Competency Standards for SFPUC's Wastewater Enterprise: A New Workforce Development Tool

The principle purpose of the Project was to support the workforce development and knowledge management efforts of the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission by developing a series of competency standards for the operations staff of the Wastewater Enterprise (WWE), beginning with a pilot project focused on one process at the Southeast Treatment Plant (SEP): disinfection. A secondary purpose of the project is to clarify the role and responsibilities of the WWE operations staff to bring consistency in performance across all shifts at the SEP. The methodology used included two phases of a work, development and then implementation of pilot competency standards for a single unit process. The pilot endeavor established the roadmap for development of additional competency standards for other unit processes within the WWE. The pilot project was conducted in 2011. Implementation of the program began in early 2012.