Bouwer Internship Overview

My time with the Bouwer Intern Scholarship touched all aspects of water resources management, and it taught me to be a jack of all trades. I interned with 4 different organizations ranging from the private sector to government agencies, and my internship consisted of a good mixture of research and field work.

I began my internship with the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ). Throughout the month of June, I went on different site visits with the Surface Water Protection team. I got to take composite soil samples, log GIS data, and even use an X-Ray fluorescence gun. We were studying different impaired water bodies, many of them near abandoned mine sites.

I also shadowed the Permitting and Compliance team at ADEQ. Over the course of two months, I met virtually with the entry-level permit writers during their Introduction to AZPDES course, which covered permits for the Arizona Pollutant Discharge Elimination System. This was a huge benefit for my experience in the rest of the internship: my growing familiarity with the regulatory language behind Arizona’s water policy.

My next rotation with the Intern Scholarship was with the City of Glendale’s Water Services Department, where I spent two weeks. I shadowed Steve Acquafredda, the Principal Engineer for Glendale Water Services who oversaw the Capital Improvement Projects for the city’s water infrastructure. Each day was something different. I sat in on different scheduling and progress meetings, ranging from water main repairs to water treatment plant improvements. I was blessed to have toured the city’s 3 water treatment plants and its 2 water reclamation plants. I enjoyed making the connections between the unit processes I learned about in my coursework and their actual implementation in Glendale’s municipal water operations.

I’m very pleased with the exposure I gained at the City of Glendale. The Glendale Water Services staff were welcoming and always happy to share their knowledge of different issues and initiatives in water resources management. I took an interest in those programs which highlight the cooperation between agencies and municipalities, like the New River-Agua Fria Underground Storage Project (NAUSP). Everything technical has a policy element behind it.  While my coursework has emphasized the technical aspects, I jumped at the opportunities this internship afforded me to learn more about the policy.

My internship continued with a week at Matrix New World Engineering. My week at MNWE consisted of a combination of research and document review as well as field work. I took groundwater samples with HydraSleeves and measured groundwater levels with a sounder at a pump and treat remediation site. Upon returning to the office, I read over past and present field logs to check for consistency. I enjoyed my time in the field, but I also liked delving into the science and theory behind groundwater remediation. I conducted an alternatives analysis for an arsenic remediation project, and I took the time to understand the “why and how” of the different remediation methods that were being considered. My previous coursework in organic chemistry proved useful in understanding the mechanisms that drive environmental cleanup.

My last rotation was at Clear Creek Associates. I worked two days a week during my first month of the school year, and I was grateful for the opportunity to be out of the classroom and in the field. I learned how to sample groundwater using Westbay’s multilevel monitoring systems as well as with conventional groundwater taps. I learned best practices for preserving sample viability, including what PPE to use, how to clean sampling equipment, how to fill vials, and how to take blank samples. Sampling on a federal Superfund site was an eye-opening experience. It reinforced that water quality and environmental health are not remote, far-off issues: they impact the well-being of communities very close by.