Please join us the two days before the Pumper & Cleaner Environmental Expo International, Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 22-23, 2014, in Indianapolis, Ind., to take part in NAWT’s nationally acclaimed education workshops.

Once again, NAWT will offer its two-day onsite inspector training course and the updated and revised course on principles of good design practices. The inspector course looks at inspections at the operation level and is specifically designed to address issues that would be encountered while conducting inspections for real estate and property transfers.

The first day covers the basics of sewage treatment and system types from a troubleshooting perspective. The second day goes through a step-by-step procedure to conduct a system inspection. As in recent years, the second day will take place at Camp Camby, located just outside of Indianapolis. The course requires attendees to locate and identify all parts of the system, assess their condition and determine if they are operating properly.

Instructors for this course will be Frank Parker, a member of the Pennsylvania Septage Management Association, and Tom Frank of Tim Frank Septic Tank Cleaning in Huntsburg, Ohio. Between them, they have more than 50 years of experience with onsite treatment systems. PSMA is a NAWT-affiliated member and, along with the NAWT Education Committee, has worked on advancing real estate inspections for over 20 years. This will be a unique and valuable opportunity to look at inspections from the “practicing professional” perspective.

Running concurrently with the inspection course will be the special NAWT “Principles of Design” course. This course was conducted before the 2013 Expo, and has been revamped and redone based on our experience with the first class. The purpose of this course is not to make everyone designers; but rather to discuss site and system characteristics and how design decisions can affect the long-term operation and performance of systems.

The topics this year will be based on real design examples. There will be the opportunity again to practice some simple field surveying techniques and to look at soil characteristics. An exam and certification will be offered at the completion of the course. Instructors will be Jim Anderson and Dave Gustafson with assistance from NAWT President Jeff Rachlin. Jeff is owner of Onsite Management Inc., West Chester, Pa.

The site of field activities, Camp Camby, is a unique and excellent facility that also provides us with a lunch.