Tag Archive for: COVID-19

Water Utility Hero of the Week-Santa Fe Irrigation District-LaMont Foster

Water Utility Hero of the Week: LaMont Foster, Santa Fe Irrigation District

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Editor’s Note: This feature highlights water utility employees in the San Diego region working during the coronavirus pandemic to ensure a safe, reliable and plentiful water supply. The water industry is among the sectors that are classified as essential. LaMont Foster, Santa Fe Irrigation District Utility Worker I, is the Water Utility Hero of the Week.

Water Utility Hero of the Week: LaMont Foster

Job/Agency: Santa Fe Irrigation District Utility Worker I

How did you become interested in working in the water industry?

I’ve had a few careers before working here at Santa Fe. After being laid off from a job I was at for more than 20 years, I was working as a bus driver for a school district. Someone had mentioned the water and wastewater internship managed by the San Diego County Water Authority. I applied and was accepted and worked with some great people at Otay and Helix and transitioned to a full-time job at SFID. I really enjoy working in the water industry. Water puts everyone on the same level. We all need it, and we all appreciate it even more when there is a problem getting it.

How has your job changed during the pandemic?

We used to drive around in crews of two together, but we drive separately now. We are also moving around the building a little differently and changing reporting times so there are fewer people in one place at a time, but other than that, the work is the same. We respond to customer concerns, fix what needs to be fixed and keep our maintenance schedule.

How are you keeping safe?

I’ve got some high-risk people in my family, so I am doing what I can to limit my exposure to people and going places. Just me and the family at the house and I am always sure to mask up. It’s important.

What are you most looking forward to after the crisis ends?

My life isn’t all that much different, but I really look forward to taking my wife and son out for a nice meal and enjoying ourselves. Not be worried or anxious about the people around me. I am really looking forward to that.

The Water Utility Hero of the Week highlights essential work performed during the COVID-19 pandemic by employees of the San Diego County Water Authority’s 24 member agencies.

San Diego County Water Authority Member Agency Map

Water Utility Hero of the Week: Carrie Selby, City of Escondido

/in , , /by /North County Daily Star.com

Editor’s Note: This feature highlights water utility employees in the San Diego region working during the corona virus pandemic to ensure a safe, reliable and plentiful water supply. The water industry is among the sectors that are classified as essential. Carrie Selby, City of Escondido Wastewater Treatment Plant Operator, is the Water Utility Hero of the Week.

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Community Outreach Makes Challenging Infrastructure Update a ‘Walk in the Park’

/in , , /by /Water News Network

In its efforts to maintain its critical infrastructure, the Vallecitos Water District undertook a challenging update to a wastewater system pipeline constrained by its precarious location.

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Niland: In Search of a Miracle

/in , , /by /The Desert Review (Imperial Valley)by Betty Miller

It has been a week since a devastating fire ripped through Niland, demoralizing a poor community already suffering from a pandemic quarantine. Douglas Kline, principal of Grace Elementary, Niland’s only school, spoke about the onslaught.

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Water Utility Hero of the Week: Carrie Selby, City of Escondido

/in , , /by /Water News Network

This feature highlights water utility employees in the San Diego region working during the coronavirus pandemic to ensure a safe, reliable and plentiful water supply. The water industry is among the sectors that are classified as essential. Carrie Selby, City of Escondido Wastewater Treatment Plant Operator, is the Water Utility Hero of the Week.

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City of Escondido Wastewater Treatment Plant Operator Carrie Selby is among a growing number of women working in water and wastewater industry careers. Photo: City of Escondido

Water Utility Hero of the Week: Carrie Selby, City of Escondido

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Editor’s Note: This feature highlights water utility employees in the San Diego region working during the coronavirus pandemic to ensure a safe, reliable and plentiful water supply. The water industry is among the sectors that are classified as essential. Carrie Selby, City of Escondido Wastewater Treatment Plant Operator, is the Water Utility Hero of the Week.

Water Utility Hero of the Week: Carrie Selby

Job/Agency: City of Escondido Wastewater Treatment Plant Operator

How did you become interested in working in the water industry?

I worked security at Lake Skinner for MWD in 2002, and very much wanted to advance my career but was not sure how. Until, I came across a flyer for an operator position. This interested me, so I asked one of the operators who worked there, how to get into the field. He provided me some materials and this immediately peaked my interest. I ended up applying at another agency and was hired as an Operator-In-Training. Eighteen years later, I am still in the field and currently hold a Grade 3 Certification.

How has your job changed during the pandemic?

Although we regularly practiced extremely good hygiene at the plant. We now have taken extra precautions such as, wearing facemasks, and maintaining social distancing. Temperature stations are now our new norm. We have to take our temperature prior to starting our shift.

How are you keeping safe?

I come to work in proper attire and practice extra sanitizing precautions. I always make sure to change out of anything that I wear at work prior to going home.

What are you most looking forward to after the crisis ends?

I am looking forward to getting back to traveling and adventuring out to some hiking trails. Nature is fuel to my soul! I also look forward to spending time with family.

The Water Utility Hero of the Week highlights essential work performed during the COVID-19 pandemic by employees of the San Diego County Water Authority’s 24 member agencies.

San Diego County Water Authority Member Agency Map

Coronavirus: Testing Sewage an ‘Easy Win’

/in , , /by /BBC Newsby Victoria Gill

A sewage-based coronavirus test could be an “easy win” that would pick up infection spikes up to 10 days earlier than with existing medical-based tests.

Scientists led by UK’s Centre for Ecology and Hydrology are working on a standardised test to “count” the amount of coronavirus in a wastewater sample.

“The earlier you find [a signal], the earlier an intervention can happen,” says lead researcher Dr Andrew Singer.

“That means lives will be made much more liveable in the current crisis.”

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Calif. Farm Bureau President Says Farmworker Safety is Priority

/in , , /by /ABC 7 News

As California’s agricultural industry faces an estimated $6-8 billion loss this year due to the pandemic, farmers and ranchers say they’re working hard to keep the food supply steady and safe.

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Opinion: Improving Forest Health Would Create Jobs, Improve Economies in Rural California

/in , , /by /CalMatters by Henry McCann and Van Butsic

The economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting urban and rural communities across California. Congress is exploring economic recovery legislation that includes investments in workforce development and infrastructure. And in Sacramento, there have been discussions about focusing future climate and natural resource bonds on economic recovery.

As federal and state decision-makers evaluate the options, they should consider putting Californians to work on improving the health of the state’s headwater forests. This approach would alleviate economic hardships while reducing wildfire risk and generating a suite of other benefits for forest-based communities and the state.

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EPA to End Policy Suspending Pollution Monitoring by End of Summer

/in , , /by /The Hillby Rebecca Beitsch

The Environmental Protection Agency will rescind its controversial policy allowing companies to skip monitoring their pollution by the end of the summer, the agency wrote in a letter to lawmakers.

The policy, unveiled in a March 26 memo in an effort to help companies reduce regulatory burdens during the coronavirus, alerted companies they would not face penalties for failing to monitor their pollution emissions as required under a host of environmental laws.

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