Plant Operator - Wastewater Utility Plant

Overview

The City of Richmond Department of Public Utilities is seeking qualified candidates to fill a Plant Operator position in the Wastewater Utility Plant
. The Plant Operator will perform work of moderate to considerable difficulty in the operating of a wastewater treatment plant in accordance with applicable laws, ordinances, and regulations. The Plant Operator is a career broadband position.

Incumbents serve as an Essential employee, which means that the incumbent is required to work when the City is closed due to public emergencies, critical or hazardous conditions, or inclement weather.

• Monitoring, documenting, and optimizing wastewater plant process controls to include adjusting wastewater flow rates, chemical dosage set points, air compressor discharge pressures, and blower output settings;
• Maintaining compliance with the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality VPDES permit and the Environmental Protection Agency’s federal regulations;
• Recognizing and correcting negative impacts to wastewater quality;
• Sampling, collecting, documenting chain of custody information, transporting, and performing laboratory testing and analysis on wastewater, sludge, and biosolids samples;
• Reading and interpreting gauges, meters, wastewater quality analyzers, and control panels to monitor plant equipment and adjust treatment processes to maintain compliance with the wastewater treatment plant permits;
• Observing and documenting variations in operating conditions and wastewater treatment techniques to determine proper process control adjustments;
• Recording operational data in wastewater control station log books, digital databases, daily log sheets, and supervisory control and data acquisition systems;
• Operating valves, gates, pumps, and plant equipment to control and adjust wastewater treatment processes;
• Adjusting, monitoring, and responding to normal and abnormal operational situations involving the wastewater collection system, combined sewer overflows, retention basin, diversion structure, remote collection stations, and wastewater treatment plant;
• Completing visual inspections of assigned duty stations and treatment facilities several times each shift;
• Perform regular preventative maintenance on plant equipment, structures, tanks, and grounds (groundskeeping and housekeeping);
• General housekeeping and cleaning in and around wastewater operator control stations;
• Ability to use and navigate applications and programs on desktop computers, laptop computers, smartphones, tablets, human machine interfaces, programmable logic controllers, and operator interface terminals;
• Perform complex mathematical calculations to determine areas, volumes, averages, means, geometric means, minimums, maximums, percentages, wastewater flow rates, sludge flow rates, return activated sludge flow rates, waste activated sludge flow rates, filter influent flow rates, pump speeds, blower speeds, chemical demands, chemical dosages, and chemical residuals;
• Active participation in the stormwater pollution prevention program which includes regular inspections and daily groundskeeping responsibilities;
• Walking for long periods of times indoors and outdoors, up and down several flights of stairs, during the day or at night, in all types of weather, wearing the appropriate level of personal protective equipment;
• Active participation in utility wide safety programs;
• Active participation in employee training programs;

• Knowledge of wastewater treatment processes;
• Knowledge of safety principles and safety practices;
• Knowledge of Scada programs used to monitor, control, and document wastewater plant operations and compliance;
• Strong mathematical background in Algebra and Geometry;
• Ability to safely use hand tools;
• Knowledge of wastewater laboratory equipment including spectrophotometers, p.H. probes and meters, dissolved oxygen probes and meters, incubators, ovens, and glassware;
• Knowledge of computerized maintenance management systems

• High School Diploma or GED;
• Virginia driver’s license;
• Ability to properly use personal protective equipment;
• Knowledge of wastewater treatment techniques