Water Environment Federation ®
the water quality people
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It’s Not About Pipes, it’s About Patricia Steven Drangsholt and Stephanie Corso If we want people to pay attention to our story as a water sector, we cannot leave out the people who make it as special as it is. If you’re like me, you can probably think of at least one person who was pivotal to your involvement and passion for water. I certainly can. It was a cool autumn evening in downtown Boise, Idaho. It was my first time at a water sector conference, and my emotions ranged from excited to nervous, like an emotional ping pong match taking place in my brain. I stepped into Bittercreek Alehouse, completely unaware that the course of my life and career was about to change forever. I noticed a group of vaguely familiarlooking people at a large corner table. I was new. It was hard to remember all the faces and names, but they seemed to recognize me and called me over. I nervously introduced myself for the hundredth time, and being so young, I felt like I had little to share. They knew each other quite well. They welcomed me and asked me questions to get me talking. The server stopped by to ask for my drink order. My anxiety went sky high. What’s the approved drink order for this kind of social situation—beer, wine, whiskey? I felt everyone’s eyes on me as I blurted out, “Can I get a Car Bomb shot?” Soon we were all enjoying Car Bomb shots, and I learned I had sat down with
the entire Pacific Clean Water Association Board and Water Environment Federation (WEF)-invited guests. My fate was sealed. I had found my people.
Real Connections For many of us, we don’t just go to a conference for the agenda, no matter how valuable the content. We’re there because of the people we get to sit next to, share a meal with, or text to grab a beer. Whether you want to admit it or not, it’s not the water or technology that makes this sector essential—it’s the people. If you asked me two years ago about communication, story, and audience, I would have struggled to make the connection between that sphere of my work and my work as an engineer. My friends at Rogue Water taught me how to bridge that gap and introduced a world of resources to me that elevated my work as an engineer by leveling up my skills as a communicator.
24 December 2021 • Florida Water Resources Journal
Technically minded people, like myself, struggle with the fact that emotion, not logic, drives most of our decision making. And yet, I continue to notice instances where we’ve missed the mark by dehumanizing our work and the people we serve.
COVID-19 This pandemic completely upended our world and our sector. Water became an essential part in the fight against its spread, with a heightened awareness around the importance of handwashing. Unsurprisingly, our communications jumped straight to the importance of water as essential; however, the focus of the story became handwashing, rather than the men and women providing the water for the handwashing. The water professional should have been framed just like the healthcare professional—a guardian of public health. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, firefighters and police officers are specifically listed as frontline essential workers and given first priority for the COVID vaccine. States have left water and wastewater workers in the ambiguous category of “public health,” which means their priority groups vary state by state. We missed the opportunity to focus on the people, rather than the service they provide.
