Latest / The Bridge To Tomorrow's Talent Podcast / Ep. 14 The Future Flows Here: Building the Next Generation of Water Talent

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Ep. 14 The Future Flows Here: Building the Next Generation of Water Talent · The Bridge To Tomorrow's Talent Podcast

• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: Good morning or good afternoon, and thank you for joining us whenever and wherever you are.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: My name is Zachary Hill.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_00: I'm the chief of staff here at Tomorrow's Talent, where we strive every day to be the bridge for students and young adults from their education to the real world of work.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the bridge to Tomorrow's Talent.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: This is a podcast where we talk about the state of the workforce, the future of work-based learning, how to best launch into new careers, and what makes the real world of work tick.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: Today we're joined by Darren Paulson, the general manager at the Victor Valley Wastewater Reclamation Authority, or the VVWRA, where they process wastewater and produce sustainable natural gas for multiple communities in the high desert.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: Darren, can you tell us a little bit about what you all do at Victor Valley Wastewater?
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_01: Hey, Zach, thank you for having me on the show today.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks so much for being here.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_01: So today, right, the Victor Valley Wastewater Reclamation Authority receives wastewater from the cities of Hesperia and Victorville, the town of Apple Valley, and Spring Valley Lake in the small Oro Grand community.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_01: So those communities have existing sewer pipeline systems that feed into very large pipelines that ultimately come right here to my plant, which is on the very northernmost edge of all those communities, right there in the very northern end of the city of Victorville.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_01: About 12 million gallons a day comes into that pipeline.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_01: And when that pipeline arrives at my plant, um, there's a great deal of work and effort that has to be done in order to make it safe and safe to be able to put back into the groundwater basins so that it could be utilized in the future for future drinking water.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_01: So, first off, you know, we need moist water treatment plant operators who are responsible for managing the process through the plant to assure the fact that we meet necessary standards and disinfection standards and clean standards to produce a high quality of water.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_01: The same set of operators also needs to work on the solid side to make sure that the solids that get removed from the water are processed correctly and that we take care of that material as well.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_01: Besides operators, we need mechanics who are responsible for repairing all of the equipment that we need to pump and move and transport this material within the plant.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_01: We need electricians that help us with a lot of our process controls to make sure that we stay in compliance with some of the metering devices and some of the other devices we have in place that test the water quality.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_01: And then on top of all those things that are physically out in the plant, making sure that we're working okay, I need an array of administrative staff, including human resources, finance staff, IT staff is very critical to us.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_01: Much of what we do is very much driven by computers and logic controls.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_01: So we are very much a uh more than just a wastewater treatment facility.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_01: We have a lot of job opportunities here in this environment.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: That's great.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: That's cool to hear all the different parts that go into it.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: And I didn't even think, but you're right, electrician, that you guys have a lot of equipment on there that's going to need that kind of supervision.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: And then, you know, I uh in your kind of introduction earlier, I was saying you guys also provide natural gas and you talked a little bit about the solids.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: And can you tell me more about that process, that part of it?
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_01: That's a that's a really exciting venture that our organization took on a number of years ago.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_01: We're actually the first wastewater treatment plant in the state of California that is receiving and taking our biosolids, our materials that we receive through the regular sewering system.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_01: And then we also take in food waste.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_01: Recent laws in the state of California now require that food waste no longer makes its way to the landfills.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_01: So on our digesters, these large concrete tanks, we bring in and keep these solids and this food waste and we commingle them together.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_01: And when they commingle, they produce a methane gas.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_01: That methane gas today is taken from those digesters and sent over to one of our partners, Energia, who's a private agency, but they take on the responsibility of treating that methane gas to a very, very high quality level.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_01: They clean it.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_01: And then ultimately that natural gas, that gas, when it's all done, it's called renewable natural gas.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_01: That gas is injected back into the natural gas pipelines that are located right here in our facility.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_01: So that means that your waste material today, when it gets into the digesters and ultimately becomes renewable natural gas and put in to the southwest gas pipelines.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_01: In the summertime, homes in this valley don't need a lot of natural gas for heating purposes.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_01: So the use of natural gas in the summer is pretty de minimous.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_01: But our treatment plant and the gas that we produce is enough to supply the natural gas needs of the entire high desert during the summertime.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_01: So a very significant volume of gas gets produced, a great environmental benefit with regards to that methane gas not being emitted back into the air with regards to minimizing greenhouse gas.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_01: So a significant positive environmental impact that we've received a great number of awards on.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_01: So very proud of this organization and what we're doing in that environment.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, that's fantastic.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_00: Really starting to work into the kind of circular economy of taking waste products and turning them back into usable fuels.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: That's fantastic.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: That's great.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: So you know, I mean, you you speak with a lot of you know knowledge and passion about this subject.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_00: How did you get into the water industry?
