Students practice pipefitting at one of 10 stations during Water Career Day at the San Elijo Joint Powers Authority Water Campus.
(Chris Kokotos/San Elijo Joint Powers Authority)
A Leucadia Wastewater District technician shows a La Costa Canyon High School student how to control a crane.
(Chris Kokotos/San Elijo Joint Powers Authority)
Oceanside High School junior Charles Villalobos uses a control pad to operate a crane.
(Chris Kokotos/San Elijo Joint Powers Authority)
High Tech High student Liam Wending turns a wrench at a station hosted by Olivenhain Municipal Water District.
(Chris Kokotos/San Elijo Joint Powers Authority)
A La Costa Canyon High School student operates a microscope as Lead Operator Scott Best of San Elijo Joint Powers Authority identifies microbes.
(Chris Kokotos/San Elijo Joint Powers Authority)
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Students practice pipefitting at one of 10 stations during Water Career Day at the San Elijo Joint Powers Authority Water Campus.
(Chris Kokotos/San Elijo Joint Powers Authority)
Water Career Day, where teens and young adults get an up-close look at what it takes to run water utilities, returned to Encinitas Oct. 8 for the third straight year.
More than 200 students from nine high schools and community colleges explored the San Elijo Joint Powers Authority Water Campus, where professionals from San Elijo JPA, Leucadia Wastewater District, Olivenhain Municipal Water District and Dexter Wilson Engineering led hands-on demonstrations at 10 stations, according to a news release.
Participants operated a microscope to identify microbes that digest wastewater.They toggled a joystick to drive a “crawler,” the $70,000 wheeled camera used to inspect sewer lines.They worked a control pad to hoist a full bucket of water with a crane that normally lifts and lowers pumps, motors and pipe.
“Oh my gosh, nothing’s spilling!” said a La Costa Canyon High School student as she photographed her friend, Abby Samec, operating the crane, the news release stated.
Abby gently lowered the bucket right onto a marking. Could this be her future career?“This might be it,” Abby said in the news release.
The girls are students in the AP Chemistry class of teacher Lindsey Carlyle, who said she appreciated the structured event.
From Mission Hills High School, engineering instructor Levi Ryan has brought students to Water Career Day all three years. Last year, one of Ryan’s students went on to enroll in water industry training after attended the event, he said.
“Instead of getting a low-wage, manual labor job,” Ryan said in the news release, “he changed paths to pursue this.”
A similar story came from a Leucadia Wastewater District technician who demonstrated the workings of a Vac-Con truck used to clean sewer lines and pump stormwater.
The worker said he came to the district with no experience but, as an entry-level employee, was able to earn a paycheck as he trained, earned certifications and developed his skills.
“I wish somebody had told me about this after high school,” he said in the news release.
Leucadia Wastewater District’s top executive, General Manager Paul Bushee, noted that a demographic trend has many workers headed toward retirement.
“The operators aren’t going to be replaced by AI,” Bushee said in the news release.
A lead operator for San Elijo JPA, Scott Best, supervised students as they placed a droplet of wastewater onto a slide for inspection beneath a microscope. On a viewscreen, students watched waste-eating bacteria squirming beneath the lens.
Wastewater treatment, he said, relies upon maintaining optimal conditions for the microbes, or “bugs.”
“We’re just zoo keepers,” Best said in the news release, “making sure we have a happy, healthy environment.”
From the sidelines, San Elijo JPA Deputy General Manager Tom Falk added in the news release: “(The microbes) are our pets. They’re doing a lot of the heavy work for us.”
The Water Campus itself—which processes wastewater from and delivers recycled water to Encinitas, Solana Beach, Del Mar and Rancho Santa Fe—served as a supersized display of critical infrastructure and the jobs required to keep it running.
At the Water Campus, operations rely upon engineers, lab technicians, mechanics, equipment operators, IT experts, accountants, executives and contractors.
General Manager Mike Thornton has served San Elijo JPA for 26 years.“There’s something here for everyone,” Thornton said in the news release.
Water Career Day was organized in cooperation with Rising Tide Partners.Learn more at www.sejpa.org.