Municipal Water Leader April 2021

Volume 8 Issue 4

April 2021

A Tribute to Dave Luker

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Municipal Water Leader is published 10 times a year with combined issues for May/June and November/December by

an American company established in 2009.

STAFF: Kris Polly, Editor-in-Chief Joshua Dill, Managing Editor Tyler Young, Writer Stephanie Biddle, Graphic Designer Eliza Moreno, Web Designer Caroline Polly, Production Assistant and Social Media Coordinator Cassandra Leonard, Staff Assistant

8

A Tribute to Dave Luker

Contents April 2021 Volume 8, Issue 4

5 R emembering Dave Luker 8 A Tribute to Dave Luker 16 H ow the Great Lakes Water Authority’s Apprenticeship Program Is Building a Skilled Workforce 22 H ow HDR is Transferring Knowledge and Developing Careers Through TaLON

28 D eveloping Future Water Leaders at Eastern Municipal Water District 32 F urthering Diversity and Inclusion at Northwest Pipe Company 36 U SALCO Increases Its Capabilities Through New Acquisition

Do you have a story idea for an upcoming issue? Contact our editor-in-chief, Kris Polly, at kris.polly@waterstrategies.com.

4 | MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER | April 2021

ADVERTISING: Municipal Water Leader accepts half-page and full-page ads. For more information on rates and placement, please contact Kris Polly at (703) 517-3962 or kris.polly@waterstrategies.com.

CIRCULATION: Municipal Water Leader is distributed to all drinking water and wastewater entities with annual budgets or sales of $10 million per year or greater as well as to members of Congress and committee staff and advertising sponsors. For address corrections or additions, or if you would prefer to receive Municipal Water Leader in electronic form, please contact us at admin@waterstrategies.com.

Copyright © 2021 Water Strategies LLC. Municipal Water Leader relies on the excellent contributions of a variety of natural resources professionals who provide content for the magazine. However, the views and opinions expressed by these contributors are solely those of the original contributor and do not necessarily represent or reflect the policies or positions of Municipal Water Leader magazine, its editors, or Water Strategies LLC. The acceptance and use of advertisements in Municipal Water Leader do not constitute a representation or warranty by Water Strategies LLC or Municipal Water Leader magazine regarding the products, services, claims, or companies advertised. @MuniWaterLeader /MuniWaterLeader

municipalwaterleader.com muniwaterleader

COVER PHOTO:

Dave Luker, Former General Manager, Desert Water Agency. Photo courtesy of Desert Water Agency.

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PHOTO COURTESY OF DWA.

Coming soon in Municipal Water Leader: May: Chairman Peter DeFazio of the U.S. House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure

SUBMISSIONS: Municipal Water Leader welcomes manuscript, photography, and art submissions; the right to edit or deny publishing submissions is reserved. Submissions are returned only upon request. For more information, please contact our office at (202) 698-0690 or municipal.water.leader@waterstrategies.com.

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Remembering Dave Luker

Few people have generated more stories or created lasting memories like Mr. Dave Luker. He was simply a bigger-than-life guy who always did his best and expected others to do the same. He touched many lives in very positive ways. He is missed by all who knew him. Below is the column I wrote when he was on the cover of the January 2016 issue of Municipal Water Leader. M

The Highest of Standards

By Kris Polly

T

his issue of Municipal Water Leader features Desert Water Agency (DWA) General Manager Dave Luker of Palm Springs, California, on the cover and as our primary interview. I have known Dave for several years and regard him as one of the most accomplished and capable managers I know.

“Every facility we have is ready and in shape to be seen.” That was Dave’s response when I commented on the cleanliness and organization of a pumping plant on one of my earliest visits to DWA. Dave went on to explain that DWA’s previous manager and his former boss, Jack Oberle, had set that standard years ago. “On the rare occasions I do see something out of place, our people get right on it. That is how we do our business,” Dave continued.

I have toured DWA’s facilities many times since then, and I am always impressed by the attention to detail, organization, and exceptional cleanliness of everything.

The control rooms, pumping plants, and agency buildings are meticulously painted and very clean. There are no oil leaks, spare parts, tools, or clutter of any kind lying around.

Walking through the DWA shop area, one observes the labels of various spray cans and other supplies all facing forward and in precise, straight lines. Everything is in its designated space. All the DWA vehicles are in excellent repair, have gleaming paint jobs, and are parked with military precision.

When one comments on such things, Dave is quick to reference his former manager Jack or his board of directors, give credit to the “exceptional DWA employees,” or credit particular individuals by name. It is almost as if he does not work at DWA; Dave will never say, “I did this,” or “I did that.” Walking with Dave through the DWA office and facilities is an experience—almost like being in a scene from the movie “Patton.” People greet him warmly but tend to scatter and get busy quickly. It is clear there is great respect, and that folks take their jobs very seriously.

It has been my observation that the very best general managers often reference the people they learned from and are very comfortable giving credit to others. That is certainly true of Dave. He talks a lot about all he learned from Jack and about how capable and conscientious the DWA employees are. An additional observation of the very best managers like Dave is the positive relationships they 2

municipalwaterleader.com

develop with their board of directors. Every water agency is different. Certainly, people are different and have different personalities. However, the very best managers always find a way to build respectful, collaborative working relationships where everyone understands their role.

Organized, high-performing water agencies with a culture of excellence are no accident; they are the direct result of strong and effective leadership. DWA is an exceptionally performing organization because Dave assumed the mantle of leadership from his previous manager; used all that he learned; hired the best people; empowered them to do their jobs; and held all, most notably himself, to the highest of standards. After Dave’s retirement at the end of January, the continuation of DWA’s performance, exceptional employees, and culture of excellence will be his legacy.

Kris Polly is editor-in-chief of Municipal Water Leader and Irrigation Leader magazines. He is also president of Water Strategies LLC, a government relations, marketing, and publishing company he began in February 2009 for the purpose of representing and guiding water, power, and agricultural entities in their dealings with Congress, the Bureau of Reclamation, and other federal government agencies. He may be contacted at Kris.Polly@waterstrategies.com.

Municipal Water Leader

April 2021 | MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER

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A Tribute to Dave Luker

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Dave Luker by a DWA solar array.

The Benevolent Dictator

8 | MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER | April 2021

It wasn’t long before Dave was made general manager and chief engineer of the agency, a position he held for 11 years.

DWA continued to improve under Dave’s leadership. The operations center underwent a multimillion-dollar expansion, and he commissioned the largest solar field in the region to power it. He doubled the size of our recycled water facilities and later expanded the solar field to provide most of its power needs.

Over the 25 years he was at the agency, he negotiated the increase of its imported water supply by a third and more than doubled our rights to local surface water sources, providing the water resources we would need in the years to come. He never stopped looking ahead and planning for the agency’s infrastructure needs by continuously adding wells, reservoirs, and transmission mains.

The agency faced many challenges during Dave’s leadership. He loved nothing more than fighting to defend the agency against bureaucratic regulation or anything he deemed harmful. He had one of the best minds I have ever known and was a brilliant strategist; he did not often lose a fight.

Dave was a born emergency responder. He was at his best in an emergency. You could count on Dave being the first one there and seeing it all the way through to its successful conclusion. He loved being a first responder. Quite simply, Dave was a man of action.

Dave was my boss and the boss of many others, but he was also a mentor and friend. I never saw him turn away municipalwaterleader.com

PHOTO COURTESY OF DWA.

Mark Krause General Manager, Desert Water Agency (DWA) My friendship with Dave Luker started in 1986, when I hired on at Krieger & Stewart, a civil engineering firm in Riverside, California. I met Dave my first day. He assigned me a construction survey job for DWA in Palm Springs.

Dave ran the survey crews and actually started the firm’s inhouse survey department. He loved construction and taking part in building things. Dave also loved working with people who loved their jobs and worked hard. Dave worked his way up to partner at the firm and was instrumental in opening that opportunity up to many others who followed him.

In 1993, Dave left the firm to work for DWA. I followed him in 1995 to continue my on-the-job education under his tutelage. Dave went to work immediately, transforming the agency. Dave hated government waste, and he wanted the agency to be efficient and thrifty, like a private company, without all the normal bureaucracy and waste. He also valued exemplary customer service and made sure we had everything to get the job done right. We worked together to expand the engineering department to produce project designs, put contracts out to bid, and perform all the construction management. We hired more engineers and purchased more equipment, and soon we were producing all our own construction drawings and performing construction surveying, too.

ADVERTISEMENT anyone in need. He would often give his personal time and money to help others. Dave liked to have things done his way, like a dictator. He was tough, disagreeable at times, and could be domineering. I think he liked to project this image.

Ironically, if you really knew him, he was just the opposite.

He often referred to himself as our benevolent dictator. That title really did seem to describe his management style. He was understanding and patient, and those who really knew him knew that he sincerely cared about them and always had their backs. When he left, he told me, “If you ever really get in a jam, just blame it on me.”

