Her Story
About Candy
My career path started in middle school with a project called Riverwatch, run by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. They requested students in the science field to collect water samples and do simple analysis like dissolved oxygen, pH, hardness, and alkalinity. That got me interested in the water field. Then I went to college and did a tour of a wastewater plant, and I was hooked and wanted to be a wastewater operator. I became certified in 2001 and have been in this field ever since. What I'm most proud of is that with the knowledge I have learned in wastewater treatment, I can provide clean water to people at their homes, because I'm also on the drinking water side. I can make sure that people have safe water from the time they turn on their tap until the river that they may float down later on. I'm a small town girl who grew up in a small town of less than a thousand people, and I'm fourth generation in that town. My family has a history in farming and agriculture. I went out of town to learn a bunch of things to bring back to the small town so that they can afford to have the things that are required by the state. I have my own water wastewater operations company to help small communities. These small communities are required by the state to have a certified operator on staff, which is very expensive. So I save these small communities by being a contract operator. For one of my clients, I have saved them at least $60,000 a year just by being a contract operator instead of a full-time employee. For a small town, that could mean the replacement of three water meters, or a replacement of a valve, or a fire hydrant.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Candy
01What do you attribute your success to?
I would say determination and curiosity. It's interesting to know that a lot of wastewater treatment is not chemical, it's all biological. So it's curiosity and education, you know, educating people in the public on simple things like how much pressure is in the water system and what our requirements are, and that drinking water that comes from your tap is actually more regulated than bottled water. Just little things like that. Patience and determination.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Don't give up. Because there will be hurdles, there will be difficulties, but don't give up, because in the long run it will work out and you will actually be on top of the mountain with all the people who are trying to pull you down. It's actually those people who are pulling you down that, in the long run, you will be standing on top of, not in a negative way, but you will shine positively, even through their negativity. For example, I have a local board member who, my first interaction with him was not positive. He reported me to the state and has been cutting me down, saying that I don't know what I'm doing or anything like that. But it has gone full circle over the last three years that the state that he reported me to has flat out said do not lose this person, because she is making things amazing. And so he has flat out turned around and asked the same state that he reported me to, what are we gonna do if Candy ever leaves? So the same person that was trying to pull me down and get me discredited and fired is now the one saying, holy crap, we can't lose this person.
03What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
Challenges would be funding for required infrastructure that is coming down from the EPA through the state. These small facilities don't have access to the money big facilities do. So like, these little towns, they're required to spend millions of dollars to keep their infrastructure going and to make improvements to their wastewater plants to meet requirements, but there's no money there for them to do that. So in the long run, they get punished for not having the money to be able to do this infrastructure improvement.
04What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Honesty and integrity. To know that the numbers that I get from a lab are representative of how the plant is operating, and that I'm being honest with what I'm presenting. If I have numbers that are outside of my permit limit, I'm honest when I report those. So I would say honesty and integrity.
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