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_00: Did you always know this is where you wanted to go, or was it something that kind of changed as you grew up, or how how did you get here?
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_01: Well, next January um will be 39 years for me in the water and wastewater industry.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: Congratulations.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm a I'm a local product from here in the high desert.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_01: I grew up and was raised and graduated from Apple Valley High School.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um right out of high school, I wanted to be an engineer and I went away to a four-year school to become an engineer.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, was considering moving into the civil engineering environment that possibly could have directed me into this water and wastewater environment.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, and in my first year, I, you know, had some issues that ultimately forced me to have to come home and I had to give up that dream of becoming an engineer and was working in an environment uh where I was kind of working when I was in college.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_01: And I had a good friend call me and say, you know, Darren, were you ever considering getting into water and wastewater when you were, you know, the engineering student?
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_01: I said, you know, it was definitely one of the paths I was considering.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_01: And the guy said, Well, you know what?
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_01: I'm now working at a you know a water utility.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_01: He goes, Why don't you just come in and learn the you know the business from the ground up?
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_01: And literally, I, you know, went over and applied.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_01: And because of some of the background I'd had from my engineering background at school, um, I had a lot of skill sets, good math skills.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_01: And I was always a really good worker.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_01: And I was hired on.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_01: And very fortunately, timing-wise, it just worked out to where, you know, those skills that I had as an engineering major in college and then my desire to still want to continue my education.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_01: The state at that very particular time in which I joined the industry started requiring certificates in order to hold certain positions within the organization.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_01: And I just hit the timing just right because I was very good at school and liked school.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_01: I was very comfortable going back and taking those classes necessary to pass these state certificates.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, some of my peers who were much older in the working environments I were in were like, uh, we don't want to do that.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_01: And fortunate for me, I was in there maybe two years and I was probably the highest certified employee in the organization.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_01: And I was only like 23 years old.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_01: So it really found, you know, opened a lot of doors for me, and I was able to move very quickly, you know, up through the ranks into management because of these now required certificates.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_00: Great.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: So it was that that you know desire to go back to school and and the you know, I guess, grit to finish out those courses and things that got you.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, okay, sounds great.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_00: And I mean, I know you mentioned the one friend who talked to you when you got back from college and directed you towards water and wastewater, but did you have any other mentors or anybody throughout your career that really helped you kind of find your way?
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I really did.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I I was very fortunate to have a number of really great managers or general managers or even vice presidents who I befriended and I I sought them out, right?
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_01: Because I did see the world, the possibilities in the industry with regards to the ability to progress, even from my simple beginnings without even starting without a college degree, just having that grit and that drive.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_01: And these individuals, you know, were there to help me.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_01: And I stayed engaged and they gave me some great advice on, you know, where to go get further education, where to get other certificates, ultimately, even to consider like, Darren, maybe you need to think about changing from this organization to another organization in order to advance your career and expand your knowledge base.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_01: So it was scary at times, but I felt very fortunate to have these people in my corner.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_01: And really the key to that whole thing, and one of the key things I do today in my mentoring is just letting people know look, I'm here to help.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but if I'm going to help you, it has to start with you.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_01: And you need to keep this engagement going.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_01: You need to keep pushing me.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_01: And there are people today who I helped 20-some years ago, kind of gave them a path and they stayed engaged.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_01: And it's funny today, but I still get a lot of you know emails on my birthday or around the holidays from these, you know, young people who I help promote.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_01: And um, I still try to reach out to my mentors.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_01: So it's definitely one of those industries where positive working relationships and looking for mentors has been very beneficial.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_01: It's a great way to learn this organ, you know, this business.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and to build out your network and keep those connections.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_00: That's great to hear that you're still getting birthday messages and stuff.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_00: That means there's a real relationship there.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, I I believe, if I'm remembering correctly, we just had a cohort of students of interns work with the Victor Valley Wastewater, right?