If you knew Dave, you knew that his family was number 1. He taught me that the best way to take care of your family was to do your job well and provide for them.

He left his mark on me and everyone he knew, he changed the agency for the better, and his legacy lives on in us and in the great agency he helped build.

Proud and Supportive

Sylvia Baca, MMC Assistant Secretary, DWA Board of Directors The first thing I learned about Dave Luker when I first started working at DWA was how proud he was, both of his family at home and of his DWA family. He always beamed with pride when he talked about his family. Pam and his daughters were his world, and soon, so were his grandkids.

They kept him busy, but he couldn’t ask for anything better to do once he retired.

He was also proud of the employees working at DWA. Whether it was the crews working out in the field or the office staff, he knew that we all represented DWA as a whole. I received many calls and letters from the public, just wanting to say how great our crews were and how professional and courteous they were. He was proud of everyone and made sure to acknowledge employees who went the extra mile.

Those who may have dealt with a personal issue or loss, like myself, know how important it is that he made sure I knew that he “had my back” (his words). When I took time off to be with my family, he supported me. I’m grateful that we kept in touch after he retired. I’m going to miss our chats.

An Admired Leader

Jim Barrett General Manager, Coachella Valley Water District (CVWD) As general manager of DWA, Dave contributed so much to the long-term success of the Coachella Valley. Our agencies, DWA and the CVWD, work hand in hand to sustainably manage and actively replenish our region’s groundwater supplies. Dave helped the Coachella Valley lead the way to defining what a sustainable basin should look like. The programs and policies that Dave brought to our region will help sustain our resources into the future, ensuring that we can continue serving the Coachella Valley with a safe, affordable, and reliable water supply for generations to come. municipalwaterleader.com

While I could go on about Dave’s water management– related accomplishments, there is another that should not be overlooked: the leadership of his team. When I talked to Dave’s staff, the great deal of admiration they had for him was remarkably clear. The respect he earned from his team, his board of directors, and from colleagues throughout California is a true testament to his leadership and his character. His agency, the statewide water industry, and our valley community changed for the better because of Dave’s dedication to his career.

The Phone

James Cioffi Director, DWA Dave Luker’s number is still on my phone.

Dave and I shared many interests, one of which was our love of baseball. My favorite memories of Dave are the trips our families made to Arizona for spring training. Often joined by our friends the Bennetts and the Stuarts, we enjoyed Dave’s commentary and immense knowledge of the sport. Dave was an Angels and Reds fan. I am a Yankee fan.

Dave hated the Yankees, calling them the “Evil Empire.” I loved to annoy him by wearing my Yankee cap to our games, sometimes cocking the bill a bit sideways, which really irritated him. One day my Yankee cap disappeared. I always accused him of taking it.

We also shared a love of collector or older cars, as long as they were Fords! I helped Dave build a shop behind his new house so he could restore his Mustang. Sadly, that project will be on hold for a while.

Dave also had a pet peeve with people who did not answer their phones, especially if the call was from him! One day, when my time comes, I will be calling Dave’s phone.

And he will answer.

Port in the Storm

Katie Evans Director of Communications and Conservation, CVWD I have Dave to thank for a career that I love. He recognized potential in me and gave me an opportunity in the water industry that changed by life. During my time working for Dave, I learned so much about water, and I’ll be forever grateful for that, but more importantly, Dave instilled important life and leadership skills in me. He looked out for me and gave me the guidance I needed to be successful. Dave has been such an important person in my life. He was my port in the storm for more than a decade. I’ll miss him very much.

Extreme Integrity

Martin Krieger Former Finance Director, DWA I met Dave in 1988 on a State Water Project tour that DWA sponsored. At the time, he worked for Krieger & Stewart. I spotted him with his Cincinnati Reds jacket on and knew we would get along just fine. Even though I April 2021 | MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER

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ADVERTISEMENT was a San Diego Padres fan, we spent many hours talking baseball. The agency hit a home run when it hired Dave as assistant general manager and then promoted him to general manager. Dave was knowledgeable, astute, and insightful, and he possessed extreme integrity. You always knew where Dave was coming from. There was no gray area; things were strictly black and white. He spoke his mind and was a larger-than-life personality.

Dave always put the agency first in his dealings and was always looking ahead to its future. Dave adored the staff and was extremely proud of them. He was admired and respected by many in the industry, and he cultivated many lasting relationships. Although he left this earth way too early, he definitely left his mark in the world. He will truly be missed, and I am grateful for the time I was given to know him and have him in my life.

The Best Kind of Boss

Ashley Metzger Outreach and Conservation Manager, DWA I first met Dave while producing a video for DWA. He made it clear that he didn’t relish his time in front of the camera. When he hired me to join the DWA team, I learned that he was more of a behind-the-scenes guy. I’ll always appreciate the short time we worked together.

He took me into the fold and made me feel welcome and valued immediately. Dave supported me and encouraged me to remember the importance of my life outside the office. It was clear that his family meant the world to him.

When it came to work, he always set me up for success, and he left DWA better off, because that’s how he managed.

He was the best kind of boss there is: a coach.

A Great American

Ron Starrs Former Director, DWA While Dave Luker was a great leader in the water industry and had a great impact on the people he served, his greatest legacy was his love and devotion to his family. Also, Dave was a great American who loved his country.

Strong Values, Big Heart

10 | MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER | April 2021

An Unforgettable Character

Joseph K. Stuart Secretary/Treasurer, DWA Board of Directors Many years ago, when I was a youngster, my parents subscribed to Reader’s Digest. This was in the 1960s, long before the digital age and social media. Once my parents had read the periodical, I would have the chance to peruse it and read one of my favorite features. It was entitled “My Most Unforgettable Character” and was authored by people, some famous, about someone who had had a remarkable impact on their lives.

Dave Luker, known throughout the Palm Springs, California, area as the general manager, was such an individual. I met Dave through mutual acquaintances, and thereafter, we became good friends and golfing buddies.

Once I retired, Dave was instrumental in my immersion in the local water industry, first as a consultant and later as a member of the DWA board of directors.

Dave was opinionated and did not mince words when expressing his view of a situation or the world in general.

It was a refreshing and often humorous event to hear him discuss a topic. He had an imposing physical presence, paired with a larger-than-life voice that at full volume was impressive, to say the least. Although he could appear gruff to the uninitiated, I once described him to a friend as an armor-plated marshmallow.

DWA and its employees were so special to Dave. We have lost a great natural leader in Dave and are poorer for that loss.

We can, however, recall our favorite memories of interactions with Dave and be thankful that our lives intersected with Dave’s, as we are surely richer for that experience.

Love of Country, Love of Craft, Love of Family

Bob Reed I first met Dave in December 2004 at an Association of California Water Agencies (ACWA) conference. I was leaving ACWA at the end of the month to establish my state lobbying firm. Over the course of 2 days, Dave and I became kindred spirits, and after meeting with several of his board members, DWA became my first client.

Dave was patriot who often spoke of his love and support for our country. He regarded himself as a defender of individual rights, especially our Second Amendment. He organized friends to provide eye protection to my son and his squad when they were deployed to Afghanistan in the early years of the War on Terror. He sent care packages to my son and inquired about him often. Dave was proud of our military. municipalwaterleader.com

PHOTO COURTESY OF DWA.

Mike Riddell Partner, Best Best & Krieger I think some folks may have seen Dave Luker as outspoken and obstinate. He was not someone who would just go with the flow or who suffered fools lightly. What he looked for in people and what he offered to others were some fundamental values: honesty, integrity, a measure of humility, a willingness to work for what you received, and the strength to stand up for what you believed to be right. If Dave could see those qualities in you, it did not matter to him what you looked like, where you were from, what you sounded like, or what your gender was. As a manager he would advance people who were not self-promoters if he respected what he saw in them. You

could make a mistake, and it would be okay, so long as you owned up to it and hung onto the values that he recognized to be important. He helped a lot of people along the way, gaining their love and respect. I’m sure it would be difficult for many of them to find words adequate to express what they feel. For them he will never be gone.

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Dave Luker with two DWA staff members.

Dave was dedicated to craft as general manager. He expected every employee to take pride in their work and to always represent the agency as he did—with pride, focus on detail, and dedication to the public good. I remember walking through the meter and equipment inventory warehouse on my first visit to DWA headquarters. One could literally eat off the floor, it was so clean. He would have it no other way.

Dave was passionate about many things, including playing dominoes as a member of the Palm Springs Club.

He was a fan of the Cincinnati Reds and the Dallas Cowboys. We had a lot of fun poking at each other’s teams—me a San Francisco Giants and San Francisco 49ers fan. Dave was passionate about his family. Most professionals I know, myself included, find it difficult to balance work and family. But that never seemed to be an issue for Dave. He loved caring and providing for his wife, his daughters, and his grandchildren.

