A Technician Who Applies Expertise on a Daily Basis

Working as a production technician for Illinois American Water’s Peoria District, Kenny must regularly execute a variety of different tasks. “We perform the daily maintenance on electrical motors, chemical pumps, pumps in general—everything that it takes to make the water safe to drink,” Kenny explains about production technicians’ duties. “I think everyone here strives to put the customer first.”

That means, even though customers do not see what production technicians do, these experts play a very important role behind the scenes to keep the water system working correctly

In fact, Kenny spends most of his working hours at the Main Station Water Treatment Plant located on Peoria’s riverfront. “As far as one-on-one interaction with the customers goes, we don’t have that. But when it comes to the reliability factor of the system, that’s where our major contribution is,” he states. “For example, we also make sure that all the online instrumentation for the plant operators is up and running and operating correctly.”

Kenny says properly calibrated instrumentation is critical for water system delivery. “The pressures that are maintained in the system, the tank levels—those are instrumentation readings that come back to the operator here at the plant. Without that instrumentation being correctly calibrated and serviced and maintained, they wouldn’t know how much water is in the tank, or when they need to kick on a booster station to move water from one part of the town to another,” he explains.

Sometimes Kenny has to complete system repairs as well. “I think it’s a sense of accomplishment when something is broken and it’s needed, and we can get it repaired and back up and running.”

Pleased to be in a Positive Working Environment

“We are members of [the International Union of] Operating Engineers Local 399,” Kenny says about himself and fellow water plant workers. “And as far as I know, this has always been a union facility. There are guys who have been here for years that are a part of the union. So it has been around for a long time.”

He believes the company’s leaders work well with union leaders to maintain good working conditions. “There are always going to be differences between what the union guys think and what management thinks. But I think that they come together, and both sides try to work together to make it the best that it can be. I think that there’s a good working relationship currently between management and the union here in the Peoria area,” he says. “You know, it takes the two groups to work together to have a strong team. And I think that we currently have that.”

A Proud Employee of Illinois American Water

“I’m proud to work here. And I think the real reason is because it’s one of the best companies in the industry,” Kenny says. “You know, you want to work for the best company that you can in the field that you’re in. And I think that I’ve achieved that.”

“Here is a great example of why I think it’s one of the best: We had a well that went bad. And, in a short amount of time, that well was taken out of service and capped, and a new well was drilled, put in place, and back in operation. You would never see that happen in a municipal-owned operation, because they wouldn’t have the resources to be able to do it. They would have to budget for it. They would have to get everybody on board.”

Kenny speaks from experience, because he worked for a municipal-owned water system in another town for 13 years before joining Illinois American Water. And so he has seen, firsthand, the drawbacks of funding a water system with municipal dollars.

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“I saw how sometimes they have to scrape by to get things done. Here, it’s totally different,” he states. “American Water invests money back into the system, and municipalities don’t do that. They wait until it’s broken or in disrepair.”

He neatly sums up the difference in one sentence: “American Water is proactive and municipalities are reactive.”

“You have to reinvest back into the water system to make sure it’s here for the next hundred years. And if you’re not investing back in, it will be in disarray,” Kenny says. “It’s about being reliable. It’s about being sure that every time someone turns on a spigot, the water comes out, and that it’s good-quality water. If you don’t reinvest, you’re not going to have that.”

With beliefs on his deep experience in the water industry, Kenny is firmly against the idea of the City of Peoria buying the local water system. “When the buyout issue comes around every five years, I think it’s a shame that there’s a group of people who don’t necessarily compare apples to apples when they compare municipal systems to our public utility company. I think there are a lot of mistruths spoken,” he says. “It’s a shame that a certain few people instigate this, when a majority of the people, it seems, are happy with the way things are.”