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_00: From Tomorrow's Talent.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_01: Zachary, that was an amazing experience, right?
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_01: This was something we've been talking about doing for a long time.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so we really struggled to find a solution that would allow us to bring high school students into our work environment.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_01: Liability concerns kind of pose problems for us.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_01: And we were very fortunate to find a great partner in Tomorrow's Talent who allowed us to move forward with those opportunities to bring in high school students, right?
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_01: So we're really looking to engage students at that age before they get into a college environment just to let them know these jobs are available.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_01: And we offered five different internships, five different programs where we had invited students to come participate and shadow our employees.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_01: One was a wastewater treatment plan operator, one was a wastewater mechanic, one was an electrician, one was an IT, and one was finance.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_01: So those five positions were offered up to students to come in and learn more about our industry and those particular roles.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_01: So we interviewed a group of students.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_01: Ultimately, we ended up deciding on five individuals who we selected.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_01: And it was funny because we, you know, we we went out to our employees and we kind of gave them the spiel of, you know, hey, these students are coming on board.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_01: Here's kind of an agenda of ultimately what we want them to learn.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_01: And the very first knee-jerk reaction for a good portion of my staff was, ooh, this is going to be hard.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_01: Do we really, you know, what's the benefit of this?
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_01: How is this, you know, just another person for me to have to watch during the course of the day?
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_01: How's this going to get in the way of my workload or whatever?
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_01: So there wasn't this huge enthusiasm on the part of my staff to want to move forward with this, but we ultimately talked them through the benefit of look, you know, you were young once and you ultimately chose this career.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_01: Let's help other people learn this career, right?
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_01: So let's let's let's give this a try.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_01: And I think the one story that stands out to me the most, the most difficult, physically demanding, dirtiest job that we have at this facility is a mechanic, right?
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_01: So they're they're breaking into pumps and cracking into them to repair them.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_01: And what you think is inside them is inside them.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_01: And so it's not the cleanest job to get into.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_01: And the only student who applied for that particular job was a young woman, probably 16, 17 years old, and she was five foot nothing, a hundred and nothing.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_01: So this very petite little, you know, woman who basically said, Yes, I want to come and get dirty.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_01: And she had some good experience with regards to a family business that she basically detailed that you know, she's okay with getting dirty and working hard, and she really wanted to learn this.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_01: And I, Zachary, I can tell you within three days, she had in my entire mechanics, set of mechanics, just enthralled with her passion.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_01: And they were literally fighting over who was going to take her out that day because they wanted to be with her and they wanted to teach her.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_01: Her passion to want to learn just instilled, you know, and invigorated them to want to teach.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_01: And I think it helped them kind of you know re-energize their passion for the industry as well as pass on that passion to the students.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_01: It was a it was absolutely a win-win for both my staff and the students, I think.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_00: That is so great to hear.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so great that they're they were really successful in the internship and and got the employee attitude kind of shifted around to where they're seeing the benefit now.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_00: That's great.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, absolutely.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_01: My IT person who had an IT intern, when he was all done at the end at the end of the internship, he came into my office and pleaded that I please hire this young man once he graduates high school because he was so talented and he was already so aware of what we were doing.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_01: And it was, like I said, it was it was a great experience.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_00: That's fantastic to hear.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_00: That's great.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_00: So you know, looking at the water industry, and I'm sure that you interface with a lot of other districts and you know, reclamation authorities and things like that.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_00: Do you think there are enough pathways and programs for young people to find their way into the water industry right now?