I miss him terribly.

Dave Luker, Determined

Tom Kieley III Former Director, DWA Dave Luker’s determination in all aspects of his life truly set him apart in this world. He was determined to be an engineer, a daunting task for anyone. The challenge for Dave was even greater: He was a mustang. Not able to finish his college education, Dave decided that he would simply teach himself. He bought the books and would study late at night until he was ready to sit for the Engineer in Training exam, which he passed through sheer determination. And he continued to work and study hard until he also passed his municipalwaterleader.com

Professional Engineer exam and the land surveyor test.

Dave was a young engineer working with Krieger & Stewart, a Riverside engineering firm, when our paths first crossed. He was energetic and not one to turn down a tough assignment, determined to become a partner in the firm. I was on the DWA board in 1992, and we were drilling a new well not far from my home. One sleepless night, I decided to wander over to the well site to see how the drilling was going.

There was Dave, hard hat and gloves on, flashlight in hand, intently inspecting and logging the drill material. Dave was there that night and every night until the well was completed.

It wasn’t because Dave was a night owl that he took that long, overnight shift. Dave had trouble staying awake for 9 innings of an evening baseball game (unless it was his beloved Cincinnati Reds). No, Dave was bound and determined to show his boss that he had the right stuff to be a partner.

Dave did make partner and began doing more and more work for DWA. He was incredibly loyal to the agency and especially its general manager, Jack Oberle. Jack was determined, too. He was determined to hire Dave as the agency’s chief engineer. Dave came on board, and the future of DWA was on the road. Despite some bumps and potholes, Dave was determined to become general manager, a position he held until his retirement.

Dave was deeply committed to his family, his country, and his friends. He was quietly generous with his time, his talent, and his money. He never turned his back on anyone in need and was always the first to reach into his wallet to help. Dave may have gone on ahead, but for those of us left behind, we will always remember his courage and determination, his love of family and country, and we are all better off for having known Dave and called him friend. M April 2021 | MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER

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How the Great Lakes Water Authority’s Apprenticeship Program Is Building a Skilled Workforce

T

he Great Lakes Water Authority (GLWA) is a regional water and wastewater treatment service provider for eight southeastern Michigan counties. In order to replace an aging workforce and ensure that it has sufficient skilled employees, GLWA has established a 3-year apprenticeship program that combines paid, on-the-job training; in-house educational courses; and community college courses. The program’s graduates are offered full-time positions at GLWA. In this interview, Patricia Butler, GLWA’s manager for organizational development, tells Municipal Water Leader about how the program was designed and how it is benefiting the authority, and Etaune “EJ” Johnson, an apprentice graduate and current full-time GLWA employee, tells us about his experience in the program.

A GLWA apprentice learns from GLWA journey workers.

Municipal Water Leader: Please tell us about your backgrounds and how you came to be in your current positions.

Patricia Butler: I’ve been with GLWA for 3 years. I’m in organizational development, which is our human resources department. I lead our performance management, progression development, and apprenticeship programs.

My background is in strategic development, program development, and business process automation. I came to GLWA from the healthcare industry to assist with the development and launch of the performance management system and processes.

GLWA apprentices learn in a classroom setting.

EJ Johnson: I have been working with GLWA for the past 3 years. I started the apprenticeship journey about 3½ years ago. Right after high school, I went to Focus: HOPE, which I learned about from my father. Focus: HOPE is a third-party trade company that places people in different trades and apprenticeship groups. GLWA was one of the companies recruiting through it, and I was one of the people lucky enough to make it through the testing and interview processes. Three years of hard work and determination later, I am an electrical instrumentation control technician and work at Water Works Park Water Treatment Facility.

Municipal Water Leader: Please tell us about GLWA’s history and services. What is its service area, how many people does it serve, and how many employees does it have?

16 | MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER | April 2021

municipalwaterleader.com

PHOTOS COURTESY OF GLWA.

A GLWA journey worker provides individualized, onsite training to an apprentice.

Patricia Butler: GLWA is a regional authority that provides water and wastewater treatment services to nearly 4 million Michigan residents. We ensure that our member partner communities across eight southeastern Michigan counties receive water of unquestionable quality and effective and

ADVERTISEMENT efficient wastewater services. Our member partners, in turn, provide these services to their individual end users at the local level. GLWA celebrated its 5-year operating anniversary on January 1, 2021.

Municipal Water Leader: Would you tell us about the motivation behind establishing the apprenticeship programs?

Patricia Butler: The primary motivation was workforce development. We identified a gap in the availability of highly trained talent to fill skilled roles that are imperative to our operations. We have a number of baby boomer employees who are beginning to retire and will be retiring over the next 10 years. In addition, there’s a shortage of skilled personnel in the workforce, not just in Michigan or in the Detroit area, but throughout the United States and the world. Organizations have a hard time finding skilled trade talent.

The second motivation is investing in our community.

Focus: HOPE, which EJ mentioned, is a partner in the community whose goal is to help disenfranchised community members find viable career and job opportunities. Our partnership allows us to invest in the community and help our community members grow.

Municipal Water Leader: What does the 3-year apprenticeship program entail, and what different stages does it include?

Patricia Butler: GLWA has launched three apprenticeships, each of which is slightly different. The one we’re focusing on today is the electrical instrumentation control technician–instrumentation (EICT-I) apprenticeship.

There are four basic stages: preapprenticeship, interviews, apprenticeship, and graduation. Before being accepted into the apprenticeship, candidates are required to successfully complete the Focus: HOPE preapprenticeship program. The program teaches basic math, writing, and computer skills and introduces the candidates to advanced manufacturing processes. After the conclusion of the preapprenticeship program, candidates are interviewed for the apprenticeship program. Upon acceptance into the apprenticeship program, the apprentices are onboarded with GLWA. The apprenticeship is a learn-while-you-earn model, which means apprentices have the opportunity to work as employees while they learn on the job and go to school.

They are paid a salary and get employee benefits while GLWA covers the cost of the apprenticeship education courses.

Our program has been approved by and is registered with the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL). We’ve worked to make sure that our program covers the correct competencies and includes the required number of hours.

When apprentices begin, they’re partnered with an experienced team member (journey worker) and are rotated through our facilities every 6 months. They have the municipalwaterleader.com

opportunity to learn the differences between the water and the wastewater sides of the organization and get a broad background on how to perform their duties.

Our journey workers are assigned to an apprentice on a one-to-one ratio. Each apprentice works alongside a journey worker and is taught by them on the job. We’ve had great feedback on the program from our journey workers, our operations teams, and our apprentices. We also uncovered an unexpected benefit of the apprenticeship: learning is occurring in both directions. In addition to the apprentices learning from the journey workers, the journey workers are also learning from the apprentices. The apprentices are learning new concepts in school and are sharing these new approaches with their journey workers.

Throughout the apprenticeship, the apprentices’ pay levels increase approximately every 6 months, based on their number of hours worked. At the end of the program, they receive a certificate of completion of apprenticeship from the DOL, which is a nationally recognized credential.

Municipal Water Leader: Are all your apprentices selected from programs like Focus: HOPE, or do some of them apply directly to the program?

Patricia Butler: Some candidates do apply directly.

Apprenticeships are open to internal GLWA candidates. We also work with our recruiting team to reach out and notify the community regarding the opportunity.

Municipal Water Leader: Since the apprenticeships are an earn-to-learn program, how would you distinguish them from other forms of on-the-job training?

Patricia Butler: Many skilled jobs at GLWA require some experience in the water sector. While we provide training for our team members, it takes time to learn the intricacies of water processing and wastewater treatment. It may take 2–3 years for new team members to learn the job, even in entry-level jobs. The apprenticeship provides a structured learning environment from beginning to end. Apprentices are learning theory and application through the required education classes and the on-the-job learning. The time spent one on one with their journey worker mentors provides practical instruction and insight into job skills as well as encouragement and support.

Municipal Water Leader: Are all the apprentices who complete the program offered full-time positions at GLWA? Patricia Butler: That’s definitely the plan. In our EICT-I apprenticeship, all 20 apprentices were offered a position, and 19 of 20 accepted.

Municipal Water Leader: What results are you seeing from the apprenticeship program?

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A GLWA employee provides onsite instruction to a group of apprentices.

Patricia Butler: One is the increase in knowledge sharing between journey workers and apprentices. They learn from each other. Another is that we are able to fill positions with individuals who have the talent and training for the job. The apprentices have been here for 3 years. They understand how the facility operates and have developed relationships with the team members. We know the quality of their work.

Municipal Water Leader: Does GLWA have plans to establish any additional apprenticeship programs?

Patricia Butler: Yes. We are committed to expanding our apprenticeship programs. In addition to the EICT-I apprentices who graduated in June 2020, we have a maintenance technician apprenticeship going on now. We also launched a 5-year electrical instrumentation control technician–electrician apprenticeship in March 2020. We’re currently in the planning stage for our next apprenticeship, which is scheduled to launch in 2021.

