When we talk about the operator joining the wastewater treatment plant design team, we are not referring to the most common form of operator involvement in a design project. It is common for the consulting engineer to pick the operator’s brains for information on an existing plant at the start of a design project and submit a set of drawings for the operator’s review when the design is finished. We are talking about a major step beyond this rudimentary operator involvement, in which the operator serves as a decision-making member of the design task force throughout most of the design period. Two primary factors have made this approach both practicable and desirable: (1) recent advances in operator professionalism, and (2) EPA requirements for the preparation of a thorough, high-quality operation and maintenance manual for each plant as a condition of grant eligibility.