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I would say that is absolutely, you know, probably looking back on my career and where I was in high school afterwards, this was this this pathway to a career was completely unknown.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_01: Right?
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_01: It's not broadcasted, it's not something you learn in your career days at in when you're at high school or even in college a lot of times.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_01: So it's very unfortunate that you know, this this career, this type of career, um, isn't more readily visible for people to know about and understand.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, Zachary, we've talked about all the benefits, right, of you know, being in this industry, right?
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_01: It it's it's it's very exciting, and I'm very hopeful that this program ultimately gets picked up by a lot more utilities and that ultimately we're able to do a lot more of this kind of collaboration, you know, not only with high school students, but at the college level or junior college level, um because there there is absolutely a need for these jobs.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_00: That's great.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_00: And we want to find the people who really love to do the work, right?
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_00: So they can go out there and be excellent at it.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_00: That's fantastic.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely, right?
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_01: And you know what I you know, what I tell you know, young people all the time is the fact that you know this is this industry is economy proof, right?
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_01: We're we're not subject to the ups and downs of what the interest rate is or you know, housing sales or selling a product, right?
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_01: Our services are needed all the time, 247, 365.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_01: And the great thing about this career, too, is that look, you may live here in the high desert and you ultimately are you know went to school here, but maybe you have a desire to want to relocate someplace else.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_01: And guess what?
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_01: Whatever skills you learn in this particular internship are applicable, not in the United States, they're applicable all over the world.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, okay, very mobile, right?
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_01: You can take these jobs anywhere.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_01: Every community you go into has a water and wastewater utility that's taking care of that community.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_01: And the, you know, we're just kind of behind the scenes, uh, you know, and it's a good thing we're behind the scenes.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_01: That means we're doing our job and doing it well.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_01: If we're not in the news and we're not, you know, we're not being thrown out there as oh my gosh, what's going on?
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_01: But I think because of that, people take us for granted and just don't realize wow, there's a lot of work and effort that goes into making sure that you have water at the tap when you need it.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_01: And when you do flush the toilet, it's just not making its way directly to the ocean or to the river and which water you're drinking from, right?
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_01: So it's a very rewarding job, right?
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_01: And it's something that, you know, I'm very passionate about helping young people, you know, kind of gain my same passion and hopefully can continue to maybe look to replace me someday.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_00: So then I know a lot of times when I talk to students and even when I talk to grown adults, right, uh uncertainty and and not knowing what's waiting for them can really stop people from making a decision, you know, or taking a plunge into something new.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_00: If there were folks who were thinking about the water industry, but they were nervous because they didn't know what that might entail, what kind of advice would you give them as they look at different career options?
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_01: You know, so there are a number of different programs that are out there today where you can go online.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um, Cal State Sacramento has an online water program that you can sign up for and study at your own pace, and it prepares you to take a state test for a necessary certificate to work in our industry.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_01: The other thing that I can tell you is that if you reach out to a water, a wastewater utility specifically, if somebody calls me today and says, you know, Darren, hey, I'm a student who's interested in this.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I don't know an agency today that would turn away somebody and say, you know, hey, yeah, come on out.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_01: Let's take you on a tour, let's show you around.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_01: We're all very passionate about showing young people and people that are interested in what we do and what and how to get into that.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_01: And I offer up my my mentorship to anybody who asks with regards to, hey, if I want to get into this industry, you know, what do I need to do?
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_01: And I'll point them in the right direction to go take these courses uh ultimately where to how to get their certificates.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, 30 some years in this industry, I've got a lot of contacts that I can reach out to and and you know put people and make you know sure they can make contact out there.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_01: Right now, we're this close to being able to offer water and wastewater courses at Victor Valley College.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm really excited about that to be able to give our local students an opportunity to come in and learn from some uh some really great instructors, little group of guys that I put together who are super excited to teach water and wastewater to our local students.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_01: So be looking for that in the spring of next year.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_01: So we're getting there, Ms.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_01: Accri.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_01: We're trying to get the message out.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_00: That's awesome.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_00: That's great.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't know about the program at Victor Valley College.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_00: That's fantastic to hear.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_00: And then I've heard a little bit, you know, different conversations with folks in the water industry about something called the silver tsunami.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_00: Can you tell me a little bit more about what that is and how you feel about it?
