Parkland College and ATAP Infrastructure Management Limited signed a partnership agreement that will provide training to keep water supplies safe and secure.

It’s expected the Class 1 Water and Wastewater Operator courses will launch this fall.

Manager of Business Development at Parkland College, Connie Brown says this agreement is the latest in a working relationship between the two that has existed for several years.

“What this new partnership is about is to allow us to take their training course materials and put them on our learning management system, so that they can be done in a blended format,” Brown explained.

The training will be offered in-person, online or a combination of the two to give students flexibility.

“It gives us the ability to bring the training to the people when and how they need it, as opposed to saying ‘okay, it’s going to be on this day at this time. If you can’t make it too bad’” Brown added.

The training is made up of courses in water treatment, water distribution, wastewater treatment and wastewater collection. ATAP will be teaching the course.

While it is expected to start this fall, Brown says how it will be scheduled remains a work in progress.

“Depending on how you schedule it, you could do that on a part-time basis – so many hours per week – run it over a few months, or you can condense it and have it over a few weeks,” she said. “We have lots of options when we have the curriculum all ready to go, we can talk to the people that need the training and see what works best for them.”