April Fool

opinion in person just makes me sick. I never take vacations and have over 1,000 hours of sick time (not that I would have used it to drive to Tallahassee, but if you knew my driving skills, it’s always questionable that I would have needed the sick time to recuperate from an accident), so I could have gone. Why didn’t I?

I’m not an eloquent speaker, or a brainiac, so maybe that’s why. I am very concerned, however, that the operators program established in Florida is going to take a hit for this. With the growth that is happening in the state, which will continue, we must not go backward. The health and safety of the citizens of Florida and the protection of our natural resources is paramount.

I found out that several of the representatives at the meeting questioned the first-responder provision of the bill, and the bill sponsor could not answer any of the questions that we posed. Foolish Murf; I was thinking that with the number of people who worked on this bill, they were going to make it foolproof. I do hope that the representatives who indicated they would help work on that portion are successful, without having unwanted impacts to our utilities.

It was very interesting to watch the proceedings, and if you didn’t see it, here is the link: https://thefloridachannel.org/videos/222-23-house-water-quality-supply-treatmentsubcommittee.

A much wiser man than I warned me about being the skunk at the garden party. So, I’m done stinking up the place, but I’ll wait and pray that I’m wrong about the outcome of this bill for our future. It gives me little encouragement when I see the daily news about water-related issues (some of it fake news!), like a man dying from flesh-eating bacteria from water out of the tap. The real story, and despite the sadness that someone died from something like this, will never overcome the shock of that clickbait article. The fact is that lobbyists and politicians can shut down positive source water alternatives for decades, i.e., the toilet to tap discussion.

Another sad story is the water contamination in Jackson, Miss., and other cities across the United States. Along with fielding disastrous water calamities, they’re also experiencing operator shortages. Wait— if 48 states allow reciprocity, why is there a workforce shortage of operators in other states?

If you haven’t seen the video on Jackson, you should look at it, and ponder the consequences. It’s 20 minutes long, but worth it: https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=xOdF7A1ry7E.

As seen in the video, Ted Henifin, the manager appointed by the U.S. Department of Justice to help fix the long-troubled water system in Mississippi, must be one of the bravest people in the world; either that or he could give me a run for my money for the April Fool Award of the Year.

By the time this column comes out, you only have a few weeks to get any needed continuing education units (CEUs) to maintain your licensure. If you haven’t taken advantage of the training yet, you can access the online training by going to the FWPCOA website at www.fwpcoa.org and selecting the “Online Institute” button at the upper right-hand area of the home page to open the login page. You then scroll down to the bottom of this screen and click on “View Catalog” to open the catalog of the many training programs offered. Select your preferred training program and register online to take the course.

This is a great way to get those needed CEUs for your license renewal. For more information, contact the Training Institute program manager at OnlineTraining@fwpcoa. org or the FWPCOA training office at training@ fwpcoa.org.

Thank you to all the hard-working people in our industry. Let’s keep that water clean and work safe! S