Jerome “Frenchie” Guevrement has been working with wastewater for the town of Rangeley for 40-plus years. Tom Schultz has been at it 38 years, at his post in Mechanic Falls for 28.

Both are part of an aging generation of treatment plant leaders trained in the 1970s and ’80s and about ready to retire — if they can find someone to take over the controls.

Enter a new sort of sewer school.

Born from a large crop of impending departures and a dearth of future bosses to take their place, Maine’s Wastewater Management Candidates School started in 2009 and was only the second in the country.

The first class graduates Thursday. Students already have five to 25 years’ experience in the field.

“These are people, before breakfast, they’ll reach into a sludge pump to clean everything that’s flushed the night before, and proud of it,” said Nick Konstantoulakis, a grade II operator at the Mechanic Falls Sanitary District, whom Schultz recommended for the course.

Over the last 12 months, 17 men and women learned how to handle budgets, the media and labor relations, “things that an operator like myself, involved in the day-to-day operation of the plant, don’t get involved with much,” he said.

It’s been a collaboration of the Department of Environmental Protection, the Maine Wastewater Control Association and the Maine Joint Environmental Training Coordinating Committee of Scarborough.

JETCC Spokeswoman Leeann Hanson said the issue traces back to the 1970s and the newly adopted Clean Water Act. At the time, federal funds for new facilities and wastewater treatment training flowed pretty freely. Technical schools in South Portland and Bangor offered programs.

“A lot of people came out of school then ready to work and have been there ever since,” Hanson said. But, eventually, “The water wasn’t visibly dirty anymore; it wasn’t clear we needed to keep training people.”

So programs went away.

Maine has 700 licensed wastewater operators. Her group’s informal survey found one-third have been in the field 30 years or more.

“It’s more of an impending shortage,” Hanson said. “It hasn’t hit yet; it’s coming down the pike.”

‘Doctors of waste’

Steve Aievoli used to work on P-3 Orions at Brunswick Naval Air Station. Now chief mechanic and lead operator at Lisbon’s sewer department, he started working there in 1999. That plant manager is also looking toward retirement.

“To me, (enrolling in the class) made perfect sense,” Aievoli, 40, said. “I don’t have any management background. Hopefully I’m better prepared for it now.”

He didn’t learn skills so much as tips, like not to mingle budget line items as a temporary fix. “In the long run, you’re going to regret it.”

Sewer Superintendent Ryan Leighton said Lisbon will have its normal hiring process when it comes time to fill that management position, but “it makes life a lot easier moving forward. To be able to promote from within, you know who you’re getting.”

Konstantoulakis used to work as a bread salesman with long, long hours. He got his first job in wastewater at Mechanic Falls almost five years ago. It’s a mile from home. He likes the mechanical aspect, pay, benefits, job security and being what he calls “part of the solution.” The work involves troubleshooting and staying ahead of maintenance issues that could send sewage into the river.

“We’re the doctors of waste,” Konstantoulakis, 56, said.

His boss, Director Schultz, would like to retire within three years.

“Tom has groomed me; it’s really a nice feeling,” he said.

Guevremont, who heads the Chick Hill Spray Facilities in Rangeley, encouraged operator Dale Quimby to take the class. Quimby made every one of the monthly meetings in Saco despite the nearly three-hour commute one-way.

“The reason I was so enamored, it’s very similar to an operator program I went through (at the former Southern Maine Technical College),” Guevremont, 70, said.

Getting to know other operators in class back then was invaluable. “If I ran into a problem, the answer would generally be on the other end of the line.”

He jokingly says he plans to retire when the ambulance pulls up to Chick Hill for the last time.

“What I’d like to be able to do is to feel comfortable with the way the plant’s left,” Guevremont said. “This is a step.”

The next Wastewater Management Candidates School starts in October.

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