Municipal Water Leader: What process did you have to go through to get your program certified by the DOL?

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Municipal Water Leader: What advice do you have for other municipal agencies that are considering establishing a similar apprenticeship program?

Patricia Butler: Apprenticeships are a worthwhile investment. We live in a knowledge economy now. When the baby boomers retire, a lot of knowledge will go with them. We want to make sure we capture that knowledge before they leave. Apprenticeships are an effective tool to transfer that knowledge to a new generation while increasing an organization’s talent pool. Apprenticeships are also a great way to teach people what it takes to produce water of unquestionable quality. We’re continuing to learn about apprenticeships, but we are willing to share our best practices with anyone who is interested.

Municipal Water Leader: EJ, were you interested in a career in a water and wastewater utility before you discovered this apprenticeship?

EJ Johnson: I developed that interest through the apprenticeship. I was originally interested in electrical and municipalwaterleader.com

PHOTOS COURTESY OF GLWA.

Patricia Butler: It is a pretty lengthy process that requires forethought and planning. When you start working on your apprenticeship program, you should make sure it aligns with a specific job in the available occupation list sponsored by the DOL. Each of these jobs have certain requirements.

For example, our EICT-I apprenticeship is a mechatronics technician program, so we took the standards from the mechatronics technician program and tweaked them. The standards are basic, but you can add additional competencies to them. You can decide whether the apprenticeship is time based, competency based, or a hybrid model. You can provide your own training or you can work with a community college, a union training facility, or another training provider. We’ve worked with a community college and union training facility thus far. We had many internal meetings as well as meetings with our training partners and the union. Once you’ve decided

on all these components and have lined up your partners, you write your standards according to the DOL requirements and present your program to the DOL for its approval. Our DOL representative has been helpful in assisting us with program development and launch. After you launch your first apprenticeship, the process is easier.

Once the apprenticeship is launched, we explain the standards to the new apprentices as part of the onboarding process. The apprentices sign a form saying they understand the standards, the pay progression, the number of hours they have to complete, and the on-the-job education they have to complete to finish the apprenticeship program. There’s a lot of back-office work every month. The apprentices have to submit their hours, and we have to review their hours and what they’ve learned. We track that information and submit it to the DOL to make sure that we are in compliance.

ADVERTISEMENT mechanical systems. I wanted to get my degree in either electrical or mechanical engineering. When I was found out about the opportunity through Focus: HOPE, I was really excited, because even though I didn’t have a firm grasp of what instrumentation entailed, I knew that it was similar to the field that I wanted to go into. I jumped at the opportunity. Once I got into the apprenticeship and started working in the water and wastewater environment, I realized that I enjoyed it even more than I expected. Not only is it along the lines of what I already was interested in, it also incorporates the tremendous water treatment process.

Municipal Water Leader: Would you tell us about your experience in the program and some of the things you have learned?

EJ Johnson: The mechanics and the overall process of water treatment is intriguing to me. Water is something we take advantage of without putting much thought into where it’s coming from. If you’re part of an entity that provides water, you know how much effort goes into the water treatment process.

Another good part of the apprenticeship was bonding with the other apprentices. For the past 3 years, I’ve gone to school with, worked with, and shared knowledge with the same group of 20 apprentices.

In addition to learning about the water treatment process, one of the most effective and important skills for anyone working in the mechanical or electrical field is troubleshooting. That’s a hard skill to cultivate. It’s the process of being able to actively think through and eliminate the possible causes of a problem. It sounds trivial, but nailing that skill and being able to do it within a certain time frame is a difficult thing. I think one of the biggest assets I gained during my apprenticeship was learning the right way to approach the troubleshooting process.

Municipal Water Leader: Would you tell us about your experience working one on one with a journey worker?

EJ Johnson: It was interesting. One thing I immediately recognized as I began to rotate around the system is that everyone is different. Everybody has a different way of looking at things and troubleshooting. It was valuable to learn the different ways to get the job done. We also learned how to relate to different people’s personalities so that we could effectively learn from them. Some people are really open, expressive, and sociable. Some people aren’t as sociable, and that’s perfectly fine, but you have to know how to adjust how you address them. Showing respect to everybody you work with is important; that way, others will respect you, guide you, and share their knowledge with you. They had what I was trying to get, and I’m glad that they gave it.

EJ Johnson: Stay dedicated and focused. One of the best pieces of advice I received from a journey worker during the apprenticeship was that in the field of instrumentation, one of the most valuable things that you have is your name and your reputation. If you’re known for not doing the job right or not completing it satisfactorily, that reputation will stick. If you’re known to be an exemplary employee who always gets the job done, opportunity is going to come to you.

When you know that your raise is guaranteed every 6 months as long as you complete your hours and do your schoolwork, it would be easy to fall into a groove. Instead, I advise people to put in the extra effort. Put in the extra study time. Actively research your field on your own time. Actively probe people for more knowledge. Go that extra mile, and it will pay dividends.

Municipal Water Leader: Is there anything else either of you wanted to add?

EJ Johnson: GLWA offers all employees and apprentices a tuition reimbursement program. I definitely plan on taking advantage of it to further my education as I continue to work with GLWA. My goal is to get my bachelor’s degree in engineering.

Patricia Butler: There is also a State of Michigan free tuition program called Futures for Frontliners that helps essential workers who worked on site during the pandemic complete their associate’s degrees or obtain a certificate of completion. We want to make sure that our team members know that it’s available to them. The state’s program and GLWA’s tuition-reimbursement provide an excellent opportunity for our team members to continue their education. Our team members have been awesome in ensuring that we continue to keep the water flowing and provide water of unquestionable quality during this pandemic. We’re really proud of our team members. They’re essential to the overall success of our region. M

Patricia Butler is the manager for organizational development at GLWA. She can be contacted at glwa.careers@glwater.org.

Etaune “EJ” Johnson is an apprentice graduate and electrical instrumentation control technician at GLWA.

Municipal Water Leader: What advice do you have for anybody who is considering this apprenticeship program? municipalwaterleader.com

April 2021 | MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER

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EAST TRUNK SEWER PROJECT SOLVES WEATHER RISK IN MEQUON, WI

W

hile rain is often a welcome sight along the western shore of Lake Michigan, some Mequon, Wisconsin, residents and businesses began to eye the prospect of precipitation with dread. After numerous hazardous and costly sanitary sewer backups, it was clear that a plan of action was needed.

A wet weather sewer relief study, commissioned by the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District (MMSD) and approved by the Mequon Common Council, prompted the design of the East Trunk Sewer Project.

From the very beginning, collaboration between groups was vital. In order to design a relief sewer that reduced negative impact to residents, businesses, utilities and traffic while safeguarding the quality of life, the City of Mequon staff and a consultant team coordinated efforts with Ozaukee County, Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT), Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, Union Pacific Railroad (UPRR) and the MMSD. “Our design consideration was to help alleviate sewer and basement backups within the affected portions of the city of Mequon,” said Troy Hartjes, P.E., senior project manager of Brookfield WI-based R.A. Smith National’s Municipal Services Division. “We were design partners with the local office of engineering firm AECOM, which did some of the structural analysis and the sanitary sewer modeling.”

Along the two-mile sewer route were two challenges: jacking at a depth of 30 feet directly under the Union

Pacific Railroad track and jacking at a 22foot depth under U.S. Interstate 43. Tunneling was also necessary beneath the public areas in the eastern segment of Katherine Kearney Carpenter Park.

“Hobas pipe was chosen because of its strength, thickness, and resistance to corrosion,” Hartjes explained.

“Joint integrity was an important factor and the pipe is also good for tunneling.” For this undertaking, 8,056 linear feet of 48inch Hobas pipe and 2,389 linear feet of 24inch Hobas pipe were used. Hobas supplied 48inch jacking pipe with an allowable pushing capcity of 400 tons, at a 2.5 factor of safety. This equates to a pipe with over 1,000 US ton capacity.

The East Trunk Sewer will add one million gallons of inline storage capacity to Mequon’s sanitary sewer system.

This sizeable increase will halt the harmful effects of current wet weather conditions. As the community grows, it will also ensure additional capacity for utility service extensions.

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How HDR is Transferring Knowledge and Developing Careers Through TaLON

Jeff Zahller on site during commissioning of a new membrane water treatment plan.

H

DR is an employee-owned engineering, architecture, and consulting firm that works on projects, including federalrelated projects, related to transportation, water supply, drinking water, clean water, electrical solid waste, and industrial development. In a sense, what HDR sells is knowledge, and that being the case, knowledge transfer within the company is critical.

One program that HDR has established to further this goal is the Technical and Leadership Optimization Network (TaLON), which sets up one-on-one mentoring relationships between senior and midlevel professionals. In this interview, HDR Vice President Amy Dammarell explains the background of TaLON, and two TaLON participants, John Koch and Jeff Zahller, tell us about their experiences.

