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As we continue our safe drinking water series, we'd like to introduce Tim Guysky, Superintendent of the City of Owosso Wastewater Treatment Plant.

“I hold my Class A license for wastewater treatment, in the State of Michigan that's the highest license that you can get. 

When I was in high school, they had a job opening here in the laboratory for a part-time co-op student. I took that job as a junior in high school and worked here that summer and my whole senior year. 

Once I went to college, I was able to keep it part-time and during the summers. That led to transitioning into a full-time position.  I was a chemist in the lab for about 20 years. And then, I became assistant superintendent and superintendent. So I'm on 35 years now. 

I enjoyed it immediately. I had really good supervisors when I started, especially the guy in the lab, he and I were still really good friends. He made it fun working in the lab and felt like I was making a difference. 

In the lab, we're testing the water that comes in and we test the water that goes out. Essentially you're seeing two things, how our processes are working, to make sure our water that goes out into the river is clean.  That water is known as effluent water, if our effluent water has problems the lab is the first one to know it. They start seeing those results and they come and tell me. 

You have to know the chemistry and the biology to troubleshoot the process and to know what adjustments to make. 

The second thing is, we are issued a permit by the State of Michigan for the right to discharge our water into the river. We test to make sure it is clean to maintain the health of the river.  Our lab gets results on that and reports to the State of Michigan.

Every couple of years, a teacher would ask me to talk to their class. I enjoyed doing that.  I want kids to see this is a good career path, this is an industry where you can move up. If you don't want to be stuck, you're not stuck, you can move up quickly. Especially these days we're in great need of wastewater plant personnel.”

Original source can be found here.