Sophia Oberton came to the town of Delmar water treatment plant with no experience in the water professions.
On becoming water superintendent, she quickly set about improving the facility, deploying SCADA and other technologies to make it more effective and efficient. The secret? In a word, education. She took numerous training classes offered by the Delaware and Maryland Rural Water Associations. She also learned from mentors within and outside her organization.In particular, she mentions Sara Bynum-King, former town manager, who retired two years ago: “She was always positive in saying, ‘Be a sponge. Learn what you can and push our plant
