THE MAGAZINE FOR THE DRAINAGE,WATER &WASTEWATER INDUSTRIES
NEWSDESK
Jo on her first solo full design project in
Abingdon,UKwhich helped her gain her Chartered Engineer status
Jo Parker receiving herMBE in 2020 fromPrince Charles
of thewater infrastructure becomes even more criticalwithmore interconnection of supplies –whichmeansmoremajor pipelines. Add to that our ageing infrastructure and I can see plenty ofwork for pipeline engineers, particularly trenchless experts.
Teaching Engineersworking for theWater Utility inMaputo,Mozambique about leakage
Where do you hope to see the trenchless industry in the next 10 to 20 years?
I hope that trenchlesswill become the norm, including for the repair of leaks and investigation of problems. Everythingwill be done by robotswithminimal opening of the road.Hydrants or other access pointswill facilitate entry into pipes and networkswill be highly instrumented andmanaged far more proactively. Fromthe point of viewof remote access and inspection, the sewerage side of thewater industry is ahead of clean water, but instrumentation is less developed.
Howhas the engineering sector changed forwomen in your time in the industry?
Dramatically.When I first enquired about a summer jobwith a contractor based nearme,
FOLLOW US
Iwas told I couldwork for themwhilst Iwas at school but theywould never employme once I graduated because they did not employwomen engineers. Thatwas legal then! Atmy office formy first job inThames Water – a design officewithmostly professional engineers - thewallswere plasteredwith girly calendars and Iwas constantlymoaned at for notwearing a skirt. Whenmyself and a couple of other female managers started the group‘Women in Thames’wewere told to disband it by theHR Director. I found it hard to get a job in operations because I did not have experience ofmanagingmanual labour and had to ‘provemyself’. Thankfully, things are different now.
Whatmust the engineering sector and in particular the trenchless sector do to attractmorewomen to take up engineering as a career?
Firstly they need to ensure girls are attracted to STEM(Science/Technology/Engineering/ Maths) subjects. There are some great initiatives out there andmore girls are studying STEM
subjects.However there are pressures on some teenage girls to‘conform’and so there need to bemore rolemodels out there showingwomen engineers having exciting and rewarding jobs. I also think sometimes the industry does toomuch to promote the technical side of trenchless and not enough to promote the environmental and social
benefits. The pipelines and cables installed support humanity –water has been an essential part of the fight against Covid 19 for instance but howoften do those ensuring that awater supply is available in every house in this country get featured as key workers? Finally I think the industry needs to think carefully about thewording of job adverts. ThamesWater did this and dramatically increased the females applying for operational jobs.
Do you have anything else you would like to say about the industry or UKSTT?
Iwould just like to say that like the industry, UKSTT has changed and it is a supportive, active organisationwhich encourages anyonewho is interested in trenchless technology to get involved. Theway it has reacted to the Covid-19 challenges has been impressive and shows its ability to adapt to circumstances. Finally, Iwould like to thank allmy friends in the Society for their support and friendship over the years. Many thanks for your time for this interview andonceagaincongratulationsonmaking itontotheWES Top50WomenEngineers in Sustainability listing.
Jo receiving the IET Award fromswimmerMark Foster, an honour for a keen triathlete (note the signature)
August 2020 | drain TRADER 67
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