Preet Bal

Preet Bal had already worn many hats by the time she was in her 20s, but it wasn’t until she went to India for a term abroad that she decided to turn her environmental passion into a career.

Bal and her sister starred in a TV show on the Shaw Multicultural Channel that made them local celebrities in the South Asian community, she studied business at Simon Fraser University and was a passionate advocate for the environment after years of watching The Nature of Things hosted by David Suzuki.

It was a fourth-year business class, however, that tipped the balance, Bal recalls. “My assignment was to sell shoes and make the highest profit margin. Most students knew that meant sending manufacturing overseas to countries like China or India where labour and material costs are cheaper.” While in India, Bal vividly remembers the air and water pollution. “When I saw the actual impact of rapid business growth on the environment, I realized I don’t want to be part of the problem, I need to be part of the solution.” When she returned to the Lower Mainland, Bal found the environmental protection technology program at Kwantlen Polytechnic University (KPU) and enrolled immediately. While she didn’t have the typical science background required, program chair Paul Richard considered her other qualifications, including math and physics. “Thank goodness he took me as a student,” says Bal. “I was a business student, but he considered me and I really appreciated that.” In the program, she found an immediate avenue to make a difference in her community. On a team project learning about recycling at the Vaisakhi festival, an annual Sikh cultural celebration and one of the Lower Mainland’s largest events, a light went off for Bal. After realizing the celebration, which offers free food and beverages to thousands of attendees, also generates unnecessary waste, Bal, her sister and classmates teamed up to provide recycling bins. “We just thought, ‘Hey, it was time for someone to do something about all these refundable containers that end up in the garbage can. Let’s just roll out a recycling bin and see what happens,’” explains Bal. After diverting 200 bottles and cans per hour that otherwise would have ended up in the landfill, the effort received support from the City of Vancouver, the City of Surrey and Metro Vancouver. That experience, along with a co-op term with the City of Vancouver, sparked an interest in local government. Since graduating from KPU in 2008, Bal has worked for the city in a number of roles, currently as an engineering assistant in the branch responsible for drinking water. “Water quality may sound kind of mundane to people, but actually getting to know your local drinking water was amazing to me. I was in the field almost every single day, testing it and I got to know it at a very intimate level,” says Bal. “I became more of an advocate for local drinking water because I know how good it is.” Bal says her time at KPU prepared her well to work alongside engineers and for sampling the city’s drinking water. “Getting to use the turbidity and pH meters and being able to test for chlorine, those are all very important and useful skills that I developed before I got to my job,” she says. With such pride in Vancouver’s drinking water, it’s understandable why Bal prefers it over purchasing single-use plastic water bottles. She says a career highlight has been making drinking fountains, water wagons and temporary fountains available to the public through the city’s Access to Water Program. “I would take my kids to the park and my number one issue would be needing to find a drink of water,” she says. “That was my local drinking water and I wanted access to it, so it felt like a big win.” It’s this ability to make a difference on the ground that has been the most gratifying part of her career, and Bal says she hopes to help others apply their skills to environmental challenges. That’s why she and her husband recently established a bursary for environmental protection technology students that will be allocated over five years as part of KPU’s Giving Tuesday campaign. “I’m just at that age where I want to give back. I benefited from bursaries as a student at KPU and to

be able to further my education and actually get a job out of it at the end of the day was huge. I’m very grateful for the people who set these up,” explains Bal. Sherri Magson, director of the KPU Office of Advancement, says, “We are thrilled to receive Preet’s family’s support for current EPT students facing financial hardships. Knowing her personal journey and inspiration to give back is all the more meaningful. As their bursary has been established to give preference to students who are single parents or adults returning to school, we were proud to feature their gift as part of KPU’s 2021 Giving Tuesday campaign on Nov. 30th, which focused on financial support for students in KPU’s Diversity Community, including mature students. This new bursary will have a great impact on students who, like Preet, want to make a difference in their communities and for the environment.”

Bal says she hopes the bursary will help others further their education. As for her own decision to go back to school after university, she has no regrets. “The fact that I did not have to do another four-year program, to be able to sink my teeth into a two-year diploma and enter my industry through co-ops, helped me get job ready. I truly credit where I am today to KPU,” she says. “When I went through my program, I wanted to do something with my hands, to be involved in the environment somehow. And then to be able to work for my local government, to be a part of that scenario, I feel that’s a big accomplishment.”