Nearly seven decades of excellent training for water and wastewater operators and managers has been offered by the "Water School." Each year, operators from throughout Montana can receive four days of training for managing their local systems. The program features workshops and presenters from private consulting, industry, academia and government. At the close of the training, operators may sit for the water/wastewater certification exam administered by the Montana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ). Along with DEQ, this program is conducted by the Montana Environmental Training Center, the Montana Water Center, and the MSU Civil Engineering Department.

Water School takes place the last week of September at MSU-Bozeman, and certified operators plus those testing for their certification can have most of their conference-travel expenses reimbursed by the DEQ.