Meet our people – Peter - video transcript
[Peter, Senior Catchment Ranger]: I started with the Water Corporation on May 12th, 1975. I’ve been with the Water Corporation 35 years. I’m the Senior Catchment Ranger, I’m responsible for 7 full-time staff. And we have young trainees, because we’re getting old here where we work…we’ve been here that long…so we’re getting some young trainees coming through. They spend 6 months with me, I look after them and prioritise their daily work. And then they spend 6 months in the dams, and they will learn treatment at the dam sites.
I’m a plasterer by trade, and I was working away a lot with a young family and the opportunity came up for me to join the Water Corporation and that's how I started. And then I got the job in catchments. Working in this part of the world is absolutely beautiful…so many interesting things, so much wildlife and we just love looking after the catchment areas. I love looking after the catchment areas because that’s Perth’s drinking water, as you can see behind me. That's why I love the job.
We do regular patrols in the catchment areas. The reason we’re doing that is to look after the catchments to make sure the water that’s coming into the dams is clean, potable water so we can get it through into Perth and into your drinking water…into your taps.
It’s the amount of wonderful people you meet…you meet some very interesting people in the job, not just in the catchment areas. Throughout the Water Corporation, I’ve made some wonderful friendships and met some wonderful people.
Especially with OHS, with the safety. The way they look after you…they supply you all the gear, they give you the full training. Any work that we do or the trainees do…full on training. We do all the training so they’re capable and qualified to do the job.
If any young person now wants to join the Water Corporation, they couldn't get a better job. There’s so many fields they can work in within the Water Corporation because it’s so big. They can go all over the State, they can go to Geraldton, they can go to Albany, they can go to Bunbury…and the future’s there. If they do the training and the learning, they can be here for a long time and enjoy the job the same as I have.
This is my office…this is my office. I am stuck in a seat a fair bit now, in the office, but this is my office out here. And just have a look at it…it's absolutely beautiful!