Ebola – an emerging waterborne pathogen?

This is a one hour streaming format course providing drinking water and wastewater treatment plant operators with the important-to-know criteria about this emerging virus. Dr. Debra Huffman is known for her work, twenty years ago in the investigation and detection of the then emerging pathogen, Cryptosporidium. Dr. Huffman presents some broad background knowledge on emerging pathogens with Ebola as a target pathogen, since a limited amount of research studies have been performed on this latest infectious disease.

Huffman characterizes the Ebola virus and provides some symptoms and effects to be concerned about, as a drinking water and wastewater treatment plant operator. She includes some of the typical virus removal processes used in wastewater treatment plants, along with precautions to take in handling raw sewage that maybe contaminated with Ebola or other infectious viruses. Either drinking water, distribution, wastewater, or collection operators- all should review the precautions provided in this one hour course.

This month, we would like to highlight CEU Plan instructor Dr. Debra Huffman. Dr. Huffman received her Ph.D. in Public Health from the University of South Florida in 1994 specializing in Environmental and Occupational Health and Safety.

Since that time, she has been actively involved in numerous studies involving effects of novel water treatment systems on microorganisms and their impact on public health. She has presented her findings at local, national, and international conferences. Dr. Huffman currently holds a faculty research appointment at the University of South Florida.

Dr. Huffman recently completed a 1-hour course on the Ebola virus. Ebola is front page news and has been creating quite a scare among the general population. Does the potential for Ebola create a hightened concern for us in Wastewater treatment? What must we do to protect ourselves? Dr. Huffman explains the REAL hazards of Ebola virus and what we must do to mitigate these risks.

Dr. Huffman has written several other great courses for CEU Plan and we are pleased to highlight some of them here. Courses include:

• Introduction to UV Technology
• Emerging Waterborne Pathogens
• What is Cryptosporidium
• Ebola: An Emerging Waterborne Pathogen

In 2012, I developed a basic course to help operators develop “Reasonable Security” because, as a Nation, USA found after 9/11 that our security was in many ways not as effective as we wanted.  Water and wastewater utilities were identified as two critical areas that needed to be better protected.  Sacramento, California's drinking water facility had two individuals, who were identified as drunk, entered the main water plant in 2012 without ever tripping any alarms and were only found after they called 911 to help them at the plant!  These were not terrorists but just misguided partyers at a utility serving more than 470,000 people!  Just think what others could have done!

Recently, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security issued alerts about digital attacks on utility systems including energy and water treatment systems on October 8, 17 & 28, 2014.  The malware being spread is used to impact human-machine interfaces utility operators use to control systems.  Who needs an Army when you can turn the power and drinking water off?  Kind of like the discontinued TV series Revolution? I hope not!

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is aware of the potential threats and if I know them from my 40 years at the Agency, will eventually develop countermeasures.  In the interim, make sure your  security system has the latest updates and work with suppliers to maintain sufficient hardening including the ability to disconnect from external sources of data and operation in a manual mode, if necessary.   Also, if you haven't yet, consider taking the Reasonable Security course from CEUPlan. It might just give you some good ideas to keep your utility operating during stressful events.

- Russ Martin, P.E.

Supervision and Management Relations for Operators

Today, many individuals are being put into a management role OR looking to make decisions for upper management. CEU Plan has developed a unique series of courses to help you better understand how to be a great manager. How to solve those personnel issues, how to delegate responsibility, how to be pro-active in a crisis or emergency situation – all these can prove a real challenge in today's workplace. You may have a need to better understand City Hall and its functions, as well as your own regulatory agencies.

Tips & Tricks

» Recently, CEU Plan has added a number of new courses and will have more in the coming months. Not all of these courses are immediately available in all states or for all license types. Different states have different requirements for submitting a new course. Many states have granted us "Approved Training Providership" approval to all of our courses, but some require that their staff review and comment on each part of the new courses. CEU Plan courses consistently are regarded to be of the highest quality. We are proud of this and jealously guard our reputation. It is VERY important that the student is correctly logged in, tracked and monitored, along with the correct license is utilized when enrolling.

» CEU Plan has created a couple of useful tutorials to aid you in your CEU Plan experience. On our home page (https://www.ceuplan.com) under the "Enroll" button, are links for "Getting Started" and "How to Take a Course" tutorials. Both of these provide helpful information for using CEU Plan.