Water Utility Resilience Program Intern - Unpaid
About The Position
The Water Utility Resiliency Program (WURP) supports local drinking water and wastewater utilities in their efforts to prepare for climate change. As part of this effort, WURP develops and maintains statewide service area maps to depict the geographic area served by publicly or privately owned drinking water or sanitary sewer utilities. This practicum opportunity would allow a student to develop an analysis plan, work directly with spatial data using GIS software, and assist MassDEP with improving publicly available data. Service area boundary data are important for understanding the potential for environmental exposure to lead and other emerging contaminants, including PFAS, in the residential and school setting from water provided by a public water system. Deliverables include an evaluation of methods used to develop the Service Area boundaries and an analysis between the published service area boundaries and service line inventory data, and recommendations for improving the data. With this analysis, MassDEP will update and improve the Estimated Public Drinking Water System Service Area Boundaries data. Importantly, the service area boundaries dataset serves as the data source for evaluating potential exposure from well water. An overall improvement to the data’s reliability would also enhance evaluations and public health notifications on potential exposures to nitrates, heavy metals (e.g. arsenic, lead), organic chemicals, or radionuclides from well water sources.
Requirements
- Minimum Requirements: NONE
Nice To Haves
- GIS Experience.
- Some knowledge of Drinking Water and Lead and Copper Rule regulations.
- Proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite.
- Ability to work independently, and in an organized manner with strong attention to detail.
- Ability to understand and apply the regulations, policies, and procedures governing assigned activities.
- Ability to analyze and determine the applicability of data, to draw conclusions, and make appropriate recommendations.
Responsibilities
- Develop an analysis plan to evaluate drinking water and wastewater service area data.
- Work with spatial datasets using GIS software to map and analyze utility service areas.
- Assist in maintaining and improving statewide service area boundary data.
- Evaluate existing methods used to develop service area boundaries and identify areas for improvement.
- Conduct comparative analysis between published service area boundaries and service line inventory data.
- Generate findings and provide recommendations to enhance data accuracy, reliability, and usability.
- Support updates to the Estimated Public Drinking Water System Service Area Boundaries dataset.
- Analyze data to help assess potential environmental and public health exposures (e.g., lead, PFAS, nitrates, heavy metals).
- Contribute to improving publicly available datasets used for environmental and public health decision-making.
- Prepare documentation and summaries of analysis results for internal and stakeholder use.
Benefits
- Comprehensive Benefits
- An outstanding suite of employee benefits that add to the overall value of your compensation package.
- A work experience that supports you, your loved ones, and your future.
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Part-time
Career Level
Intern
Education Level
No Education Listed
Number of Employees
5,001-10,000 employees
