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schools and workforce investment boards. Simulation software can serve as a recruiting tool, too, offering new workers a realistic and engaging experience with the tasks that are offered by the field. "[Our software] allows students and young professionals to see the complex cause-and-effect relationships in wastewater treatment, and that type of learning is highly appealing," said Bye. Beres added that working with simulators may clear up some misconceptions about the industry held by inexperienced workers. "Simulation tools are dispensing with the prevailing notion that careers in water or wastewater treatment do not offer opportunities for engaging digital tools," he said. "Platforms such as SCADA and process models are making it obvious that while the challenges have been with us for a long time, there is an exciting evolution in the sophistication of the tools that we are using to address the challenges. This exposes the younger generation of professionals to the use of these tools early in their training and careers. They are realizing that the challenges in water and wastewater treatment are as complex, as exciting, and as worthy of their focus as those in other fields of engineering." An Image Of What's To Come Simulation software mimics plant processes as the operator would see them on the job, as gridded displays resembling flowcharts. But imagining the future of computer simulation can take the mind in a thousand digitally painted directions. As the ability to display controls in more detailed and intuitive ways expands, simulators will have to keep up to continue delivering a realistic training experience. Both EnviroSim and Hydromantis are working on programs that will keep simulation software in line with how most of us are beginning to engage with technology: on the go. "We see simulation training becoming more and more mobile," Bye said. "Simulators could move to the cloud as many other software solutions have done. This could allow wastewater professionals to access the knowledge repository encapsulated in simulators as they walk around the plant, not just when they are sitting behind a computer in an office." Exploring the outer limits of mainstream technology, equipment provider Ovivo developed a virtual reality app that can take customers directly into the product. "This is one of the requests we had from some of the customers: to be able to understand the mechanics and the issues to fix the equipment, or to modify, or to improve it, how to operate it better," Elena Bailey, Ovivo's business development director for North America, told Water Online during WEFTEC 2015. "To train their new people who are coming into utilities, this is one of the ways we thought to demonstrate the equipment in operation." At this point, the app is little more than an exciting way to explore 3D models of Ovivo equipment, without much to offer in terms of lessons for operating it. But it does set the table for possibilities at the intersection of digital advancement and simulation training. Some may argue that certain aspects of plant operation can't be passed down through simulation and that offline pieces of knowledge will inevitably be lost as the current generation of workers retires. Simulation software is capable of becoming as wide and varied as any plant process, training new workers on the tasks that take place on a computer and, maybe one day, beyond. With so much on the digital horizon still unknown and still possible, fear of brain drain might just be a lack of imagination. n Peter Chawaga is the associate editor for Water Online . He creates and manages engaging and relevant content on a variety of water and wastewater industry topics. Chawaga has worked as a reporter and editor in newsrooms throughout the country and holds a bachelor's degree in English and a minor in journalism. He can be reached at pchawaga@wateronline.com. About The Author Screenshot from the BioWin wastewater process simulator 22 wateronline.com n Water Innovations LABOR