Training the next generation.
Adam oversees practice pipeline installations which have left a maze of pavement patches outside the academy.
EBMUD hires new plumbers and field staff each year to maintain critical infrastructure including 4,200 miles of pipe. It can take them years to learn about the vast system, and it all starts at the Pipeline Training Academy.
As the new instructor for EBMUD’s Pipeline Training Academy, Adam assists with hiring, organizes the curriculum, and teaches daily lessons to the trainees. Each cohort will spend a year in training – both in the academy and in the field – before passing probation as a permanent Water Distribution Plumber.
“A ton of work has gone into the curriculum from the instructors before me, so my goal is to build on that,” says Adam. “The average day starts with an hour of math. I teach them about District specifications, standard drawings and safety procedures before we go outside to do hands-on practice. Sometimes we tour District facilities.” He also invites guest speakers so the trainees learn from other district staff with expertise such as operating heavy equipment, paving, welding, environmental biology and more.
Adam started at EBMUD as a plumber almost twenty years ago. He then progressed to working as a welder, a pipeline inspector and a senior inspector. But just like the trainees, Adam continues to value learning. He’s finishing his first year teaching the Pipeline Training Academy and is preparing for his second cohort in January. “This job is a little bit of everything,” he says, “more so than any job I’ve ever had!”
“I feel a great level of responsibility to teach the next generation so I can leave the District as good as it is now, or better.”