pacific / 4 PM Eastern time. The replay will be available if you can’t make the live show. I’m really looking forward to this, I think it’s going to be fun and informative.

4 weeks ago | [YT] | 54

The Wastewater Enthusiast

This Wednesday the 25th is gonna be a big day for the channel! First at 11AM PST I will be hosting the livestream for Chief Operator members. We will talk about violations and a Q&A for members. THEN in the afternoon I’m heading to another wastewater plant to film a video on sludge thickening, anaerobic digestion, and dewatering! That video will probably be edited and ready to post in a few weeks, and that’s gonna be open for everyone. Those of you who join the member live stream will get a sneak peak into which specific plant I’m traveling to, and the specifics of what the video will cover. Hope to see you there!

1 month ago | [YT] | 22

The Wastewater Enthusiast

Hey Everyone! I’ve been chatting with the Ops Cert folks at Water Environment Federation and they want you to know that there is $5000 up for grabs through the WEF Operator Scholarship!

The WEF Operator Scholarship application period is open now through March 31. It provides up to $5000 for individuals to enter or advance within the field of Water/Wastewater operations (i.e. Free money for operator training, education, certification)

A couple things to note: If you are new to the water/wastewater sector (worked 12 months or less in water), if awarded the scholarship you will also receive a WEF and WEF Member Association membership.
If you have worked in the water/wastewater sector for more than 12 months, you need to be a current WEF Member to be eligible.

Additional Information including a helpful FAQ and the link to apply can be found at www.wef.org/OpScholarship

I’ll also put out a short video sometime soon to promote this for further reach. Good luck!

1 month ago | [YT] | 32

The Wastewater Enthusiast

Ok everyone the Wastewater Grades 4 and 5 / Class A exam prep is formatted and ready to roll! I start streaming at 12 PM PST tomorrow Thursday Feb 12 here on YouTube. I’m expecting this one to take about an hour and a half. This session is FREE and open to EVERYONE! As always you can catch the replay if you can’t make the livestream.

I was reading some of the questions to Matt over at ‪@OperatorMindset‬ yesterday and he can vouch for how hard I made these. Why I did it this way is to get you an idea of what it’s gonna be like in the hot seat on exam day.

We will start with some tips for essay questions, move into a series of about 40 multiple choice practice questions, and then 5 of the hardest math questions I could come up with.

Hope to see you there!

1 month ago | [YT] | 21

The Wastewater Enthusiast

A little sneak peek for next week's video: my latest installment of "How To Get Certified" State by State will be Arizona! It was a lot of fun to work with ADEQ and I'm super stoked to get that one up on the channel Monday morning. Several of you have asked for me to do your State next so I'll put it up to a vote. Which State should be next?

1 month ago | [YT] | 12

The Wastewater Enthusiast

Ok Wastewater Grades 4 & 5 / Class A exam takers, your exam prep is next! I plan on presenting this live on Thursday Feb 12 at 12PM Pacific Time here on YouTube. This is free and open to everyone as usual. If you can’t make it, the replay will be open to everyone as well. We will go through multiple choice, a little essay writing coaching (for those who still have to do that), and a cluster of math problems. The main focus will be the multiple choice. The math is only slightly more difficult than the Grade 3 / Class B test. I often hear how caught off guard people are for the conceptual portion of these higher level tests. Hope to see you there!

1 month ago | [YT] | 32