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that is definitely a tidal wave of gray.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_01: And by that we're saying the tidal wave of gray-haired people who are getting ready to retire from our industry.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I heard a number the other day at one of my conferences that basically said about 60% of everybody in the water and wastewater utility industry today could retire.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_01: Means they're at an age where they could leave, but they're hanging around for whatever reasons.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_01: But there's going to be a significant turnover in our industry.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_01: And we struggle today, Zachary.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_01: When we, you know, when we fly jobs that are available here at this facility, sometimes we get little to no people interested in our positions that we have open.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_01: It's hard to find people, people don't know what we are or what we do.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_01: They have a huge vision of something different, of you know what we're doing every day, and don't really understand all the real skills and that it takes to do this job.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_01: And it's yeah, it it's it's just got so much to offer people, and it's unfortunate that we're not doing a better job of advertising these jobs.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_00: And are there any you know early stumbling blocks that you think people who do find their way to the water industry, anything that they, you know, mistakes that they make early on in their career or even just things they don't do, maybe they don't do something wrong, but something they they should do to improve their career, you know, prospects going forward in the industry?
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_00: Any advice to people just starting out, I guess?
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_01: So today, specifically in the water potable water world, right?
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_01: You can you can go get your state certificates, which are distribution and water treatment, the two simplest and most common ones.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_01: You can actually get those certificates without having to work one day in the industry.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_01: And today, if somebody walks up to me and says, Darren, I have a distribution to and a treatment to certificate, which if you put in the effort, you could probably accomplish your D1 and T1 in one year, and another year in, you could probably get your distribution to and your treatment to.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_01: So two years worth of part-time effort, you know, working on an online class and taking these tests.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_01: Having those two certificates in your hand today, if you come to me and say, Darren, hey, I'm really looking for a job in the water and wastewater, specifically the water industry, I can point you to at least a half a dozen general managers and operations managers that I know today that at least one of them will have openings.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_01: And the likelihood of you getting that job because you have that level certificates skyrockets.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, you are going to be in the top 90 to 95th percentile of applicants that they interview because we just don't get young people coming in already that prepared.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_01: Gotcha.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_01: If it's something that's truly on your radar, then you know, let's talk, let's find ways to get you into these courses before you ever start a job in the industry to get you prepared to be the most qualified candidate when those openings do occur.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, so I'm hearing rumors or uh uh echoes of your story in there, right?
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_00: Going certified.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: Get that training so that you can come in ready to do the work.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely, right.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_01: And the great thing about it, these jobs, right, don't they don't require bachelor's degrees, right?
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_01: You take a handful of evening classes here or there, you take a test, um operators, senior operators, mechanics, senior mechanics.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_01: I have senior mechanics today who are making well over$100,000 a year, which when you think about the amount of coursework they had to do in college and the few years they've spent learning the job without a college degree, that's that's a great living wage for somebody, you know, especially in a career and a job too that is very secure with great benefits and holidays and pensions, and these are really great jobs.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I've I've heard nothing but good things from the folks that I've talked to who work in the water industry.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_00: They just absolutely love being a part of the organization and doing what they do.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_00: So then kind of near the end here, uh as different technologies come on the scene, you know, a big conversation in the workforce right now is the advent of AI, right?
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_00: But automation has a large role to play too, and and robotics being introduced into different parts of the world.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_00: What changes do you see in the water industry as a result of the current like technology boom?
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_01: You know, specifically here at the Wastewater Treatment Plan, a lot of what we do every day um are monitoring certain equipment that are very systematically and very frequently evaluating the quality of that water from pH to oxygen levels to nitrate levels, ammonia levels, right?
