Thursday 28th March 2024

Watson pours in on perspective as manager at Glasgow Water Company

joe-watson-glasgow-water-company
joe-watson-glasgow-water-company

Joe Watson was named as the newest general manager of the Glasgow Water Company. His entrance into the position comes after Scott Young left the position earlier this year.
(PHOTO SUBMITTED BY JOE WATSON)

BY BRENNAN D. CRAIN, WCLU News

GLASGOW — Joe Watson grew up with a firm grasp on hard work as the son of an Adair County plumber. That same white knuckling grasp provided the foundation for an engineering career and his latest promotion at the Glasgow Water Company.

Watson took over leadership at the GWC as the general manager soon after Scott Young, the former manager, announced his intent to leave earlier last year. Young took a job with the Kentucky Rural Water Association, and Watson decided it was time to apply for the manager’s job.

“I was on the consultant side, but I realized I’d rather serve the community than to try and make money for profits and everything,” he said.

After working in Lexington for a brief time following his 2006 graduation from the University of Kentucky, Watson took a job with American Engineers, a local firm, and worked there until 2020. He then transitioned to the GWC and worked as a staff engineer and engineering manager.

The son of a plumber, Watson found an interest in water early-on. It was through his father’s encouragement that he decided to attend college. But engineering was far from his original plans.

“Actually, initially, I wanted to be a vet,” he said. “Then I changed my major to engineering.”

Mathematics seemed to click when biology didn’t, after all.

As the grandfather of engineering, civil engineers work to lay the foundation for much of society’s amenities – bridges, roads, buildings and water plants. That’s become Watson’s specialty.

Thanks to modern advancements like computers and calculators, the engineering job has improved in recent years. College was tough because the inside-look at most of what he does today had to be picked apart and understood from a structural standpoint.

Those hours spent studying, calculating solutions to problems and wondering when the education would ever payoff have culminated since working in the public sector.

“It’s tough work going through college and everything, but it’s a very rewarding job because it’s awesome to be able to go out there and look at stuff you’ve designed.”

Pushing the keys on a TI-84 calculator and clicking data into a spreadsheet, Watson spends most days preparing for the future of the utility. He said his team’s most recent work includes the continuation of a redundant water transmission line construction and a master plan.

Water treated at the GWC’s Barren River Lake facility and shuttled to homes in five nearby regions is some of the cleanest and cheapest in the state. That’s thanks to a team consisting of well-rounded and educated people.

“We’ve got topnotch individuals,” he said. “And I’ll be honest with you, if we didn’t have such a good staff, I probably wouldn’t have been interested in taking the job.”

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