Meet the people of TMWA whose commitment to serve our community ensures we have the best water in the country.
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Lora RichardsWater Resource Planner |
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Lora with one of TMWA's How Do You Save? |
"No freshman ever majors in geography," Lora said about her bachelors and masters degrees. After studying French, engineering and history, she decided geography was the one field in which she could combine all of her interests. In graduate school, these interests led her to a job with NASA and the United States Geological Survey, studying growth in metropolitan areas.
She then went on to land use planning, working indirectly with some TMWA employees, and decided she wanted to work at TMWA too, that she wanted "something more to sink my teeth into and water was just the thing."
Just two weeks later, the position of Water Resource Planner opened up and Lora jumped at the opportunity to apply. Following her two-month application process, she was officially a part of the TMWA team.
"Lucky me, here I am!" she said after her first ten months of water resource planning. "There are so many cool things to be done and so many opportunities."
Lora has more energy and enthusiasm than will fit in a mere eight-hour day. She is currently collaborating with other TMWA departments on a renewable energy project and on the Truckee Meadows Urban Forestry Coalition, an effort to preserve trees across multiple jurisdictions.
She recently began campaigning with her coworkers for a TMWA Green Team.
"Why are we talking about a solar project when we could be reducing, reusing, and recycling so much more?" she asked. So, being the person she is, she became proactive about it. "Please recycle! Put your cans in!" she'd say, carrying around a recycling bin. She is serious about leveraging community involvement in her workplace.
The Green Team project she is most proud of, TMWA's community garden, is made from recycled materials—timber from the broken flume was used for the planter boxes.
Another significant part of Lora's job is conservation planning.
"It's a super cool piece of my puzzle because it glues the green team stuff together with the renewable energy project and the Urban Forestry Coalition work," she said earnestly about the work she does. "You spend an awful lot of time at work, so why not enjoy it and make a difference?"
This mentality came from Lora's beloved grandfather, who was everything she is determined to become.
"The structure and core and the value system of my family comes from that man" she said of the inspiring patriarch. "It's his heart that I carry. Anything good you see in me comes from that. It's easy because I am bound to succeed because of him. He's universally inspiring to everyone. Not just to me because I'm his grandkid."
