ABOUT

About Women of Water

Women of Water's mission is to Engage, Empower, and Educate.  Our organization strives to unite women throughout the state of Utah within the water industry.  As an organization we serve as a support network, offering mentoring opportunities, social events, and educational development. 

To learn more about who we are as an organization, click here for our bylaws.  To join our community, fill out our membership form and submit your payment to Treasurer Sarah Young.

 

 Our Officers and Board of Directors

President: Tamaran Woodland (Salt Lake County)

Tamaran is the Salt Lake County Flood Control Engineering Project Manager. She joined the Salt Lake County Flood Control team in 2006, where she has been able to pursue her passion in stormwater management and water resource engineering related to flood protection. Since that time, she has been able to see many projects in the Salt Lake Valley through design and construction, including storm drains, detention basins, high hazard dam improvements, and creek restoration projects. A large portion of her time is currently spent on levee rehabilitation and restoration, and all the governmental hoops required for such a project. Tamaran is a licensed Professional Engineer and a Certified Floodplain Manager. She enjoys spending her time away from work with her husband and five children, ages 3 to 12. Through peer pressure, she somehow also found the time to develop a love for sprint triathlons and non-competitive long-distance bike races.

Vice President: Rachel Mares (Wood, now WSP)

Rachel has worked for Wood Environment & Infrastructure Solutions as a Water Resources Engineer since 2015. She has been leading the Water Services group at the Salt Lake City branch since 2018. Her primary expertise is in the areas of watershed hydrologic and hydraulic (H&H) analyses of rural and urban riverine systems, urban/closed system stormwater management H&H analyses, statistical frequency analyses, and geographical information systems (GIS).  She juggles several hats in her current role including overseeing and performing technical work, mentoring/training new engineers, project management, and business development efforts. She is a licensed Professional Engineer and a Certified Floodplain Manager.  When she’s not working, she enjoys playing in the mountains with her husband and dogs, obsessing over Survivor (yes, it’s still on!), or trying her hand at new hobbies.

Past President: Melissa Noble (Utah Division of Drinking Water)

  

Melissa Noble is a licensed Professional Geologist (PG) and an Environmental Scientist in the Permitting Section of the Division of Drinking Water (DDW) within the Department of Environmental Quality.  She works specifically with the Source Protection rules. Melissa has been with DDW since 2012. She has also been a member of the Women of Water board on and off for 5 years. Previous board positions she held include: Secretary and Vice President. Melissa holds a Bachelor's Degree (BS) in Hydrogeology-Engineering Geology from Utah State University and a Master's Degree (MS) in Structural Geology from Colorado State University. In her personal time, Melissa enjoys playing Pokemon Go with her family, her husband Jayrod, her two not-so-little boys Jesse and Jacob, and her corgi-mix Kimber.

Treasurer: Sarah Young (Psomas)

Sarah has worked for Psomas Engineering since 2006.  She is a project engineer in the water group.  As part of her responsibilities she handles all of the large hydrology studies, water master plans, and major utility projects in the Salt Lake office.  

Secretary: Jess Cooper (AE2S)

Jess Cooper is an Engineer-in-Training focusing on wastewater treatment process design at Advanced Engineering and Environmental Services in Lehi, UT. She resides in the greater Salt Lake Metropolitan area and completed an undergraduate degree in Environmental Engineering from Utah State University (USU) in 2020. During her time at USU, she worked on undergraduate research projects, several internships, and participated in the USU student chapter of Water Environment Association of Utah (WEAU), all of which drove her passion for wastewater treatment and water awareness in the Mountain West. In her spare time, Jess loves to hike and backpack with her husband, knit, and (try to) garden. 

Activities Director: Jamie Banh (Kearns Improvement District)

Jamie has worked for the Kearns Improvement District (KID) since 2017.  She is the Executive Administrative Assistant for F. Greg Anderson, General Manager/CEO of KID.  In her role she provides adequate support for the company, assists in preparing the monthly board meetings, oversees the company travel plans, and sits as the event committee chair member, among other responsibilities. Ms. Banh has her certification for event and meeting planning and over 11 years of extensive experience in corporate recognition and events.

