OTCO - The Operator Training Committee of Ohio, Inc.

In August 1937, the Ohio Public Health Council adopted mandatory certification regulations requiring every political subdivision, public institution, and corporation operating a water or sewage treatment plant to place those facilities under the responsibility of a trained individual whose ability to perform the duties required, and had been certified by the regulatory agency. At the time this was the Ohio Department of Health and later became the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency.

After World War II, shortages of trained personnel developed and certification examinations revealed the need for an effective education program.

In 1947 a committee consisting of representatives of AWWA Ohio Section, the Ohio Sewage and Industrial Waste Treatment Conference, Ohio Department of Health, and The Ohio State University met to study the educational needs of water and wastewater plant operators and to establish a training school. A school was started in 1948 under the direction of Professor W.D. Sheets of The Ohio State University, Water Resource Department.

In 1964, the training activities became a non-profit organization titled The Operator Training Committee of Ohio, Inc. Professor Sheets later became the first Executive Director for Operator Training Committee of Ohio, Inc.In 1983, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) awarded OTCO a wastewater training grant [Section 109(b)(3)] of the Clean Water Act. OTCO had now become the US EPA recognized Environmental Training Center for the State of Ohio.

OTCO’s philosophy has always been to make broad comprehensive training available in order to produce well-informed, technically qualified water and wastewater personnel who are firmly grounded in the fundamentals--not just to train individuals for passing examinations.