BALTIMORE — Minority women in science, it’s an industry that’s growing. WMAR-2 News is showing some of DPW’s scientific leaders responsible for public health in Baltimore.
Women warriors of water is how DPW describes the long list of female scientist leading public health. Now, they’re highlighting how those women are maintaining the cleanliness of our water and how you can help.
Deborah Pitts is a chief for laboratory operations division and has been for the past 35 years.
“It is a worthy job because people are depending on us,” Pitts said.
Deneen Gordon is a laboratory technical administrator for the Ashburton and Montebello facility.
“I think the most rewarding thing is to be a woman that’s a scientist,” Gordon said.
Sadikia Caldarazzo is a laboratory technical administrator for DPW’s waste water treatment facility.
“It is very rare to see an African-American woman chemist. Knowing that you’re responsible for helping make sure that Baltimore has clean water and clean filtration, it’s such a huge responsibility,” Caldarazzo said.
The water cycle in Baltimore and making sure it’s of the utmost quality is a responsibility for these brilliant women.
“Approximately 1.8 million consumers are depending on us to get it right. Because we’re talking about health public health,” Pitts said.
Pitts is one woman on this team that’s been charged with the task for the past 35 years. She started out as an entry-level chemist and is now the chief for the laboratory operations division covering four different facilities.
“The Ashburton Filtration Plant, the Montebello Filtration Plant and the two wastewater treatment plant's laboratories at those locations, so we have Back River and we have Patapsco,” Pitts said.
They are charged with making sure they’re meeting all federal and state regulatory requirements to ensure water quality is met, and water discharged from the wastewater treatment plant meets safety requirements as well. It effectively starts with processing drinking water.
“We have three reservoirs, the Liberty Reservoir Loch Raven Reservoir, and Pretty Boy Reservoir. Those are actually where we get our source water,” Pitts said.
Gathering the source water from the reservoirs is what the beginning of this process looks like.
“So the first thing that happens to the water when it comes into the facility in the plant is that we’re going to add chlorine. Chlorine is important because it acts as a disinfectant and it kills any microbiological organisms,” Pitts said.
Next, they add a product called alam to the water. Alam is used to help separate leaves and debris that comes in the water.
“Once that settles in and we give a good mix, we send it outside to the basins,” Pitts said.
That’s where it moves through the process of gravity before coming back inside to be filtered.
“So we have 20 filters, and the job of the filters is to make sure that anything that didn’t settle out in the basins is captured in these filters,” Pitts said.
After it's filtered, the water moves out and they add fluoride for the strengthening of teeth and bones and a product called lime, which increases the pH.
“That’s important, because as you increase the pH in the water, it helps it to not be aggressive in your plumbing in the distribution system,” Pitts said.
From there the water is sent out to the distribution system and that’s only the first half of the entire water recycling process.
Next, Caldarazzo and Gordon highlight how wastewater management facility plays a role, and how minority women continue leading our community in their efforts to maintain clean water.
“The water cycle is one big cycle, and so most people kind of know that we treat the water before people drink it and before we bathe in it. All those kind of things but what happens to the water after it goes down the drain,” Caldarazzo said.
It’s the million dollar question and that’s where Caldarazzo comes in. She’s worked on the water side for about 16 years. She and her team work to make sure the wastewater is safely treated before its released back into the environment, and that they follow state and EPA regulations.
“A lot of times as African-American women we tend to shy away from the sciences, but I would encourage people to just check it out. Don’t be afraid of it. Part of the water cycle that we fall in is that we’re treating that water to make sure that it's safe, that the water life can reproduce and it can be safe for not only reproduction, but for human consumption,” Caldarazzo said.
“Believe it or not when water leaves our plants it looks like water,” Caldarazzo added.
Gordon has been with DPW for almost 30 years.
“Making sure the analysis is properly done, making sure documentation is correct. It’s ever-changing, but the goal is to control it to make sure that we put out a good product. I was like most folks, I had no clue you turn on your water and expect what comes out to be quality water and that will be great for you for consumption,” Gordon said.
Although the work they do can sometimes get messy they still encourage young scientist to explore the industry.
“We need those people who are scientists, we need those people who are researchers, we need those people who want to do lab work and tech,” Gordon said.
"I would encourage biology majors, chemistry majors, environmental science majors check out our industry. It’s a big industry and we need to fill it up,” Caldarazzo said.
Although nontraditional scientific roles like these are often male dominated, these women scientists say now more than ever is when we need more women taking charge.
“We are the best thinkers, we are absolutely the best thinkers. Don’t fall into the trap that all of the scientific or mathematical things, or engineering belong to the men as traditionally displayed. Know we’re the best thinkers, we’re the ones that want to delve deeper, we're the ones that’s going to take the most care. Be strong in your sciences, be strong in your math, and you can do anything,” Gordon said.
“To my young human beings. You can be a princess and be a scientist,” Caldarazzo said.
