EPCOR owns and operates two conventional water treatment plants in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada eachcapable of producing over 65 million gallons per day (MGD). A philosophy of continuous improvement in operatingthe plants has led to a steady increase in overall efficiency and water quality over the past number ofyears. Investments in process optimization, process control and automation have been partly responsiblefor this.Due to changing work priorities from conducting repetitive type of tasks to higher skill and more diversetype tasks, and to help reduce night shift work, an initiative was put forward in 2000 to pilot testunattended operation of the EL Smith Water Treatment Plant for certain periods of time. This would freeup some operator time and allow them to develop the multiple skills necessary, especially in the area ofmaintenance, to meet the future needs of the organization. In turn, this would also allow the maintenancestaff to focus on the more sophisticated type of work. A skill-based pay structure is also part of thisprogram and is in the process of being implemented.To achieve unattended operation successfully, it was identified early on that not only technical issues butalso people issues would have to be addressed. This paper presents EPCOR's experience in converting alarge conventional water treatment plant producing a high quality water through coagulation, flocculation,sedimentation, filtration, and water pumping facilities. In addition to describing the impact on staff jobfunction, a number of key technological systems that were deployed or enhanced to provide reliable, safe,and uncompromising water quality during unattended operation are also covered in this paper. The stepsinvolved in achieving this goal, the challenges involved in implementation and the benefits realizedare also described. Includes tables, figures.