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Upper Trinity Regional Water District: New Technology for a Growing Region
The Riverbend Water Reclamation Plant.
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Municipal Water Leader: Please tell us about your background and how you came to be in your current position. Jody Zabolio: When I enrolled in college, I went into civil engineering. The first A I made in a civil engineering class was
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in a fluids class, so on that basis I decided that water resources was my forte. After graduation, I went on to graduate school and received a master’s degree in civil engineering with a specialization in water and wastewater. After that, I went to work for a consultant that designed water and wastewater treatment plants for municipalities and utility districts. In 1996, I took a job with the City of Fort Worth as the assistant program manager for its capital improvement program to upgrade the sanitary sewer system. The city was under an administrative order from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to eliminate sanitary sewer overflows. After a couple of years, the director of the department asked me if I would be interested in getting involved in wastewater treatment, specifically as a plant engineer at the wastewater plant. I said yes. A number of years later, Upper Trinity had the need for a similar position. I was already familiar with Upper Trinity because I had done some work for the district back when I was a consultant. I went to work for Upper Trinity as a process engineer. A few years later, the assistant director of operations
PHOTO COURTESY OF UPPER TRINITY REGIONAL WATER DISTRICT.
he Upper Trinity Regional Water District provides water and wastewater services to the rapidly growing region north of Dallas, Texas. This year, the National Association of Clean Water Agencies (NACWA) recognized Upper Trinity with a National Environmental Achievement Award for its Riverbend Water Reclamation Plant, which was recently expanded in order to keep up with development in the area. The plant now uses ballasted flocculation technology, allowing it to treat wastewater more quickly and in a smaller footprint. In this interview, Upper Trinity Director of Operations and Water Resources Jody Zabolio speaks with Municipal Water Leader about the district’s experience in expanding the plant and choosing to implement ballasted flocculation.
