A new training program hopes to jump-start careers in the cesspool and wastewater industry as Hawaiʻi faces the required conversion of thousands of cesspools.
"After they take our, kind of, Wastewater 101 course, they can either have two paths. One is to get them into jobs or internships in local companies, or we partnered with Rachel Solemsaas at Hawaiʻi Community College. They also got an NSF grant, National Science Foundation, to do further training to really get them credentialed degrees in five different areas in the workforce," said Stuart Coleman, executive director of WAI. "So that's really exciting."
It's a collaboration between the Pacific International Center for High Technology Research and the nonprofit group WAI, which stands for Wastewater Alternatives and Innovations.
Coleman said they are working on a curriculum over the next five months in order to start their first cohort in fall 2023.
"The silver lining of this whole cesspool issue is that it's a huge economic and workforce opportunity," he told The Conversation.
Coleman said WAI worked with U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono to launch the “Workforce 4 Water” effort. He said the program hopes to create pathways for young people, and those looking for work, to train in a field they might be unfamiliar with.
"We came up with this concept and applied for an earmark from Sen. Hirono's office. And she was great and saw the vision of how desperately it was needed, especially with, you know, us having the highest number of cesspools in the country. So it's great to finally — we just launched the program at the beginning of the month," he told The Conversation.
This interview aired on The Conversation on Feb. 27, 2023. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. on HPR-1.
