Arlington Re-Gen Employee Spotlight

Number of Years with WPCP: 14 years

Q: Can you tell me about your role at the Water Pollution Control Plant?
I oversee the wastewater plant's daily operations. This includes managing our continuous optimization process, process solving, ensuring the plant meets the regulatory compliance given to us by the Department of Environmental Quality, risk management, and strategic planning. I also administer staff training and development because safety training is the foundation of everything we do.

It is really important to me to ensure our stakeholders, especially Arlington County residents, are happy. They are ratepayers and I believe they should get high-value service for their money. Additionally, it means a lot to me to minimize the impacts of plant operations to our neighbors.

Another aspect of my job is educating the public. We conduct plant tours and provide education on “What Not to Flush” and general information about wastewater management.

Q: What career highlights or milestones have helped you achieve this role?
Reflecting on my background, I have witnessed people struggling with water quality. That experience gave me a sense of responsibility to go into the water industry to make life better for people experiencing low water quality. I decided to study water science to see what I could do to help others.

During my time at the Water Pollution Control Plant, I have served as an Operator, Engineering Technician, Operations Specialist, and finally my current role as the Operations Manager. That has been my journey.

Q: How do you support the Arlington Re-Gen program?
To support the Re-Gen program, I provide operational input on design decisions. I ensure Operations is represented in all aspects of the program. I oversee staffing and training, and provide feedback on how that will be implemented and achieved throughout the program. I also work on the safety and compliance requirements.

I work on Standard Operating Procedures to make sure everything we are doing is well documented. I also review future scalability to make sure all the structures fit within the space allotted at the plant.

The most important thing I do is look at our historical challenges to ensure we don't repeat those challenges with the new Re-Gen program. We want to ensure challenges are addressed early in the design process, so they do not become a problem later.

Q: What do you enjoy most about working on the Arlington Re-Gen program?
I enjoy sitting in meetings with people from different backgrounds and seeing the various angles they bring to the program to make the entire thing work. I come in with an operational lens, while others come with different lenses. It's exciting to witness people coming together with different expertise to ensure the project comes together. I enjoy the entire development process.

I also value participating in engineering exercises to ensure the team is aware of costs associated with implementing the program.

Q: What have been some surprising lessons you've learned as part of the Arlington Re-Gen program team?
Our footprint and how we've managed to evolve very limited space to place all of the structures that we want to implement. That has been very surprising to me. We've made a lot of design changes.

I am also surprised by the degree of coordination across the various skill sets, internal departments, and partners.

Q: What benefit to Plant staff are you looking forward to most once the Re-Gen program is fully implemented?
This is something new! The staff has an opportunity to develop new skills and we can improve working conditions at the plant. We are looking for additional staff and increased career development opportunities for current staff, so they can enhance their skills and have the opportunity to move into new roles.

I'm looking forward to reducing hauling costs. The current design should reduce costs by 30%-50%.

We are moving from Class B biosolids, which we are currently doing, to Class A biosolids, which are safer to deal with. Class A biosolids allow us to generate, capture, and reuse biogas, which is a good thing. We will reduce energy and increase cost savings.

Hopefully, this new process will reduce noise and odor levels.

Q: What benefit to Arlington County residents are you looking forward to most once the Re-Gen program is fully implemented?
I'm looking forward to potentially lower operational costs, which can be passed on to Arlington County residents. The production of Class A biosolids will reduce environmental impacts, as well as allow Arlington County residents to subsidize the Class A biosolids as fertilizer for their lawns. The biogas product will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the County's reliance on nonenergy sources. Also, Class A is the high safety standard for biosolids, which pose less of a health risk.

The Re-Gen program positions the County as a leader in sustainability and innovation in waste management practices. I believe it will increase pride in Arlington County residents that we are able to reach those environmental benchmarks.