Municipal Water Leader: Please tell us about your backgrounds and how you came to be in your current positions.

22 | MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER | April 2021

John Koch: I’ve been with HDR for 35 years. I started when HDR was in a transition phase, and there were about 500 people in the entire water group. I started out working on the Durham advanced wastewater treatment plant facility plan and preliminary engineering report, which led into the design and construction of the facility, which is in Oregon, and finally to its startup and commissioning. With that design and field experience, coupled with additional startups, I have progressed to being a troubleshooter—that is, I help clients keep their process mechanical equipment running. The Durham expansion project was a really good learning experience: I did a lot of the design and the startup for an $80 million project.

I’ve been involved in projects across the United States, doing troubleshooting and condition assessment. Before I came to HDR, I worked for an original equipment manufacturer and was its chief engineer for 8 years. I got a lot of troubleshooting experience there, especially when I was thrown into doing a startup for a phenol removal facility at Warner Robins Air Force Base my first month on the job. At that time, I knew municipalwaterleader.com

PHOTO COURTESY OF HDR.

Amy Dammarell: I have a background in wildlife biology and civil engineering and started with HDR about 23 years ago. I love multidisciplinary projects and finding a way to develop infrastructure in the most environmentally mindful way while finding solutions that offer multiple benefits.

My role at HDR has also included talent management and leadership development.

ADVERTISEMENT nothing about the electronics and industrial control systems, but I learned quickly. I also spent 4½ years in the U.S. Navy as a bombardier/navigator, flying and troubleshooting the most sophisticated naval carrier-based all-weather attack aircraft.

Jeff Zahller: I joined HDR 17 years ago. I’m a chemical engineer by background, and my first job after graduate school was doing environmental work at HDR. I started helping with a project HDR was doing at a large plant in West Point, Seattle, Washington. One of our first big projects was 3‑D modeling. I do a lot of treatment and process-mechanical work, and I had the chance to work with water treatment and wastewater, so I got to see a little bit of everything. In a few of the projects I did early in my career, I was involved at the very beginning, worked on the construction, and brought them all the way to the end.

As I progressed, I moved into different systems in the plants. I started learning about field troubleshooting, pumps, mechanical failures, and operations. The construction and field experience has been helpful for my career. I like laboratory work—I did that for 5 years as an undergraduate and graduate student—so I like getting the chance to do field work and field studies with HDR. Municipal Water Leader: Tell us about the motivation for the creation of the TaLON program.

Amy Dammarell: For our company, the need to secure and develop our employees is ever present. One conversation about hiring to meet our growing technical needs led to questions about what we could do to develop current employees who aspired to a higher level of technical proficiency. After research and conversations with our senior project managers, engineers, and technical problem solvers, we learned that on-the-job experiences are critical development tools. This is backed up by studies showing that 70 percent of what we learn is learned through direct mentoring. The TaLON program grew from that thinking, which emphasizes advancing knowledge transfer through on-the-job training.

Municipal Water Leader: What is the format of the program?

Amy Dammarell: We start by identifying senior advisors.

These individuals are seasoned in their careers. We consider both their knowledge base and the client need for such technical expertise. Then we identify potential participants, or practitioners, who work in the same technical lines. For this program, individuals can self-nominate to work with specific advisors. That way, we align the technical focus areas and the desire to learn from the advisor.

Once pairs of practitioners and advisors are matched, they enter an 18‑month program. The program has only a few meetings: a kickoff, a midpoint, and a closeout. Each pair also draws up a professional development plan (PDP) for the practitioner. The PDP is an action plan that looks municipalwaterleader.com

to enhance the practitioners’ knowledge through experience and by working directly with the advisor whenever possible.

Actions include specific projects or tasks, participation in technical conferences, presentation or paper development, and participation in professional committees to help build skills. No two pairs’ plans look the same.

The program formally ends after 18 months, but the intent isn’t to close out that relationship. Rather, it is for the pair to keep working together. We also ask the practitioner to turn around and identify somebody else they can lead through the same development plan, paying it forward.

Municipal Water Leader: What stage of their careers are most practitioners at?

Amy Dammarell: We ask every advisor to set criteria for their practitioner. Since we intend for the advisor to delegate work, specific skills or abilities may be needed. Most practitioners have 10–20 years of experience, so the pairing is generally a senior-level professional and a midlevel professional.

Municipal Water Leader: Are advisors and practitioners generally in the same field, or are you trying to expand practitioners’ skill sets into new fields?

Amy Dammarell: We have been able to make matches as long as somebody has an interest in the technical area that our advisors specialize in and has adjacent skills. For example, one of our current advisors facilitates dam failure mode analysis using a specific method of evaluating dam safety risk. He has a geotechnical background, but during the practitioner criteria development, he said he could work with a practitioner from any background, provided they were interested in the subject and had experience working with dams. The person who is working with him now has a structural background.

In another case, our advisor is an expert in military airfield pavement design, which, as you can imagine, is a rare specialization. His practitioner has a geotechnical background, as opposed to one in roadway or airfield pavement design.

Municipal Water Leader: Would you give us a few examples of the PDPs that participants draw up?

Amy Dammarell: We have an individual who is a hydropower generator asset management expert who worked at Westinghouse back in the day. He has a wealth of knowledge on how hydropower generators are designed and constructed around the world. He gets many requests from clients to evaluate the condition of their generators or inspect generators during rebuilds. The plan he put together involved international travel, doing onsite asset management in hydropower facilities, and working during the rebuilds of large generators. That was a field-intensive, hands-on plan.

Alternatively, we have a pair focused on workflow and model management of large infrastructure designs. When April 2021 | MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER

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ADVERTISEMENT you design a treatment plant or a building, managing the work of all the disciplines to design and develop a model is a discipline in itself. This particular PDP looks to expand the practitioner’s exposure to technology, workflow management, and design integration.

Municipal Water Leader: What effects has this program had on both the participants and the company as a whole?

Amy Dammarell: I’ve heard from a lot of advisors, especially those near the ends of their careers, about how much it meant that somebody wanted to learn from all the knowledge they had accumulated over their careers. They’re able to leave their legacies to people who will carry them on. Jeff Zahller has said that as a practitioner, he’s been able to work on projects he otherwise would have waited another 10 or 15 years to work on. The program gave him deeper, broader, better experience that he can bring to his future projects.

Ultimately, HDR sells knowledge, and it benefits the company to have employees with stronger experience and deeper résumés. One of our current advisor/practitioner pairs facilitates Federal Energy Regulatory Commission part 12 dam risk analysis. Few people in the industry are able to meet the requirements, and there is a need for more individuals who can. Spreading that knowledge benefits the industry as a whole in addition to HDR. Likewise, in the case of our advisor who literally wrote the book on military airfield pavement specifications, there is now someone else who understands the what, and more importantly, the why behind design criteria. That benefits clients and the practice.

Municipal Water Leader: How has the program changed over the years of its existence?

24 | MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER | April 2021

Amy Dammarell: I’ve realized it doesn’t take a lot of structure from management to put a program like this in place: What is important is finding a pair that is interested in learning and exchanging ideas. When you align people with their passion, it doesn’t take a lot of effort to get them to go.

Municipal Water Leader: What is your vision for the future of the program? Are you planning to expand or change it in any way?

John Koch checking the “health" of a pump during onsite troubleshooting.

Amy Dammarell: I believe in continual evolution— expanding on what’s working and correcting things that can be done better. We plan to continue the program and will start another cohort at the midpoint of this year. While the program has been successful, I would love to increase its footprint. How can we perpetually increase the number of people who have these experiences? We’ve been working on getting more people like myself who can facilitate and expand the program.

Municipal Water Leader: John, tell us about your experience in the TaLON program.

John Koch: It’s a more formal mentoring program than any we’ve ever had or that I’ve ever been involved with. Jeff and I have been able to do a lot of different things. Now, he’s my process guy. If I have technical questions or process questions, I turn them over to Jeff. My specialty is anything that rotates and moves. I figure out how it works and what’s wrong with it if it doesn’t work. We complement each municipalwaterleader.com

PHOTOS COURTESY OF HDR.

Amy Dammarell: The way we select practitioners has fundamentally changed. At first, we asked our advisors to nominate people they thought would be good practitioners.

However, we realized that advisors may not know all the individuals in the organization who have the skills, and more importantly, the passion for their specific technical areas. So we decided to give people the opportunity to self-nominate, to raise their hands and express their interest in taking part.

That said, we’ve always had advisors be part of the selection process. That’s provided them a certain amount of ownership over the program; they have a say in who they’re going to be spending time with and investing in. In the past, when we did career development programs, we’d start with the mentee. With the TaLON program, we flipped that.

