Elements and Performance Criteria

The range of variables places the competency in context and allows for differences between enterprises and workplaces, including practices, knowledge and requirements. The range of variables also provides a focus for assessment and relates to the unit as a whole. The following variables may be present.

Instructions:
· maintenance schedule
· manufacturer's guidelines for maintenance
· council, government regulations
· repair log
· verbal instructions.

Basic tools/equipment:
· oil and/or grease gun
· thread/plumbers tape
· cleaning rags
· screwdrivers, spanners or socket set, stilson, hack saw, heat guns
· silicone or similar sealant
· fibreglass, tools
· glue, primer, sand paper
· spade, shovel, pick, crowbar
· safety equipment (goggles, mask or breathing equipment)
· concrete
· plugs or repair patches.

Spare parts:
· fittings, such as joints, valves, mark boards, barrel unions, reducers
· pipe lengths
· fibreglass webbing, gels and hardeners
· sand, gravel
· pipe saddles or clamps
· concrete
· protection strips.

Water supply or disposal system or structure:
· intake structure support screens
· channels, canals, or trenches (earthen, concrete or plastic-lined)
· roaded banks
· spill ways/outlets
· siphons, including reducing diameter pipes
· hoses
· pipes (metal, PVC, rubber, concrete or polyethylene/polypropylene), pressure or sewage rating
· sumps
· pumps, bores and windmills
· storage dams or reservoirs
· sediment dams
· sprays
· flow meters, pressure gauges
· float switches, solenoids
· header tank
· settlement tank
· non-return mechanisms
· depth gauges
· sieves, filters, outlet screens or other mechanical, chemical or biological treatment structures
· flow control devices (taps, valves, float valves, monks, dykes, weirs, gates).

Mechanical equipment:
· pumps powered by:
diesel or petrol
electricity (single or 3-phase)
cable
hydraulics
solar
wind
battery
· aerator
· filtration plant (including mechanical, chemical and biological)
· pumps:
centrifugal
magnetic drive
pressure
submersible
dosing
airlift
piston
hydraulic ram
screw or helical drive
· axial
regenerative turbine
current/tide activated
venturi
fire
self-priming or non-priming
windmills
sludge or surge
· ultraviolet filter
· ozonators
· gravity flow system.

Impediments:
· sediment and debris
· dead plant or animal matter
· plant or weed growth
· fouling species.

Worn or damaged parts or areas:
· fittings, such as joints, valves and boards
· pipes
· flow control devices (taps, valves, float valves, monks, dykes, weirs, gates)
· depth gauges
· pumps and mechanical components
· sides or bottoms of earthen, concrete, fibreglass or plastic-lined supply and disposal systems or structures
· treatment structures mechanical (sieves, filters, aerators)
· chemical and biological filters.

Repair techniques:
· laying and joining pipes (with or without glue or other fixatives)
· fitting joints, valves and boards
· mixing, pouring and curing concrete
· working and shaping earth
· applying plugs or patches
· metal welding
· fibreglassing
· plastic welding.

Occupational Health and Safety requirements may include:
· codes of practice, regulations and/or guidance notes which may apply in a jurisdiction
· enterprise-specific Occupational Health and Safety procedures, policies or standards.

Waste:
· structure and site debris
· worn and damaged parts or tools
· dead plant or animal matter
· sludge.

Ecologically sustainable development (ESD) principles:
· monitoring and controlling biological oxygen demand
· controlling effluent waste, reducing contaminants
· preventing escape of culture stock
· disposing of dead plant or animal matter.

Records:
· inventory of spare parts
· general observations on condition of systems
· result of maintenance and repair
· critical flow rates.

Each unit of competency has an evidence guide that relates directly to the performance criteria and the range of variables. Its purpose is to guide assessment of the unit in the workplace and/or training program. The following components provide information to assist this purpose.

Underpinning knowledge
The essential knowledge and understanding a person needs to perform work to the required standard include:
· consequences of disabled water supply, disposal systems or structures
· basic design principles and components of specific water supply and disposal systems or structures
· general operating principles of specific types of pumps and treatment structures
· general maintenance requirements for specific water supply and disposal systems or structures and their components
· enterprise Occupational Health and Safety procedures for working on site
· enterprise procedures for undertaking maintenance and repairs and reporting non-standard operations
· ecologically sustainable development (ESD) principles
· techniques appropriate for the maintenance and repairs being undertaken
· local council or government requirements for water supply and disposal system or structures.

Practical skills
The essential skills a person needs to perform work to the required standards include:
· using hand and power tools safely for maintenance and repair tasks
· applying repair techniques appropriate for the maintenance and repairs being undertaken
· following electrical safety procedures, standards when using carrying out repairs
· providing verbal report to supervisor.

Literacy skills used for:
· reading manufacturer's operation and service manuals
· reading flow meters and gauges
· reading maintenance schedule.

Numeracy skills used for:
· calculating volume and flow rate
· measuring length and depth.

Critical aspects of competence
Assessment must confirm the ability to:
· maintain and repair water supply and disposal systems and structures, including shutting down and restarting water supply and disposal systems and structures with minimal stress or damage to stock, according to Occupational Health and Safety enterprise procedures.

Assessment must confirm knowledge of:
· general maintenance requirements for specific water supply and disposal systems or structures
· techniques appropriate for the maintenance and repairs being undertaken.

Interdependent assessment of units
This unit may be assessed after/with:
· SFIAQUA217A - Maintain stock culture and other farm structures.

Context of assessment
Assessment is to be conducted at the workplace or in a simulated work environment, maintaining and making minor repairs to pumps, aerators and filters, typically used in aquaculture enterprises in the region.

Method of assessment
The following assessment methods are suggested:
· written or oral short-answer testing
· practical exercises
· project work
· observation of practical demonstration.

Resources required for assessment
Resources may include:
· water supply and disposal system or structure
· maintenance schedule and enterprise procedures
· manufacturer's operation and service manuals
· hand and power tools and parts relevant to the water supply and disposal system or structure.