The presidents of the four provincial chapters under the WCOWMA umbrella met on April 8 in Calgary, AB. The focus of the meeting was to discuss an overall strategic plan for WCOWMA, to share news and activities from each province and to identify areas of joint interest.

A common area of interest is training for onsite wastewater practitioners. Training and certification is a requirement in BC, Alberta and Manitoba. It is recommended in Saskatchewan, but is not yet required by the provincial government. Training through WCOWMA is recognized in all the Western Canadian provinces and is the only training endorsed by Saskatchewan Health.

BC and Alberta have recently begun working together to further enhance their training programs with an additional practical component and further standardization of training between the two provinces. The certifying bodies for these provinces, ASTTBC and Alberta Municipal Affairs have been working in collaboration on this initiative which was spearheaded by John Leech, ASTTBC in collaboration with Alf Durnie, Alberta Municipal Affairs.

Over the course of the year, WCOWMA will continue to work towards the enhancement and improvement of onsite wastewater training, which will include accredited BC specific curriculum.