“Once you get into wastewater, you don’t leave.”
That’s Amanda Tobin’s observation after nearly 18 years in laboratories, 16 of them devoted to wastewater. “It’s a live biomass, so it’s never the same from day to day,” Tobin says. “You’re constantly learning, and things are always adapting and evolving. It’s always keeping you on your toes. There are always things to learn.”
Tobin, a laboratory analyst for the Chambers Creek Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant in Pierce County, Washington, received the 2020 Laboratory Analyst Excellence Award from the Pacific Northwest Clean Water Association.
Tobin always expected to work in a lab. She enjoyed all the
