My name is Michelle Kasick. I'm a certified Water Resources Engineering Technologist with Environment and Resource Management. I work in the provincial park system.

[Job Description:]

My job revolves around being ultimately responsible for the operation of a hundred and fifty different water supplies throughout the province in provincial parks and campgrounds. I look after the well servicing at our fish hatchery recreation sites, picnic grounds, fire caches up north (Buffalo Narrows Fire Cache) and I co-ordinate water sampling at all our sites.

If there's problems with the water quality or the water system, I'll get involved with trouble-shooting the problem. If the pump's gone down I'll spec a new one, buy it, and then hire someone to get it installed. If there's a quality problem related to a filter that needs rebated, I'll hire someone to figure out what needs to be done and get it done to get water service back to our users. So, I am ultimately responsible for safe, uninterrupted water in our system.

[A typical workday for me (would be):]

Roughly twenty-five percent of my time is spent in the field over the course of a year. To try and give you a feel for that, I looked after a well-drilling contract this past October. We needed stand-by wells for Emma Lake and Candle Lake. They're two big sites of ours in the north. So I:

put together the tender
hire the contractor
go out on site when they're working and determine the materials of the well, the depth of holes, the aquifer we're going to develop and the type of development that needs to be done on the well over the course of the winter
design a well hook-up for both of these wells
speck the pump and the pipe and determine the work required and who I need to hire in order to get both of these wells hooked up by the May long weekend.

When I'm in the office I mainly work on the computer. I:

work a lot with spreadsheets
track a lot of water quality data

[Hours of work:]

For the most part in the office it's 8:00 am to 5:00 pm. Out in the field they're whatever length of day the day is. In October the sun goes down at about 6:00 pm, so the days go until about 6:00 pm. In the late summer, if we're working out in a park or at our fish hatchery, we'll work to get as much done in a day as we can. 'Cause why not, you're at the site and the nightlife in Emma Lake or Candle Lake in October isn't really exciting.

[Most Challenging Aspects:]

It's a great job in terms of I get to work on a diverse array of projects. It's never the same. It may be the same problem but it will be at a different location in the province - just a lot of different types of projects.

There isn't a better challenge than getting a screaming phone call from somebody because their pump is down or whatever (especially if their quality sucks "the big Kahooney") and solving it for them. There's just an incredible level of satisfaction when you lift their problem.

When a park superintendent comes over and says, "You know those filters that you sent out here? I got them installed and now my hair is nice and soft." You know that's a good feeling. 'Cause I know, I grew up with this stuff. I know what it's like to put up with living with that - ruining loads of laundry and that kind of thing. So, that's pretty satisfying to get people around that.

[Most Satisfying Aspects:]

I get to go out in these gorgeous provincial parks and campgrounds and work with the people out there. We have fabulous people working in our parks - work with drilling contractors. There are a lot of people that go, "Oh, crusty old drilling contractors." They're, for the most part, just great guys to work with. We've tackled some really challenging problems and won some battles together. That's really satisfying and rewarding.

I'm paid very fairly and I have great benefits with our department.

I have absolutely no complaints. It's just great all the way around.

[Courses Taken:]

I completed the Water Resources Engineering Technology program through SIAST and I was lucky to be hired right out of school (my program was in Kelsey in those days in Saskatoon).

[Personal Characteristics and Attitudes:]

Well, I think in any job, regardless of the area, a positive attitude and good communication skills are pretty pivotal in being successful. Really, anybody can learn the technical expertise you need, but a positive attitude and good communication skills, I would say, are pretty important.

[Teamwork Skills:]

Team skills are pretty important. I work with a lot of people. I hire contractors. I work on-site with our park staff. If I wasn't a team player, there's no way that our projects would get done.

[Change and Adaptability:]

Our software changes all the time. Our hardware changes all the time. Anybody working in the computer area knows that and knows that you have to make an effort to stay abreast of the changes.

It's a great field to be in because it’s an important area and has a lot of longevity. It's always going to be around because of the environmental issues and the public demand to improve quality. It'll be a perpetuating field. There'll always be work in that area. Whereas other areas - like the oil technology area - is up and down, this one's pretty stable.