Communications/Social Media Director: Michele McFee (AE2S)

Michele is a proposal coordinator on the marketing team at Advanced Engineering and Environmental Services in Lehi, UT. She has been passionate about water engineering for decades, and published two books about the Erie Canal and its engineering as a long-time resident of New York State. She moved to Salt Lake City in 2017 and joined the Marketing Team of WesTech Engineering, writing about industrial and municipal water and wastewater treatment. She then transitioned to learning the ropes of proposal writing at CRS Engineers. In her current role at AE2S, Michele uses her writing skills to support water engineering projects through the proposal process and content creation.

Outreach/Mentorship Director: Katie Reams (J-U-B Engineers)

Katie is a Project Engineer in the Water Treatment Group at J-U-B Engineers. Her work focuses on designing water and wastewater treatment solutions for communities in northern Utah. In both professional and extracurricular activities Katie finds her strengths in creating meaningful relationships and connecting the people around her. In her free time you can find her walking her dogs on one of Utah’s many beautiful trails or spending time with her family at home. 

Funding Director: Sarah Romero

The Blog

The Women of Water blog is an opportunity for women all over the Utah water industry to become part of an online community. Features on the blog include information about upcoming activities, spotlights on members, and updates from the Utah Women and Leadership Program.  Member/follower contributions to the blog are encouraged by communicating with other members, posting pictures, or commenting to express yourself!  (See our FAQS section for information on how you can contribute to our  monthly features)!

Sponsors

Women of Water could not operate without the help of our Sponsors! (Check out the Sponsors section on the right side of this blog to see who they are).  If you are interested in becoming a Women of Water sponsor, please send us an email  -- we would love to hear from you and talk about a future partnership and ways to collaborate!  (Just make sure ATTN Blog: Interested WOW Sponsor is in the subject of the email).  

FAQs

Who can be a Women of Water member?  

We welcome all women within the water industry!  Whether you are a scientist, technician, teacher, engineer, or student (just to name a few).  Our organization spans throughout the Greater Salt Lake area with members from Logan to Provo. Even if you are just starting out or just recently retired in the water business, we'd love to have you. Want to be a member?  Not quite sure if you'll fit in? Email us and we'll talk with you. Just put ATTN Membership: I Want to Join in the email's subject.  We look forward to hearing from you!

If already know you want to join, please fill out the Membership form (located here) and submit your payment to our Treasurer Linda Townes.  

Can I nominate a female for your Women in Water profile features?

Yes!  If you email us the woman's name, her email/contact information, and a few sentences about why you would like her featured, we will gladly consider her.  Please put  ATTN Blog: Profile Nomination in the email's subject.  And, thanks for the tip!

Can I recommend a video to be featured on the blog?

If you email us the link, we be will very happy to review the video.  And, thanks for the tip!

Can I become a contributor to the blog?

We are trying to grow Women of Water's blog and develop regular posts.  If you have a topic idea and think you can commit to writing a post a least once a month, please send us an email.  Make sure you put in the email's subject: ATTN Blog: Contributor Idea.  We look forward to hearing about it!

Why was my comment removed from Women of Water?

Women of Water is a positive place for members (and the general public if they happen to wander over here!) to share ideas, have lively discussions, and connect with others in the water industry in Utah. Though we encourage constructive criticism and friendly debates, our priority is to keep this a safe place where people feel comfortable engaging with others in the community.  So, if we think (or hear from others) that your comment is thoughtless or offensive, we had to remove it.



Contact Us

Please feel free to email us at womenofwater@gmail.com.  Just make sure you put in the email's subject: ATTN Blog: General Inquiry.  This will help us us get your message to the right person more quickly! We get quite a few emails and comments on the blog, so we'll try to get back to you as soon as possible.  If you're in a hurry and need an answer sooner-rather-than-later, check the FAQs section above -- there's a chance we may have answered your question(s) already!