As the program has grown and a broader audience has seen its benefits, support for the program has consistently grown, and the number of participants has increased. We started with 5 pairs, and in the present cohort, we have 16 pairs—32 people in all. The next challenge is to use the same approach while reaching more people.

Municipal Water Leader: What advice do you have for other companies or public agencies that are considering implementing a similar program?

ADVERTISEMENT other in that respect. One of the jokes in our community is that if you haven’t broken it, you haven’t tested it. During commissioning, we try to make things fail. We try to figure out where the failure points are so that when we turn over the keys, the operators know what they have. This program fosters both a personal and a professional relationship.

Municipal Water Leader: John, when you were starting the TaLON program, how did you draw up a list of qualifications for your ideal practitioner?

Jeff Zahller: If I remember, John’s requirements came down to being willing to get your hands dirty.

John Koch: When I first came to HDR, I’d climb in and out of tanks and digesters—things that our safety folks won’t let us do now. I’ll never forget the first year I got lowered into a digester in a harness. In doing this work, Jeff and I have to complete trainings and then go out and do what we need to do.

Municipal Water Leader: What were the advantages of taking part in a more formal mentoring program?

John Koch: We knew we had a commitment to each other, and we knew that there were funds set aside to allow us to go off on trips or to do projects. I had a previous mentor in a less formal program. He took me under his wing, sent me out, and let me sink or swim. With TaLON, there is more of a lifeline and coaching along the way.

Jeff Zahller: It is helpful to have some of those funds, because it can often be hard to find the budget for mentoring, especially if it involves travel. With the program, I can go help on a project that would normally be out of reach. It made it easier to find ways in which I could add value and learn without adding financial burdens to the projects.

Municipal Water Leader: Jeff, how was your experience different from what you expected, and what did you learn?

Jeff Zahller: One thing I appreciated and that was different from other programs was that I got to travel. I wasn’t strictly limited to projects that were in my immediate geography. Being physically present is helpful, particularly for troubleshooting. It’s hard to learn without on-the-job experience. I’ve encouraged others to get involved with construction projects any time they can. I’ve learned stuff walking around with John during our last project that I never would have otherwise. When I take trips with John, I can see, feel, and hear the equipment to get a better idea of the problems it may be facing. It’s hard to do that unless you’re standing there. You learn what cavitation sounds like and feels like. Things click better and faster when you see and experience things in person. That’s true even with things as simple as welding. municipalwaterleader.com

Municipal Water Leader: How will what you’ve learned affect your career going forward?

Jeff Zahller: First, working with John has been fantastic for my confidence when working with operators and plant staff.

When you’re on site, a lot of what you do is troubleshooting.

Even a lot of design is based on troubleshooting. Being able to look at pumps and crawl in tanks gives you a much wider range of abilities as an engineer. Because of what I’ve learned from John, I feel more comfortable with operators than I do with most other staff and a lot of our clients.

Second, I’m trying to pass some of this knowledge on. I’ve got several engineers who are coming up, and I’m trying to help them and point them to construction projects. I took one of them out with me to look at the projects in the field and showed them where the pump was, how it was set up, how the gearbox and motor operate, and why they do what they do. I want to do more of that—mentoring other engineers and increasing their breadth of knowledge.

Municipal Water Leader: Is there anything else either of you would like to add?

John Koch: The mentor program needs to continue for the benefit of HDR, and the money needs to be committed to it. The only way to learn is to touch, see, and listen to the machinery. We can design a race car, but if we don’t give the operators the tools to operate it properly, we won’t get the performance. That’s why teaching in the field is so important.

Jeff Zahller: I do more field work than a lot of folks, but if you look at my raw time, only 10–15 percent of my time is spent in the field or at a treatment plant. The type of stuff I did with John in TaLON shows up as 10–15 percent of my time, but probably accounts for 50–60 percent of the value of what I’ve learned over 17 years at HDR. It’s worth much more than the raw time suggests. M

Amy Dammarell is a vice president at HDR. She can be contacted at amy.dammarell@hdrinc.com. John Koch, Jr., is a senior project manager at HDR. He can be contacted at john.koch@hdrinc.com. Jeff Zahller is a project engineer at HDR. He can be contacted at jeffrey.zahller@hdrinc.com.

April 2021 | MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER

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Developing Future Water Leaders at Eastern Municipal Water District

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aving a pipeline of well-trained workers who can replace retiring employees and continue the mission has long been a priority for Eastern Municipal Water District (EMWD), and it uses its internship and fellowship programs to do just that. In this interview, EMWD’s Human Resources Manager Paula Allen and Senior Public Affairs Program Manager Roxanne Rountree tell Municipal Water Leader all about these important programs.

Municipal Water Leader: Would you give us a basic overview of EMWD’s apprenticeship and internship programs?

Paula Allen: EMWD’s internship program is designed for current college students. It’s a paid internship program generally offered between May and October each year. The opportunities can be within any department at EMWD, but we most often have internships available in our development services, engineering, finance, or information systems departments. We also have two apprenticeship programs in place, one in our electrical department and the other in our mechanical maintenance department. Both programs allow apprentices to work alongside a journey-level employee who can provide the apprentice with on-the-job training as well as classroom instruction.

Municipal Water Leader: When did EMWD decide to establish these programs?

Paula Allen: The internship program has been in place for more than 30 years. It has been restructured several times over the years, but the objective has always been to introduce students to jobs in the water industry. The internship is mutually beneficial, allowing EMWD employees to work with college students to complete a project that is relevant to the student’s coursework. The real-world projects complement the students’ coursework while also providing opportunities to sharpen soft skills, such as communication, meeting facilitation, and conducting presentations.

Municipal Water Leader: How long are the apprenticeship programs and what do they cover?

28 | MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER | April 2021

Paula Allen: The apprenticeship program requires a 4‑year commitment and includes supervised, structured, on-the-job training as well as classroom instruction. The apprentices are at-will employees of EMWD. Throughout the program, each apprentice learns skills under the supervision of a journey person.

For the instructor-led classroom training, we partnered with the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. Apprentices’ classroom instruction includes exams and demonstrated proficiency assessments. After successfully completing the program, apprentices are reclassified as controls technicians in our electrical department or mechanical maintenance technicians in our mechanical maintenance department and are expected to maintain employment with EMWD for a minimum of 1 year.

Municipal Water Leader: Would you tell us more about the college internship program?

Paula Allen: The college internship program is a 6‑month paid internship designed for current college students.

Participants can work up to 20 hours a week. The required educational level and coursework are dependent on the needs of the department that is hosting the intern. Some project assignments are geared toward undergraduate students, while others require graduate-level coursework completion. Participants apply for the internship program that they are most interested in and that supports their educational and career goals. During the recruitment period, internship information and links to apply are found on the careers page of EMWD’s website. We do have partnerships with local colleges, but students from any college or university are welcome to apply.

Municipal Water Leader: Would you tell us about the Youth Ecology Corps (YEC) program and how it differs from the other apprenticeship and internship programs? municipalwaterleader.com

PHOTOS COURTESY OF EMWD.

Roxanne Rountree: The apprenticeship program came about during succession planning, when we were considering anticipated retirements, and is intended to minimize gaps in recruiting and to retain highly qualified and skilled technicians. The electrical apprenticeship program was first implemented in 2017, and we added a second program in the mechanical maintenance department in 2019.

Participants in EMWD’s Youth Ecology Corps program visit an EMWD facility.

ADVERTISEMENT Roxanne Rountree: The YEC program is held in partnership with the Riverside County Workforce Development Board.

This program is for young adults, aged 18–24, who have a high school diploma but have not taken part in any type of formal tertiary education. The program began in 2013, and 217 young adults have participated to date. It is designed to help young adults explore water industry career paths through hands-on experience working in EMWD’s various departments. Each year, we sponsor approximately 50 YEC interns, who receive 12‑week work assignments in one of our departments. At a minimum, program participants can expect to carry out about 240 hours of work.

EMWD also participates in a couple of other programs, one being the CivicSpark Fellowship program. CivicSpark is an AmeriCorps Governor Initiative program that is designed to address water management issues in California. Participants serve 11‑month fellowships at EMWD after being screened through a highly competitive national application process.

Once they are vetted, we interview candidates and select those who are best suited for various projects we have. Fellows have worked on projects dealing with public affairs, water resources, and conservation, as well as on research, planning, and implementation projects. Candidates are required to have a bachelor’s degree and to commit to the hours that they sign up for with the host agency. Since partnering with the program in 2016, EMWD has hosted six fellows.

Another program EMWD participates in is the Western Riverside Council of Governments (WRCOG) Public Service Fellowship program. This is a professional development opportunity designed to provide undergraduates, recent graduates, and graduate students hands-on experience in local, regional, and special-district public agencies throughout western Riverside County. The WRCOG fellowship is an opportunity for participants to prepare for full-time employment in local government careers that enrich the community. Students are interviewed

by EMWD staff, and once selected, must commit to working 20–30 hours a week until they have worked 960 hours in total. Since partnering with the program in 2017, EMWD has hosted three WRCOG fellows.

