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Background
For nearly 20 years, St. Cloud Technical & Community College (SCTCC) hosted a satellite Water Environment Technologies (WETT) program at the Eden Prairie water treatment plant. Approximately 240 students attended and graduated from the Eden Prairie site.

A big “Thank you” to the City of Eden Prairie, for their commitment to the program for the past 20 years!

Closure
At the conclusion of the 2019 spring semester, SCTCC abruptly and permanently closed the Eden Prairie program. They continue to offer the WETT program in St Cloud.

Identify Needs
Upon learning of the closure of the metro WETT Program, a core group of MN AWWA and MWOA (MN Wastewater Operators Association) operations professionals met to determine next steps.

The Committee met with utility leaders, across the metro area, to identify and understand their hiring needs. Collectively, they all agreed, that now, more than ever, they need trained and competent candidates to fill vacant positions.

The leaders expressed their concerns that the cancellation of the WETT program severely impacted the recruitment pathway for vacancy filling.

They stated the value and benefits of having a local and professional education and training program. They shared concerns regarding their needs of having qualified job applicants. Due to the wide variety of treatment processes, technology and desired job skills and capabilities, they need a specialized training program.

Partnership
After exploring a number of options, a partnership was formed with St. Paul Community & Technical College. The college agreed to host a new water and wastewater technology program within the department of workforce training and continuing education. The program was aptly branded - “Water Utility Treatment and Technology” (WUTT).    

Needs from You
In order to train the students adequately, it is important that the WUTT Program has high-quality, up-to-date equipment and materials.  At this time, training aids for this brand-new program are not on-hand.  

Attached is a partial list of tools, equipment and materials this program will need to support the successful training of new operators. We are asking you to consider donating any items that you may have at your disposal. It takes a lot of hands-on training materials to satisfy the needs of this course.

Thank you!
Thank you from everyone on the WUTT planning committee for considering this donation request! 

Your contribution will enable us to prepare the future workers of our industry.

Those able to donate items will be recognized for their generosity on a plaque of gratitude placed in the WUTT Program laboratory at St. Paul Community & Technical College.

If you can help out, please contact Steve Grossman, City of Lakeville, to make arrangements. His email is: sgrossman@lakevillemn.gov.

With Gratitude,
WUTT Subcommittee , MnAWWA