2 min read April 2023 — Invest: spoke with Melissa Meeker, president and CEO of The Water Tower, to discuss this one-of-a-kind space and how the water industry drives economic development through its fundamental necessity and excellent, but underrated, career paths. “Our center is all about driving innovation and commercialization,” she said.
How would you describe The Water Tower?
Water is at the core of everything we do. No matter what the economy does, even if it plummets, we still have to produce,treat and test water. These are truly essential services. The Water Tower is a water innovation center that serves the entire world. We have partnerships globally with a key focus on metro Atlanta. Water is a core necessity to economic development and yet it is something no one ever really thinks about. Our industry as a whole is very conservative, which makes sense because we’re protecting the environment and public health. Getting the industry to look at innovative technologies can be a struggle because they know what already works and they stick to it. Our center is all about driving innovation and commercialization and incorporating that into everyday life.
What are your priorities for 2023?
2022 was so important because we opened our doors. We’re pushing the envelope by creating a very unique space. The campus we developed doesn’t exist anywhere else in the world. Other water centers have similar components but we’ve worked hard to bring the best practices from around the world to make this space unique. We are also situated right next to the F. Wayne Hill Water Resources Center, which is one of the most highly regarded wastewater treatment facilities on the Eastern seaboard. Having access to FWH provides startups, universities and manufacturing companies access to real water quality flows. We’re also building a state-of-the-art laboratory that can support them in their water quality treatment technology.
We really worked hard to create a space where we can focus on research and development as well as workforce development. Part of the campus is bringing businesses onto the campus that are focused on the water industry and creating collaborative space to create and grow together while fostering the workforce pipeline. 2023 is about looking forward to bringing in additional companies and kickstarting our R&D activities. We are hitting the ground running.
What is the unique added value of The Water Tower to the Atlanta metro region?
We designed the campus to include space for third-party tenants and coworking space. The coworking space has been great for companies with offices located downtown but that have staff North of the city that don’t want to be remote all the time. We can provide the area to collaborate, including providing boardrooms and classrooms to do that. Our model fits nicely with this new norm that has emerged from the pandemic. Some people can’t work in their homes if they have families but they don’t want to drive downtown, so it’s a great, accessible option while getting exposed to great innovative technology.
What makes the center such an innovative space?
The intent around the campus was to create unique spaces and just one highlight is our hydraulic wet lab. It will be the only one in the United States to have the capabilities we have. We also have a demonstration area, bringing in water quality flows from the water plant so innovators can run their technology, pull samples, and test them in our state-of-the-art laboratory. It’s giving those businesses that utilize the center access to state-of-the-art facilities they may not be able to afford in their offices, or if they have an international headquarters and can’t find the needed facilities in the United States. It gives them enhanced ability to innovate their own technologies and processes.
In addition to tenants in our main building, we are working on expanding our campus to include a second building and have outparcels available for water-related companies looking for a larger footprint or mixed use space.
How is The Water Center enhancing workforce development?
In terms of career opportunities, the water industry has opportunities from GED to Ph.D. and welcomes a full spectrum of backgrounds and education. Our facility is keyed on skilled trades. Because of that, we have very strong partnerships with local high schools, training seniors in a work-study training program so that when they graduate, they are able to sit for certification exams and immediately get placed for a job at a water treatment facility. The water industry is facing a gray tsunami, where nearly 60% of workers are within five to 10 years of retirement. It’s an industry that schools don’t talk about much, despite how prevalent it is. We’re doing everything we can to get people into what is a fantastic career trajectory. We’ve also partnered with local nonprofits and social services in the community, which serve as our grassroots recruitment arm. We have partners hiring for skilled trades and from higher-education systems, getting them out of laboratories and into applied sciences, so they’re engaging with utilities staff and seeing how the systems work. It’s a great opportunity to help our local communities in terms of creating resilient communities by providing excellent job opportunities.
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