Water Operator Profiles
Meet the individuals who told us about their experiences operating small water systems. Click on their profiles to learn more about their unique career paths, facilities, and insights.
Town of erie, colorado
Chris Harris
“I like a nice, quiet day at the Water Treatment Plant. I like thinking through and trying to optimize the water treatment process to the best of my ability.”
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Burns & mcdonnell, Wichita, Kansas
Becky Lewis
“Over 40 years ago, I started my career as a wastewater laboratory technician. That was right when pre-treatment programs were just starting to take effect, and I was lucky enough to start sampling. At that time, you'd see all kinds of discharges, very toxic discharges... At the time, we had a lot of meat processors, so there was a lot of entrails from cattle coming down the sewer. There's nothing like seeing an eyeball floating by when you’re collecting a sample.”
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Tyrone town site, new Mexico
Eddie Mendoza
“It's a great job, honestly. Are you going to be rich afterwards? No, but you know that you did something positive for the community.”
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Inverness Public Utility District, California
Jacob Leyba
“The way the world is going, with more contamination and global warming, water is becoming very precious, and I think people notice that. We do play a very importantrole in making that happen, bringing safe water to the communities.”
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Santo domingo pueblo, new mexico
Orlando Archuleta
“I’m more environmentally conscious, protecting our natural resources. It opens your eyes and you become a steward of the planet. There's downstream users that could be impacted by your decisions so you got to make sure that you're safe, you put out a safe product in the end. Whether it's drinking water or effluent going into the river, you always want to make sure that it's safe, that we ain't polluting.”
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Faywood hot springs, new mexico
Damon Shirk
“I try to be pretty humble, so I'm just trying to not screw things up too bad. I've been chasing my tail the last fifteen years, just trying to repair and maintain.”
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Tranquillo pines, new Mexico
Carl Walker
“We want to be able to live and work with the aquifer and keep it viable and active while we're still providing water to the people out here.”
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Bolinas Community Public Utility District California
Andrew Spaulding
“If I didn't have this job, we wouldn't be able to live here, for sure. Who knows where we'd be, but I wouldn't be able to be here.”
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Bolinas Community Public Utility District, CAlifornia
Billy Pierce
"It's a health job; your job is to keep people healthy. Keep their water clean. Keep their wastewater going where it's supposed to go...The goal is public health. That's what the job is -- it's a public health job.”
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University of New MExico
David (Dave) Thomas
Mr. Thomas resides at the Ford Utility Center at the University of New Mexico (UNM) where he supervises the large water system operations with the team (the waterdogs).
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