Why Water?
I came to the water industry from the renewable energy industry, and I’ve seen that there are a lot of comparable challenges in these industries. Just the way that the key players work, there’s a lot of overlap, and there is also the reality of water-energy nexus — in simplistic terms, you need water to make energy and energy to make water. My dad worked in energy as well, so I got to see the impact he was able to make.
Ultimately, though, what drew me to water is that we can’t think about solving the climate crisis without thinking about fresh water and its growing scarcity as climate change intensifies. I believe it’s important to have a balanced approach, one that both uses what we already have better while also taking advantage of the drought-proof options like desalination to create more fresh water.
What about your current position excites you?
Not just my role, but Energy Recovery’s role in these societal challenges is so important. Ultimately, our goal is to make it economical to deliver water to people who really need it, and we do that by significantly reducing the energy required to desalinate water and treat industrial wastewater via reverse osmosis. That’s important because, at the end of the day, it’s much easier and cheaper for companies to exploit the environment and dispose of the waste without treating it.
So, if we can lower the cost of the treatment process by making it more energy efficient, it makes it more financially viable to choose the environmentally friendly option. It also makes the treatment processes themselves more environmentally friendly because less energy equals less emissions. Ultimately, our technology lowers the barrier, helping the environment while also helping the wallet. It’s exciting to be part of the team that’s bringing these solutions to the market.
What is the most important issue facing the industry to you, and what is your moonshot idea for addressing that issue?
The biggest issue — and let’s take industrial wastewater as an example — is that, even if you’re running sustainable treatment processes, you still have to dispose of the waste.
So then, how can you turn a negative (the waste) into a positive? Could you get to a world where you can extract minerals from the waste and sell them or reuse them and then that pays for the cost of treating the wastewater? How do you get to a truly circular or closed loop operation? That to me would be the gold standard.
The first step is to have sustainable treatment processes be more economically viable to begin with, as we’re working toward now, but the long-term goal would be to find ways to reuse all our by-products in efficient and beneficial ways.
How has mentorship impacted your career to date?
Mentorship to me can take many forms. In my career, I’ve just tried to be observant, looking at people who are more senior and thinking “I like that approach, how can I adopt that in how I approach things?”. All my roles have come from strong relationships, and I’ve been able to foster them by taking notice of people and not being afraid to ask questions and get to know them. People sometimes get intimidated by the term “mentor” but, at the end of the day, if you’re curious and genuinely interested in learning from others, you’ll find mentors of all types.
What piece of media (books, TV shows, movies, games, podcasts, etc.) has had the greatest impact on you in the past 12 months?
I joined Energy Recovery in 2019, so I’m still relatively new to the water industry. As I learn more about the industry itself, I rely heavily on media like Wastewater Digest. I also listen to "The Daily podcast," and I enjoy reading "the Atlantic" because the perspectives are so varied. I lived in France too, so I read "Le Monde." I like seeing a different vantage point, and it connects me back to when I lived there.
What does it mean to you to be a woman who works in the water industry?
Like the energy industry, the water industry tends be more male-dominated, likely because it’s more engineering-focused. That said, I’m increasingly seeing conversations within the industry about the importance of embracing many different viewpoints and skillsets. That is in part a reflection of broader cultural changes. However, I believe it also comes from the fact that this industry is critical for the future of our climate, and the industry recognizes that it’s important to get the best and more diverse minds to help us solve these challenges.
