Identifying Workforce Education, Training, and Outreach Needs in Decentralized Wastewater and Distributed Water Reuse.

Although decentralized wastewater and distributed water reuse professionals represent a key part of environmental public health and environmental engineering, an understanding of workforce challenges has remained elusive. Here we begin to address the critical need of understanding education, trainin...

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Published in:Journal of Environmental Health Vol. 86; no. 5; pp. 20 - 29
Main Authors: Holodak, Jamie, Stanley, Jacob K., Cox, Alissa H., Groves, Thomas W., Jantrania, Anish, Moeller, Jeffrey, Neset, Kris, Walker, Christopher, Zhang, Harry, Heger, Sara F., Brooks, Bryan W.
Format: CEU research tables/charts Journal Article
Published: National Environmental Health Association Dec2023
Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
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      dt: Dec2023
      vid: 86
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      pub: National Environmental Health Association
      place: Denver, Colorado
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        atl: Identifying Workforce Education, Training, and Outreach Needs in Decentralized Wastewater and Distributed Water Reuse.
      aug:
        au:
          Holodak, Jamie
          Stanley, Jacob K.
          Cox, Alissa H.
          Groves, Thomas W.
          Jantrania, Anish
          Moeller, Jeffrey
          Neset, Kris
          Walker, Christopher
          Zhang, Harry
          Heger, Sara F.
          Brooks, Bryan W.
        affil: Honors College, Baylor University
      sug:
        subj:
          Sewage
          Workforce Psychosocial Factors
          Needs Assessment
          Environmental Health Education
          Human
          Information Needs
          Personnel Retention
          Descriptive Statistics
          Strategic Planning
          Education, Continuing (Credit)
      ab: Although decentralized wastewater and distributed water reuse professionals represent a key part of environmental public health and environmental engineering, an understanding of workforce challenges has remained elusive. Here we begin to address the critical need of understanding education, training, and outreach needs for decentralized wastewater and distributed water reuse. We specifically engaged professionals working in health departments and other government agencies, industry, academia, and nongovernmental organizations. We examined workforce characteristics related to education, training, and outreach. We found that 37% of decentralized wastewater and distributed water reuse professionals plan to retire within 5 years, approximately 25% of these professionals do not hold any type of certification, and education and training are insufficient to meet current workforce demands. We further report 10 problem statements associated with timely education, training, and outreach needs, which represent important opportunities for improving the practice of decentralized wastewater and distributed water reuse. Strategic education, training, and outreach activities are necessary to ensure workforce preparedness, to promote education with owners of onsite technologies, and to expand advanced training and translational research programs in decentralized wastewater and distributed water reuse. Our findings can specifically support decision making aimed at sustaining and advancing the decentralized wastewater and distributed water reuse workforce.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype:
        CEU
        research
        tables/charts
        Journal Article
      ougenre: Article
    language: English
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