Municipal Water Leader: What have the results of the programs been, and how have they helped address the issue of workforce development?

Roxanne Rountree: EMWD is committed to being the employer of choice in attracting and retaining highperforming employees. These programs help engage members of the very communities we serve, allowing them to be prepared to apply for them when the time comes.

EMWD’s internship, apprenticeship, and fellowship programs show local young professionals what the water and wastewater industry has to offer. Often, the feedback we hear from our interns is that they never knew that working for a water utility was a possibility. Not only do municipalwaterleader.com

these programs allow EMWD to provide them with realworld learning opportunities, but they also provide them inspiration for continuing their education in the industry.

Paula Allen: At the conclusion of each internship program, the participants share their experiences and make a presentation on the projects they’ve worked on. Many say that the internship allowed them to take what they learned in the classroom and apply it to real-life situations. Comments like those let us know that we are meeting the important program goal of introducing students and potential future employees to the water industry. In fact, we have had several interns return to EMWD after completing their educations to fill fulltime positions at a variety of levels within the organization, including the executive management level. The apprenticeship programs have also helped to ensure that we have people in place with the skills needed to fill positions in our electrical and mechanical maintenance departments. For example, two apprentices in our electrical program recently completed the program and have advanced to being control technicians.

Municipal Water Leader: What advice do you have for other agencies that may be interested in establishing apprenticeship and internship programs?

Paula Allen: If you’re considering implementing a new apprenticeship or internship program, I would recommend starting off small and making adjustments to the program as needed. Listening to the challenges and suggestions of the participants and reevaluating the program each year will help it improve. A successful program requires the right participants, but also the right organizational staff to mentor participants. The guidance and support that EMWD staff provide to apprentices and interns are important to the success of the program.

Roxanne Rountree: For the young adult programs, it is important for agencies to know that partnership opportunities are out there. I would encourage them to reach out to their local government and workforce development agencies to see if there is the potential for partnerships to assist young adults in helping them along their career path. M Paula Allen is the human resources manager at the Eastern Municipal Water District. She can be contacted at allenp@emwd.org.

Roxanne Rountree is the senior public affairs program manager at the Eastern Municipal Water District. She can be contacted at rountrer@emwd.org.

April 2021 | MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER

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Furthering Diversity and Inclusion at Northwest Pipe Company

Women employees at Northwest Pipe's Portland plant.

W

ith over 900 employees, Northwest Pipe Company is the largest manufacturer of engineered steel water pipe systems in North America. In order to support its employees, increase its institutional resilience and productivity, and improve its recruitment, Northwest Pipe has adopted a new approach to its diversity and inclusion initiatives and will support them with activities furthering recognition, training, and communications. In this interview, Northwest Pipe Director, President, and CEO Scott Montross and Vice President of Human Relations (HR) Megan Kendrick share more about the motivation and goals of the company’s diversity and inclusion initiatives.

Municipal Water Leader: Please tell us about your backgrounds and how you came to be in your current positions.

Scott Montross: I have served as Northwest Pipe Company’s director, president, and CEO since January 2013. I am a graduate of Colgate University and joined the company in May 2011 after 23 years in the steel industry. I have held many senior positions, including executive vice president of the flat products group for Evraz Inc. NA’s Oregon steel division, Claymont steel division, and Regina steel division.

Prior to Evraz Inc. NA, I held positions with Oregon Steel Mills and the National Steel Corporation.

32 | MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER | April 2021

Municipal Water Leader: When and why did Northwest Pipe adopt its current approach to diversity and inclusion?

Scott Montross: Northwest Pipe has had a long history of equal employment and affirmative action practices, but within the last year, we have actively started to transform our efforts from being just about compliance to be a more organic part of who we are as a company. It’s increasingly clear that a commitment to diversity and inclusion is not just the right thing to do but is also good business. Multiple studies have confirmed that organizations diverse in age, race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, physical and mental ability, and perspectives are more resilient and productive. Research has also shown that employees at organizations with diversity and inclusion strategies are more likely to feel engaged in their work.

Our approach starts at the top. Our diversity and inclusion plan is championed by our executive leadership team and our board of directors. After establishing a corporate commitment to equity and inclusion, we created municipalwaterleader.com

PHOTOS COURTESY OF NORTHWEST PIPE.

Megan Kendrick: I joined Northwest Pipe Company in 2008 as a manager in our accounting department. I held a variety of positions with increasing responsibility in both accounting and HR before being appointed to the position of vice president of HR in January 2017. As the head of HR, I am responsible for overseeing all employee matters, including compensation, benefits, compliance, and employee relations. I hold both a CA-CPA and a SHRM-CP designation, which reflect my background in both accounting and HR.

A Northwest Pipe welder.

ADVERTISEMENT and enhanced policies to support that commitment and made our commitment known by starting 2021 with a company-wide message from me regarding our diversity and inclusion efforts. Our next step is building on this shared commitment with input from employees at every level and in every facility that we operate. We expect and look forward to evolving and adding to our initiatives with the informed feedback of the diverse voices on our team.

Municipal Water Leader: What policies have been put in place so far, and what other policies are you currently developing?

Megan Kendrick: Northwest Pipe has policies in place related to equal employment opportunity and affirmative action. We have enhanced these compliance-focused policies with a specific diversity and inclusion statement that was written last year and will be rolled out to employees this year as part of ongoing employee training and development.

Some of the initiatives supporting our policies and commitment beginning in 2021 include: • Recognition: commemorating diverse milestones and observances that celebrate various cultures and populations through social media and internal activities; • Training: ongoing leadership training that includes ways to foster inclusive behaviors, challenge unconscious biases, embrace differences, and be more supportive of employees from diverse backgrounds or with different abilities; and • Communications: encouraging open conversations where all voices are heard and respected and where all employees are comfortable participating in dialogue on diversity and inclusion topics.

Municipal Water Leader: How do these policies help Northwest Pipe recruit and retain new employees?

Scott Montross: As U.S. demographics continue to shift, we need to attract a more diverse pool of talent from a variety of backgrounds with specific skill sets. These diverse applicants are seeking an inclusive company culture where they will feel welcomed, valued, and understood.

As we continue to develop our diversity and inclusion program and review our succession plans for our management team, we also are looking to identify individuals from historically underrepresented ethnic and gender groups who have potential for advancement in the company. By fostering an inclusive culture where employees feel that they are welcomed, valued, and understood, and offering training and development opportunities for highperforming employees, Northwest Pipe seeks to establish itself as a preferred employer in our markets.

Municipal Water Leader: What goals does Northwest Pipe hope to reach with these policies? What results has the company seen so far? municipalwaterleader.com

Megan Kendrick: It’s easier to talk about goals with diversity, which can be measured by gathering and analyzing data on our workforce demographics. We gather our affirmative action data on an annual basis, specifically data related to gender, ethnicity, veteran status, and disabilities, and compare our activities related to recruiting, hiring, retention, and promotion to benchmark goals that were established in the previous year. In the past, these conversations have largely occurred at an HR level, but with our aim to be more transparent, we will be having more focused conversations about our measurable diversity goals with the management team. One of our longidentified goals and challenges relates to the recruitment of women to manufacturing-focused roles. Recently, we have had success in hiring and promoting women into these nontraditional roles at several of our manufacturing facilities, which is a great step forward. With the new U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission human capital reporting requirements, we will aim to be more transparent about our workforce demographics and the progress that we are making toward our goals.

Inclusion is more difficult, because it is not something that we can measure or put a number on. Instead, inclusion is about employee experience and how Northwest Pipe’s culture supports employees from all demographics—not just the ones that we officially measure. This is an area in which there will always be room for growth and in which listening and reacting to employee feedback will be especially vital for success.

Scott Montross: Our goal has always been to employ the most skilled group of workers, regardless of age, gender identity, race, sexual orientation, physical or mental ability, ethnicity, political affiliation, socioeconomic status, veteran status, or any other characteristics that make them unique.

However, we haven’t been as vocal about our inclusion efforts until this year. We are looking forward to receiving feedback from our employees over the course of the year as we continue with a communications plan centered around inclusion and provide opportunities for employees to meet and discuss their viewpoints in conjunction with training that is planned for later this year. M Scott Montross is Northwest Pipe Company’s director, president, and CEO.

Megan Kendrick is Northwest Pipe Company’s vice president of human resources. For more on Northwest Pipe, contact info@nwpipe.com.

April 2021 | MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER

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USALCO Increases Its Capabilities Through New Acquisition

U

SALCO is a chemical manufacturing firm whose products are used widely in the municipal water treatment field. It recently acquired the companies AlChem and CalCHEM, gaining two new plants, new capabilities, and a new geographical range. In this interview, USALCO Vice President of Sales and Marketing Terry Badwak tells Municipal Water Leader about the company’s history and current growth.

