I had the pleasure of attending DEQ’s water quality conference, Making Waves: Collaborating for Clean Water in September. As a someone still relatively new to the agency, this conference sounded like the perfect environment for me to learn more about DEQ’s work statewide in protecting water quality, meet the many people who champion that mission, and reflect on how I could better serve my team members.
Making Waves was designed to be much more than a technical conference on water quality regulation in Oregon. The challenges impacting DEQ’s water quality division were also present across other sections of the agency. The dark cloud of financial challenges, uncertainty caused by a tumultuous federal administration, and the obstacles of effectively engaging our U.S. Environmental Protection Agency partners were at the heart of what Making Waves was acknowledging and, in many ways, attempting to respond to by focusing on collaboration and communication.
Day 1
Collaboration and communication…and a blue sticker
I walked into the large fourth-floor ballroom of the Portland Tiffany Center and was immediately struck by the outstanding scale of the conference. About 100 staff members – some of whom I recognized and many more that I didn’t – were grabbing nametags and catching up with friends and coworkers. I found my nametag, which was accompanied by a blue sticker indicating I was among the staff with less than two years at DEQ. As I looked out over the ballroom, I took note of the many blue stickers floating around the room, demonstrating how fresh and emerging this audience was to DEQ’s water quality program. As we settled in, the water quality regional manager and administrator, provided opening remarks, setting the tone for Making Waves with special emphasis on the themes of collaboration and communication.
DEQ staff attend the Making Waves water quality conference.
Two panels followed the opening remarks, including one on a toxic tire dust research and mitigation project and a leadership panel featuring DEQ water, regional and laboratory administrators. Both panels demonstrated how external and internal collaboration – particularly cross-organizational and cross-programmatic collaboration – are essential to identifying what we can do to solve problems, rather than just what we should do, focusing more on impacts than intent.
The leadership panel also shared their personal lived experiences that help inform their identities and how they build social connections to the environment. The panel thoroughly explored the integral part that service plays in DEQ’s water quality mission, with special emphasis on how DEQ connects, communicates, collaborates and builds community.
The afternoon led to table activities where staff collaborated to address a variety of challenges, including diagraming sources of water pollution, developing a growth strategy for a water quality program and performing pH and turbidity testing.
While I felt out of my depth on the more technical activities, the collaboration and communication with my tablemates enabled me to meaningfully participate, providing me with a perspective on how some external partners or Oregon residents may experience connecting with DEQ staff. By the end of the experience, I had forgotten that I was still wearing my blue sticker.
DEQ staff participate in table activities at Making Waves.
Day one concluded with a water quality program fair, a highlight at Making Waves. Each table was complete with posters, activities, games and informational materials about that section’s work at DEQ. My favorite was the interactive Integrated Report web map, showcasing how DEQ staff use mapping technology to communicate to Oregonians.
DEQ staff showcase their programs at the water quality fair.
Day 2
Connecting with others
The second day began with an amazing opportunity to interview Deputy Director Shannon Davis. My individual interactions with Davis have all been uniquely personal and vulnerable. Davis has a disarming quality that creates a safe environment, making it easy for me to open up to her. It’s a truly inspiring gift that I’m not accustomed to in professional settings with leaders, and one that Davis carried into our interview.
Davis shared what it was like growing up in a rural town in eastern Oregon and how her career in environmental protection both shaped her ability to lead at DEQ. Davis also explored how the agency was championing its first strategic plan in 15 years and its new Diversity, Equity and Inclusion plan, and how these plans are integral to DEQ’s culture of care. This interview, paired with the first day’s leadership panel, gave me perspective on how DEQ leadership was approaching current challenges and federal instability.
Following the interview, a panel presented on water justice in Oregon. Representatives from the Oregon Water Futures Collaborative spoke to different aspects of environmental justice and how to address environmental justice through effective state government collaboration. Their panel discussion drew many questions from DEQ staff, many who were interested in more direction on how to incorporate environmental justice into their everyday work.
Making Waves concluded with a science communication training led by Dr. Kiki Sanford, Co-Founder and Executive Vice President at the Association of Science Communicators. Dr. Sanford’s training encouraged me to consider how to better communicate DEQ’s initiatives, programs and mission with the communities we serve.
Looking back
Making Waves was an exceptionally crafted conference that put a spotlight on the political challenges currently facing DEQ, validated concerns from staff, and demonstrated how collaboration and communication could aid in overcoming those challenges and concerns.
While our agency navigates unprecedented times of federal instability, it’s events like Making Waves that give me confidence that DEQ is well positioned to lead in advancing environmental protection and justice for all Oregonians.
By Antony Sparrow, Public Affairs Specialist, DEQ Eastern Region