Future Flows: Career Opportunities in the Water Industry

On January 27^th, the Ontario Water Works Association Student Chapter at the University of Waterloo hosted a semi-formal event at the Embassy Bar and Grill, right here in Uptown Waterloo.  Guests at the event included students from the University in a variety of programs, students from other Universities across Ontario, Industry Professionals, as well as Professors and Grad Students from UW.  The event was a showcase of the magnitude of involvement that our Region has in Ontario’s Water Industry, and focussed on the importance of networking among various groups.

To start off the evening, there was an icebreaker activity prior to the keynote presentation made by Nancy Kodousek, Director of Water Services at the Regional Municipality of Waterloo.  During her talk she gave some examples of the large-scale projects that have been completed and that are ongoing in the Region.  She also described the working environment in the water industry:  It is a fairly close-knit community that has a lot of pressure to get results.

There was then a quick break with more opportunities to network with others who are passionate about water. One of the focuses of the evening was the importance of taking advantage of networking opportunities, and this break along with the reception at the conclusion of the evening were great examples.

There was then a Question and Answer discussion panel.  Panellists included Dr. Bill Cairns, Chief Scientist at Trojan UV Technologies; Dr. Monica Emelko, Associate Professor here at UW’ Lee Anne E. Jones, President of the Ontario Water Works Association; and Leigh McDermott, a Practice Leader in the Water Division of Stantec.

One of the ongoing jokes of the evening was highlighted when the event coordinator Alex Chik, currently pursuing his Master of Environmental Studies in Planning at UW, posed his first question to the panel: “How did you first get wet? How did you come to be involved in the water industry?” The panel also fielded questions about the role of education in their career development, major events that have occurred while they were working in the industry (for example the Walkerton tragedy), and how they plan to address current issues regarding drinking water quality. During the first break and after the end of the panel discussion, there was free food (which was above and beyond the slice of greasy slice of pizza that usually accompanies the promise of free snacks).

I would recommend that anyone interested in working in the water industry for the Regional Municipality of Waterloo, or anywhere in Canada, go out to one of these events.