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_01: So there are these sensors out there that are constantly evaluating the current state of the wastewater within the facility.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_01: Today, some of it is very manual with regards to maybe looking at a computer and seeing what's going on with regards to where is the fluctuation in those constituents.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_01: What I ultimately see AI doing is being the smart piece on that that can be the watchdog and really help us to become much more effective and efficient, you know, help us manage our electrical loads that we have to be better and do it smarter more economically, uh, greater assurances of meeting water quality standards so that we're making sure that what we're producing, you know, doesn't potentially cause an issue in the environment today.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_01: Um, there's a lot of electronics, a lot of advanced technology in our operations today, but AI and further advances in the technology will just allow us to do our job more effectively, more efficiently, smarter.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_00: That's great, but still lots of room for operators and electricians and mechanics and all of those positions.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_00: That's good.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, working with technology, right?
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_00: Great.
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_00: Well, uh, you know, thank you so much, Darren, for joining us today.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, before we sign off here, I wanted to ask if you have any parting words for the audience.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I know we've got educators watching, other business leaders, you know, hopefully some students out there are catching the episodes as well.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_00: Anything to say for folks before we finish up here?
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I just want people to know, specifically in the wastewater world, that I want them to understand that this yuck factor that they automatically label our industry with, um, it it exists to a very small degree, right?
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and that really and truthfully, what we're doing specifically within the water and the waste under industry today, if you're somebody who's very much into protecting the environment and very much so on sustainability and you know the ability to reclaim assets and resources to be very green, these are great jobs, right?
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_01: These are jobs today that people don't realize just how much of an impact you have on protecting the environment by doing your job very well.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_01: So when we talk about people who work in a wastewater industry, it's not like they had a passion just to come work in this environment because of what we do.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_01: There's these big overlying benefits, personally, intrinsically, that they get from actually participating and being a part of our environment.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_01: And then, you know, like this agency today, right?
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_01: Things that we do that we're extremely proud of, right?
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_01: I talked a lot about that renewable natural gas project and the things that we've really cool.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_01: We've we've won awards for those projects at the state level, we've won awards at the national level.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_01: Zachary, we even won an award at the worldwide level.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_01: Little bitty Victorville Wastewater Treatment Plant won an award where we were competing against you know Singapore and you know other utilities in Israel.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_01: And we won a uh a worldwide award for um an engineering project that was very environmentally sound.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_00: So that's incredible.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_00: Congratulations.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_01: Well, thank you.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_01: And it's something that we you know that we want to tell the public the fact that look, this is so much bigger and so much of a benefit to our region, to the community that we serve.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_01: We just want people to see the fact that please come join us, right?
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_01: We're excited to bring young people into this industry, and we're very hopeful that you know, programs that we're doing with like tomorrow's talent ultimately will help motivate the the next generation of water and wastewater professionals to come in.
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_01: And hopefully maybe someday one of them will give be giving this presentation to you another time.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, definitely.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_00: That's exactly what we hope to pass it on to the next generation.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_00: Well, thank you.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much, Darren, for your time today.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_00: I really appreciate having you here.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_00: And a reminder for everybody watching or listening along, uh, in the description of this episode, you should find a link to our churn calculator.
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_00: That's a great tool that you can use if you're a business leader to play with some numbers and see what the true cost of churn is for any position in your organization.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, be sure to tweak all the variables and really mimic what you have going on at your organization.
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_00: And if you think, if it gets you thinking about ways to reduce that churn or maybe pull in some interns to, you know, build your pipeline of talent for the next generation, please give us a call, reach out to us via email.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, thank you all so much for joining us today.
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_00: We really appreciate having you here listening or watching along.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_00: And if you're watching on YouTube, please remember to like, comment, subscribe, make sure you do all those things so that we can get the word out to more people.
• 28:17
  SPEAKER_00: And if you're listening to us along as a podcast, please leave a comment on the episode thread, uh, subscribe to the station so that you can hear more from us later.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_00: We would just love to hear from you and see what you've no what you think and what you'd like to hear about more in future episodes.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_00: So thank you so much for joining us today on the Bridge to Tomorrow's Talent, and we hope to see you next time.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks, Zagre.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Darren.