🗣️ "Lifting up Lives with Infrastructure"

Host: Travis Loop
Guest: Yajaira Morphonios | Capital Programs Control Manager | Louisville Metropolitan Sewer District
Category: 🗣️ Opinion

Podcast’s Essential Bites:

[4:20] “I started in Puerto Rico as the Director of Engineering for a water utility company. In that case we […] merged both drinking water and wastewater under the same umbrella. […] In Puerto Rico, one of the biggest challenges was the lack of resources, money basically to development projects. One of the most critical ones is that people did not have access to safe, clean drinking water. […] One of my biggest, most rewarding projects was actually in a community where […] there were a lot of birth defects in the community related to not treating the water. So we [got] the funds [for] a package plant […] [and taught] the community how to operate that system […] to improve their lives.”

[7:13] “You can really measure the impact of the infrastructure. So it's not just a pipe. You're changing lives. Because having to go a couple miles down the road to get water from the river is not an easy task to do. Most of [this work] was performed by women, because men were […] trying to bring some money, and the women in charge of the communities. […] Thankfully, in Puerto Rico we've come a long ways from that, but if you see other countries like India, they still have that situation. […] It's not the money that we spent, it is […] how it just multiplies the effect on the quality of life.”

[19:43] “[The Duke University Water Innovation Leadership Program] is a program for emerging leaders. […] We just meet once a month to talk about different topics. They bring experts […] [and you are] able to ask questions. […] You can’t pay for those services. […] At the same time, each one of us is developing a project to this cause and presents at the end of the cohort.”

[26:19] “A career in the water sector is fun and rewarding. It's not just about treatment of water. That is part of it. But I think the most important part is our role in the economic development of the area that we serve. That is truly important when we can [provide] a direct impact, tangible impact to the communities.”

Rating: 💧💧

🎙️ Full Episode: Apple | Spotify
🕰️ 28 min | 🗓️ 11/22/2021
✅ Time saved: 26 min