Wastewater Treatment Plant Operator

Summary

This position is located in the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Agricultural Research Service (ARS), Field Organization, Plains Area (PA), National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility (NBAF) in Manhattan, KS. In this role you will serve as the wastewater treatment operator responsible for operating the plant, including pretreatment, primary, secondary, and tertiary treatment, and ensuring compliance with NPDES and KDHE permits.

• Operate the wastewater treatment plant to provide full range of treatment as required by NPDES and KDHE permits.
• Operate a variety of pumps, valves, gates, feeders, flocculates, clarifiers, filters, and other controls to move waterborne domestic and industrial waste through the stages of treatment.
• Collect samples, run tests on influent, intermediate stages, and effluent, and adjust chemical additions according to specified requirements.
• Perform operator maintenance, maintain records and logs in accordance with permits and NBAF standard operating procedures, and observe all safety rules and procedures.
• Work individually or as part of a team, with shift responsibility on rotating shifts, weekend and holiday shifts, to man the plant continuously.
• Operate comminutor or barminter, grit removal system, splitter boxes, valves, pumps, collector systems, and primary settling tanks during pretreatment and primary treatment stages.
• Operate secondary clarifiers, trickling filters, rapid mix chambers, lime feed systems, pumps, valves, collector systems, and electronic monitoring equipment.
• Perform tertiary operation functions.
• Respond to warning signals from alarm systems, investigate causes, and take appropriate corrective action.
• Regulate and control chemical treatment processes, test and analyze sewage and sludge at prescribed points, and calibrate/maintain electronic analyzers to ensure wastewater effluent meets KDHE and NPDES parameters.
• Operate vacuum coil filter or belt filter press for final sludge disposal.
• Perform operator maintenance on all equipment, including oiling, greasing, replacing parts, and adjusting in accordance with Technical Manuals, SOPs, manufacturers' manuals, and supervisor instructions.
• Maintain required records, operator logs, flow charts, and calibration charts.
• Operate computer and software programs such as Microsoft Word, Outlook, Internet Explorer, and Excel.
• Operate government-owned vehicles for official purposes.

This position does not have an education qualification requirement.