Empowering Pumps & Equipment is happy to see so many industry professionals nominate their fellow peers, to help shine a light on the PEOPLE behind the equipment! Today’s Industry Person of the Week is Alexandra Fashing, and this is what she had to share:
Q. How did you get started working in your field?
Alex: I found myself in the field of wastewater almost by luck. During a break from university, I worked for a sugar beet factory in Minnesota. I was promoted from a factory position to the plant’s wastewater department. I knew after my first day that I loved wastewater, and I wanted to learn everything I could about it. For my own long term benefit, I went to school to become a welder and fabricator, while still taking as many classes as I could in environmental science. When I moved back to El Paso, Texas, I sought a career in wastewater and become employed with El Paso Water Utilities as a wastewater treatment operator.
Q. What do you love the most about your job? What are you most proud of?
Alex: I love the fact that I get to go to work every day and chase my passion of providing clean and safe water for our environment. Also, I am the first and only woman to work at the treatment plant I am at – so that makes me doubly proud! I’m thrilled with the work that I do and the work our team does to ensure the thorough treatment of the wastewater, which is eventually reintroduced into our community as irrigation and reuse water.
Q. What advice would you give to someone considering this line of work or new to the field?
Alex: Go for it! Working with water is a very noble and rewarding career. Knowing that you are part of the ecological, hydrological, and environmental impact on our planet gives such wonderful peace to your heart. I also believe that the industry, especially on the treatment side, needs more women! This is a heavily male-dominated industry, and I would love to see that change!
Learn more about the Empowering Women in Industry event planned for September 26, 2019 in Chicago!
Q. Can you talk about a project you recently worked on?
Alex: We recently overhauled one of our plant’s secondary clarifiers. Being hands-on with that project for the entirety of it made it incredibly rewarding when we put that clarifier back online. That project was my first that I was asked to oversee, and I began to see it as ‘my baby’. I am so proud of the work we did! Now, it is operating better than ever!
El Paso Water receives prestigious award for water distribution system
On behalf of the entire Empowering Pumps & Equipment team, thank you, Alex, for the awesome work you are doing! And a special BIG THANK YOU for being a role model for women everywhere in showing what opportunities might exist for them in the wastewater industry!
Know an Amazing Person who is making valuable contributions within the Industry? Nominate them to be an “Industry Person of the Week”!
That’s my wife!
I’m so proud of her and the work she does!
Definitely my hero.