| Mike Jefferson, a member of Crowder College’s Environmental Resource Center, has returned from the south central highlands of Mexico where he led a three person environmental training task force at the University of Guanajuato. Accompanying him were Ed Rau, a design engineer specialist, and Ed Tacha, a microbiologist and biosolids specialist, both from Texas.
They were invited by officals at Guanajuato University to teach a six day class focusing on water, wastewater, industrial issues, treatment plant operations and design, and water recycling alternatives. This was the first time this type of training had been presented.
The University has taken the lead in addressing water quality problems in Gauajuato and has expressed an interest in a long term partnership with Crowder College in the training of water/wastewater personnel at both campuses. Participants in the program included on-campus students pursuing master's degrees, operating personnel of two recently built treatment plants, and state officials from a newly formed natural resources division looking for assistance in the development of an operator certification program, including training materials, design guidelines and regulations. Four state officials from Chiapas, the southernmost state of Mexico, traveled 20 hours by bus to attend the training.
Jefferson serves as the US EPA outreach coordinator for the state of Missouri. He has been with the Crowder College Environmental Resource Center since 1989 and presently serves as the lead wastewater treatment instructor.
Founded in 1732, the University of Guanajuato has undergone three centuries of institutional transformation, beginning as an "academy of the state." It has a student body of nearly 20,000 students, according to a writeup by the International Studies Abroad program.
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