Jemma’s Internship Roundup
Lutra & Cawthron Institute
January 26, 2022
Bringing the 6 principles of safe drinking water to life
March 16, 2022Time is almost up for my internship and I’m so grateful to have had my first engineering work experience here at Lutra! It has been an amazing opportunity to be able to assist on many different projects so that I could get a broad view of the industry and learn so much about water treatment.
What work did I do?
My first week at Lutra was spent watching training videos and getting started on my first project, a sampling memo for the Katikati wastewater treatment plant. The training videos gave me background on how water treatment works in New Zealand meaning I entered my future projects with at least a basic understanding.
Examples of topics covered included ultraviolet disinfection, coagulation and flocculation, and membrane filtration. The knowledge gained has also given me a head start for future university courses that discuss water treatment.
The sampling memo was a very good introduction to work at Lutra because I was under the guidance of both Karuna Hambammer and Tim Miskimmin who helped me through the process. I was also able to view previous sampling plans to learn the Lutra style for memo writing. Since this project I have worked on piping and instrumentation diagrams, updated cyanobacteria monitoring data and graphs, completed price estimates for a water monitoring station, and created site specific learning to operate content for wellington water treatment plants.
It was very valuable to be able to apply problem solving and communication skills gained at university to real world situations. I also enjoyed learning how to talk to clients and suppliers and saw major improvements in my excel and word ability, very transferrable skills for both university and future work.
The sampling memo was a very good introduction to work at Lutra because I was under the guidance of both Karuna Hambammer and Tim Miskimmin who helped me through the process. I was also able to view previous sampling plans to learn the Lutra style for memo writing. Since this project I have worked on piping and instrumentation diagrams, updated cyanobacteria monitoring data and graphs, completed price estimates for a water monitoring station, and created site specific learning to operate content for wellington water treatment plants.
It was very valuable to be able to apply problem solving and communication skills gained at university to real world situations. I also enjoyed learning how to talk to clients and suppliers and saw major improvements in my excel and word ability, very transferrable skills for both university and future work.
Here you can watch my progress videos over the course of my Lutra internship.
I’m returning to Canterbury University shortly to continue my chemical process engineering degree with the addition this year (2022) of an environmental process engineering minor. At this point I plan on returning to the water industry after university so maybe you will hear a bit more from me in the future either at or outside of Lutra!
Ben Fitzgerald
Ben is our Wellington based Videographer and Digital Content Coordinator. He produces our LTO training material, manages our digital content output, and oversees our marketing efforts.
