Industry Person of the Week – James J. Irwin

Today’s Industry Person of the Week is James “Jay” Irwin, Chief Operator at the Sherman Waste Water Treatment Plant in New York. Here is what he had to share!

“I got started in this field after I was approached by the former Chief Operator. He asked me if I would be interested in training and replacing an operator that was retiring soon. I love the dynamics of the job, what we are capable of achieving with a biological process, taking the worst possible wastewater and turning into an environmentally safe water for the receiving stream.

I am most proud about my 2018 Wastewater Operator Specialist of the Year Award. I strive to do the best I can in this field. I push my crew to do the same. To anyone interested in getting in to this field, I would say you won’t regret the decision. It is an ever changing experience. Everyday is something new and challenging and it never gets boring.

The most recent project I worked on would be our Direct in Line Pump System. It replaced our wet well and lift station. It cut our confined space entry situations almost completely out of our operations. It is a newer system to the United States, and I was able to install the system in-house with just some local municipal help and some manpower from Koester Associates.”