Municipal Water Leader: Tell us about your background and how you came to be in your current position.

Terry Badwak: I started working for a company called Delta Chemical Corporation in 1989 in a sales role. Delta made aluminum-based coagulants for water treatment and other industrial applications. As time progressed, we developed some new products, mainly for water treatment, and my position developed into a sales and marketing role. By 2000, Delta had grown to be a significant business, and it continued to grow during early part of the 2000s. Delta was privately owned, as are a lot of the companies in the aluminum-coagulant space.

In early 2011, USALCO acquired Delta Chemical. At that time, I was Delta’s vice president of sales and marketing, and I’ve maintained that position with USALCO for the last 10 years. Since then, we’ve continued to grow the business and bring additional salespeople on board. Also since that time, USALCO has built two additional plants and has acquired AlChem and CalCHEM, which had one plant each.

Municipal Water Leader: Is USALCO privately held?

Terry Badwak: The company is majority owned by the private equity firm HIG Capital. Founding family members David and Peter Askew retain a significant minority interest and serve as cochairs on the company’s board.

Municipal Water Leader: How many plants does USALCO have today?

Terry Badwak: Delta Chemical had two plants, USALCO had five at the time it acquired Delta, and now that USALCO has built two additional plants of its own and acquired AlChem and CalCHEM, it has 11 plants total.

USALCO started in 1981 with a single plant, so in 40 years, it has gone from 1 plant to 11.

Terry Badwak: The common theme across all our plants is aluminum-based chemistry and technology, which gives

36 | MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER | April 2021

us economies of scale and the expertise to meet customer needs. We tailor our solutions to meet unique customer requirements, so the specific products made at each plant may vary. Moreover, all the products we produce are limited from a transportation standpoint. They can only be transported about 300 miles from the plant where they are manufactured. That means that we have to create new plants to expand our geographic reach. Accordingly, the product mix manufactured at a plant is matched to what customers need in each new area.

Municipal Water Leader: With 11 plants, does USALCO have a nationwide reach?

Terry Badwak: With the addition of CalCHEM, we now have a plant in California. We also have a plant in Little Rock, Arkansas. Everything else is east of the Mississippi. We cover most of the 50 states, except for a few in the Southwest.

We do ship and sell to Canada and Alaska as well.

Municipal Water Leader: What are the limiting factors in chemical transportation?

Terry Badwak: The main limitation is that freight is a component of the cost. Most of the products are 50 percent water, and after you get past the 250- to 300‑mile range, the cost of transportation starts to escalate, making the product noncompetitive from a cost standpoint. We do manufacture a new, patented dry product that is not as freight sensitive. municipalwaterleader.com

PHOTO COURTESY OF USALCO.

Municipal Water Leader: Do those plants each manufacture something different, or do they manufacture the same thing?

The USALCO plant and corporate headquarters in Baltimore, Maryland.

ADVERTISEMENT Municipal Water Leader: Do you have plans to export your products?

Terry Badwak: Most of these products are produced throughout the world. It is unlikely that our products will be exported out of the United States, considering the costs of transport, with the exception of our new, patented dry product, which has garnered some interest overseas.

Municipal Water Leader: What are your main industry lines?

Terry Badwak: The products we manufacture sometimes have multiple functions. Aluminum sulfate, for instance, is a widely used product in water treatment, but it’s also used in catalyst manufacturing and titanium dioxide pigment manufacturing.

However, we mainly focus our time and effort on water treatment, specifically municipal water treatment.

For water treatment, our products remove suspended solids from the water prior to filtration. In many municipal wastewater treatment products, aluminum reacts with phosphorus, which in certain areas is an issue, and removes it from the water. In the Susquehanna River and the Chesapeake Bay region, phosphorus limits for wastewater plants are low, so most of the plants there practice some type of phosphorus removal using a chemical.

Municipal Water Leader: What is distinctive about your company’s products?

Terry Badwak: This goes back to Delta Chemical. Some of our products are specialty lines rather than commodities. We offer technical assistance to our customers and will come out and do lab work to identify the best products for their applications. Then we will do a plant trial to demonstrate our services at a full-scale level. Our staff provide a technical service, not just a commodity. The other thing that differentiates USALCO from many of our competitors is that we own and operate our own trucking company, which allows us to ensure on-time delivery. It also helps to keep costs down.

Municipal Water Leader: Does USALCO continue to use the brands established by the companies it has acquired?

Terry Badwak: We continue to use the Delta Chemical name in the interest of brand recognition. Delta Chemical developed a product line called DelPac, which is a trademarked polyaluminum chloride solution that can provide customers with longer filter runs, reduce or eliminate the need for pH adjustment, and reduce sludge residuals. Our workhorse product, which we developed in 1995, is called DelPac 2020. That is a benchmark product in the industry. AlChem and CalCHEM make some of the same products that USALCO makes. In the short term, we’ll continue with the AlChem and CalCHEM names, since they are what customers know. municipalwaterleader.com

At this point in time, we have the old Delta names from 25 years ago, we have some USALCO-branded products, and now we have AlChem- and CalCHEM-branded products. At some point, we need to bring everything together under one umbrella. I foresee potentially rebranding everything in 2022.

Municipal Water Leader: What new products are you now bringing to the market?

Terry Badwak: There is a product that we’ve worked on for a number of years and have branded under the USALCO name: AlcoPAC 6. We have patents for the process and the product, and we’re beginning to roll it out now. The plant in Little Rock, Arkansas, was specifically built to bring that product to market.

Municipal Water Leader: What is your message to customers who may be experiencing revenue changes due to the COVID‑19 pandemic?

Terry Badwak: We have kept safety foremost in our deliveries.

Early in the pandemic, we put additional safety protocols in place for our drivers and the people at our operations centers.

We continue to follow all the protocols to operate in a safe and efficient manner from a COVID‑19 standpoint and simply because we are a chemical manufacturer. We will continue to do that and to ensure that there’s a supply chain to our customers.

These products are critical components for water treatment; if treatment plants don’t get their material, they would quickly have to shut down.

Municipal Water Leader: Has the pandemic changed your sales approach?

Terry Badwak: It’s made sales much more difficult. We’ve done a lot more phone calls and video meetings and fewer onsite visits. At the end of the day, however, we still need to get into the plants and do laboratory work.

Municipal Water Leader: What should the plant operations personnel know about the outcome of USALCO’s acquisition of AlChem and CalCHEM? Terry Badwak: USALCO has gained a greater research and development team to develop new products that will help our customers meet new challenges as regulations tighten up. USALCO has the additional manufacturing capabilities and expanded geographic coverage to meet those needs. M

Terry Badwak is the vice president of sales and marketing at USALCO. He can be contacted at tbadwak@usalco.com.

For more about USALCO, visit www.usalco.com.

April 2021 | MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER

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Upcoming Events April 13 & 27 Nevada Water Resources Association, Webinar Series (virtual) April 14 & May 12 Nebraska Water Resources Association, Water Roundtable Series (virtual) April 21–23 The P3 Water Summit (virtual) April 25–May 1 National Association of Clean Water Agencies, Water Week, Washington, DC April 28–29 National Water Resources Association, Federal Water Issues Conference (virtual) May 4–7 Texas Ground Water Association, Annual Convention and Trade Show, San Marcos, TX May 5–6 National Water Resources Association, Federal Water Issues Conference (virtual) May 12–13 Association of California Water Agencies, Spring Conference & Exhibition (virtual) May 17–19 Utah Water Users Association, Annual Workshop, St. George, UT May 17–21 National Association of Clean Water Agencies, National Pretreatment Virtual Event May 19–21 Multi-State Salinity Coalition, Annual Salinity Summit, Las Vegas, NV June TBD Groundwater Management Districts Association, Summer Conference, TBD June 7–8 Nebraska Natural Resources Districts, Basin Tour, TBD June 7–11 2021 World Environmental and Water Resources Congress (virtual) June 13–16 American Water Works Association, ACE21, San Diego, CA June 14–15 National Association of Clean Water Agencies, Strategic Communications: H2O Virtual Event June 14–17 Nevada Water Resources Association, Well and Water Week, Reno, NV June 16–18 Texas Water Conservation Association, Summer Conference, Horseshoe Bay, TX June 19–22 United States Conference of Mayors, Annual Meeting (virtual) June 22–23 National Ground Water Association, Fate of PFAS: From Groundwater to Tap Water (virtual) July 12–13 North Dakota Water Resource Districts Association, Summer Meeting and North Dakota Water Education Foundation Executive Briefing, Dickinson, ND July 13–15 North Dakota Water Users Association, Summer Meeting, Grand Forks, ND July 14 North Dakota Rural Water Systems Association, Annual Meeting and Summer Leadership Retreat, Medora, ND July 14–16 Hydrovision International, Spokane, WA

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