YORKTON - It was a look at the inner workings of a water treatment plant for students from the Parkland College and Yorkton Tribal Council Water and Wastewater Operators Course.
The students toured the City of Yorkton Waterworks facility Thursday.
Tamara Brass lives at the Key First Nation. She told Yorkton This Week she enrolled in the course because of an interest in how people were accessing their water.
On the Key First Nation Brass said about 80 per cent of residences access water through a treatment plant not unlike the one in Yorkton, only on a much smaller scale. The remaining residences have their own source of water.
The Yorkton plant tour was one Brass said she found interesting in terms of the level of maintenance and testing employed to ensure water quality, adding it was good to get a look at what happens “behind the scenes” in terms of water quality.
The tour was guided by Glenda Holmes, waterworks manager at the facility.
Holmes basically guided the students through the plant from where water enters from a series of 13 wells drawing from six aquifers, through the plant processes to when water is distributed to homes and businesses.
The Water and Wastewater Operations Course is a partnership between Parkland College and Yorkton Tribal Council and three of their departments (Labour Force Development, Pre-Employments Supports and Technical Services) along with Indigenous Services Canada.
The course provides foundational training in the water and wastewater discipline and is designed for those who are new to the field of study or those who are already working in this field but who want to upgrade or fulfill their continuing education requirements.
The training is made possible through a unique teaching partnership formed between Parkland College and ATAP Infrastructure Management Ltd.
Students will complete the 19-week program by the end of March, and will then write their certification exams.
