Principal Engineer
Juan's ever-present sense of humor is a tell-tale sign that he enjoys his daily work as a Principal Engineer for TMWA. However, he does not joke about the respect he holds for his colleagues.
"The people I work with are the best part of my job," Juan said about his team, which includes other engineers, mechanics and a handful of Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) Technicians along with all of the field staff. "I just think the people here are a great bunch and I hope we're convincing them that engineers really aren't arrogant know-it-alls," he joked. "The truth is that I learn a little something from just about everyone I run into."
A big part of Juan's job is Capital Improvement Programs (CIP) and designing facilities, ranging from pump stations to pipelines, and other system retrofits.
"Right now we're working on a line that's going to improve our system so that we can send more water out to Spanish Springs and Northeast Sparks," he said about his work, much of which he classifies as "small stuff here and there."
Juan plays a very important role in the TMWA family. As both an employee and customer of TMWA, he has a vested interest in the community he helps to serve. There are roughly 175 employees at TMWA who provide service to over 330,000 customers and "with miles and miles of distribution and transmission mains, water lines and pump stations, that's not a lot of employees to go around" Juan said about the importance of keeping costs low. "We're conscious about keeping costs down and we're always trying to do what is right and be fiscally responsible."
His moral center came from his mother and father, but his biggest professional influence has been the chief engineer of a consulting firm that he worked for, Walt Gassman, a licensed civil, electrical and mechanical engineer.
"He had experienced licensure in all three engineering disciplines; that's pretty rare," Juan said. "Walt probably forgot more than I'll ever know."
Right now, Juan is busy running around after his two young boys and trying to stay active with them. He likes to take them out hiking, mountain biking, sledding and snow-shoeing as often as he can. When he has more time, he'd like to see more of Europe and South America. He has been to Spain, but would like to return to discover more about his family's history.
"My great-grandfather fought in the Spanish-American War… (on the losing side!)," he said. "There is a lot of history there and I hope to learn more."
