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How Masuen Consulting Saves Its Clients Money by Reducing Water Use
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asuen Consulting is an outdoor water management, system design, and consulting firm based in Newport, Washington, that works primarily with clients in the urban irrigation and storm water management fields. By updating clients’ technology and helping them operate their irrigation systems more efficiently, Masuen is able to reduce their water use by an average of 50 percent. In this interview, Masuen Consulting President Mitchel Andrew Walker tells us about the company’s services and the results it can achieve for its clients. Municipal Water Leader: Please tell us about your background and how you came to be in your current position.
1995 and went into Masuen Consulting full time. Today, we have 14 employees. We focus on outdoor water management, primarily in the irrigation and storm water management fields, with irrigation as our primary focus. Our three irrigation segments are urban, golf, and agriculture. We look for mindsets and approaches that are not standard in the industry and allow us to save a lot of water. Our customers are landscape architects, civil engineers, government agencies, water purveyors, developers, homeowners’ and property owners’ associations, corporate campuses, farmers, ranchers, golf courses, and sports complexes. Municipal Water Leader: How many states are you active in? Mitchel Andrew Walker: We have people in Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Texas, and Washington, and we have worked in more than 20 states. Municipal Water Leader: What is the story behind the company’s name? Mitchel Andrew Walker: It’s my wife’s maiden name. When I started this company, it was called Walker Design and Consulting. My wife, meanwhile, had a horticultural consulting business. We eventually decided that it made more sense to marry them. When we married them, we kept her name.
Irrigation uniformity testing in Cinco Ranch, Texas, in preparation for the switch to reuse water.
Municipal Water Leader: Please tell us about the company. Mitchel Andrew Walker: Masuen Consulting has been around since 1995. Its precursor was a design-build construction company, which was the business I initially joined. I sold it in
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Mitchel Andrew Walker: The industry as a whole, in my opinion, is supply driven. If the demand for water increases, another dam or water treatment plant is built. Infrastructure is the go-to solution for increasing water supply. Our mindset, by contrast, is to start with how much a client actually needs to accomplish what it wants to accomplish. We have a demand focus with a conservation lens. When my wife and I started the company 40 years ago, we found that most people thought the solution to their problems was just to get more water. We found that there was a better solution that allowed clients to save about 50 percent of what the industry uses while still meeting their needs. We meet or exceed that 50 percent figure in most of our projects. Municipal Water Leader: How do you reduce your clients’ water use so significantly? municipalwaterleader.com
PHOTOS COURTESY OF MASUEN CONSULTING.
Mitchel Andrew Walker: I went to Humboldt State University in Northern California and did a double major in zoology and wildlife biology, although I did not finish the degree in wildlife biology. I was one course short when I was accepted into veterinary school at the University of California, Davis, and I decided to go to vet school instead of finishing that second degree. After 1 year of vet school, I was introduced to an interesting opportunity and decided to withdraw from vet school and go into business. Today, I work with Masuen Consulting.
Municipal Water Leader: What are some of the out-of-the-box solutions that you provide to your clients?
