Students Explore Opportunities at Water Career Day
Nobody stops needing water—and that means the water industry never stops needing skilled workers.
To show students what that future can look like, three local water agencies teamed up to host the 2025 Water Career Day Oct. 22 at the San Elijo Joint Powers Authority Water Campus in Encinitas.
“We’re always hiring,” said Kim Thorner, general manager of Olivenhain Municipal Water District.
Also welcoming the high school and college students were colleagues from Leucadia Wastewater District and San Elijo Joint Powers Authority and representatives from Palomar College, MiraCosta College and Mission Hills High School.
For the second straight year, the water and wastewater treatment and recycling agencies welcomed about 100 students to take an up-close look at how water systems work.
“Dude!” exclaimed Mission Hills School junior Tavian Barrett. “That guy looks awesome!”
A microscopic rotifer floating across a display screen caught Tavian’s attention. The monitor showed rotifer and other waste-eating bacteria contained in a drop of wastewater Tavian had placed beneath a microscope in a laboratory demonstration room.
Huddled around a table, a half-dozen of Tavian’s peers seemed equally impressed.
“Knowing that wastewater is filtered by these little guys in the water,” Hamza Alani said, “that’s pretty cool.”
Throughout the day, students from Mission Hills, the Water and Wastewater Technology program at Palomar College and the MiraCosta College Technology Career Institute toured the Water Campus, stopping at stations to get their hands on the everyday equipment operated by workers from the host agencies.
Technicians demonstrated the equipment that keeps their systems running, from remote-controlled cameras to vacuum trucks and control systems that manage flows across the service areas. At a display of potable water valves, technicians invited students to roll up their sleeves and turn a wrench.
The Water Campus itself—which processes wastewater from and delivers recycled water to Encinitas, Solana Beach, Del Mar and Rancho Santa Fe—served as a supersized display of critical infrastructure and the jobs required to keep it running.
While many positions do not require two- or four-year degrees, Palomar College’s Water and Wastewater Technology program and MiraCosta College’s Technical Career Institute offer relevant training and coursework.
“These students are looking for career paths,” said engineering instructor Kate MacArevey Colello of the technical career institute. “This kind of work is the perfect opportunity.”
Palomar College engineering student Nathan Mulalley peppered his guides with questions at one tour stop that fit hand-in-glove with his courseload—wastewater treatment, wastewater collection and backflow testing.
“There’s always going to be opportunities in water,” Mulalley said.
Those opportunities are ideal for workers who wish to serve the public and belong to a tight-knit team, said San Elijo JPA General Manager Mike Thornton.
“We’re mission-focused,” Thornton said. “People who have that sense of mission and that sense of focus, those are the kinds of people who thrive in this industry.”
Learn more about the agencies and schools involved at:
www.sejpa.org
www.lwwd.org
www.olivenhain.com
www.palomar.edu/watertech
www.commed.miracosta.edu
