“You don’t know how happy I am.” RCAP Solutions’ team in Puerto Rico recently held a review session that yielded impressive turnout and results
A few months ago, the Puerto Rican Treatment Plant Operators Board of Examiners announced an exam for current and would-be drinking water treatment plant operators. As a result of this announcement, several communities requested assistance in preparing. RCAP Solutions’ team in Puerto Rico quickly arranged a free training session, opened registration, and just as quickly filled all of the available spaces.
The training session was conducted in November 2018 and covered areas of math, biology, physics, and chemistry – as well as other topics like safety, equipment maintenance, regulation, and public health. The goal was to assist prospective operators who already had basic knowledge of how to treat community systems by giving them a “refresher course” regarding topics that would be on the exam.
The session attendees who took the exam recently got their results back. One participant who passed with an exceptional score told us, “You don’t know how happy I am, this means a lot to me in many ways. I felt I needed to tell you guys the great news first. It was not the first time I took the exam and the training was a difference this time. Thanks to all [at the] RCAP team.”
Juan Campos Collazo, our Community Development Specialist in Puerto Rico, led the training and was assisted by Carlos Velazquez-Figueroa, a Wastewater Technician. Campos Collazo expressed his thoughts, “The relationship between [the participants] and RCAP Solutions is an open one, with confidence to talk about their experience in the field and to ask questions. They have the opportunity to be themselves, be taken seriously, and be treated with respect.”
He continued, “The refresher training is maybe their best chance, for some of them – the only chance, to prepare for the Operator Certification Exam. I would add that this is the best investment for the required effort, as a certified operator will be more careful in the operation of a system in order to keep his license and will rely on better operation practices, thus producing more reliable drinking water.” He finished his thoughts with one final statement about the sessions, “We should keep doing them.”