Transcript for Water monitoring and data workplace interview

[Speaker: Hannah Sleeth - Data Officer in the Water Monitoring and Data team in the Water and Catchments division at DEECA]

What interests you about working in water?

I'm interested in working with water because water is necessary for life. If you look back at any society, civilisation, often the ones that didn't manage their water well didn't last very long. And I guess I like to be able to see how we are managing our water by getting into the data and having a look at it that way.

Water is monitored in Victoria for a variety of reasons. Some of these include for flood warning, evaluating the health of our rivers and for water quality events. So, we can sometimes see if there's a black water event coming down the river. This means that there's low oxygen in the river, and we might start seeing some fish deaths.

The Water Monitoring and Data team are crucial to managing Victoria's water resources. Data is necessary for good water policy. Without data, you can't make informed decisions, and you can't know whether the way you are managing your water, if you are doing it efficiently or effectively. For example, if you want to improve the water quality on a particular river, you can't know whether the strategies you're putting in place are actually working unless you have the data to back it up.

Where does the data come from?

The Water Monitoring and Data team work with a range of professionals from different organisations. We monitor water on behalf of about 59 organisations and these include rural water corporations, catchment management authorities, local councils, federal agencies like the Bureau of Meteorology or Murray-Darling Basin Authority. Sometimes we also get requests for data from academics and consultants who require the data for the studies they're currently undertaking.

We also work with hydrographers, who are the ones on the ground in the field. A hydrographer spends about two years learning how to measure flow and learning how to operate the equipment in the field, such as the level sensors, the loggers, any of that fancy equipment.

How has your experience working in water been?

My study path is probably a little unconventional for the water industry. I studied archaeology—Egyptology to be specific—and geology. Two areas that you wouldn't necessarily associate with water. After uni, I decided I needed a job, so I decided to apply for the Victorian Public Service graduate program, and I ended up in the Water Monitoring and Data team. And I had never done anything with water or data before, but I was able to take skills from uni, writing skills, communication skills, collaborate, you know, teamwork, and apply them to the new job. And also, I had the opportunity to learn so many new skills while I was here. I've done a lot with coding, project management. There's just heaps of opportunities for professional development.

I'm actually probably quite lucky that I decided not to go down the archaeology route, as archaeology is probably quite physical at times. I have a disability, so this affects my mobility and what I'm able to do. Working in the Monitoring and Data team has been amazing for that. They've been so understanding, and they've taken into account, you know, what I can and can't do, and have been so willing to adjust and work with me.

What technology do you get to work with?

Looking back at the earliest monitoring in Victoria in the mid-1800s, we can see just how much technology has evolved and continues to advance. We now have loggers and instrumentation in the field that can take readings just minutes apart. And now due to improved telecommunications with NextG satellite, Internet of Things, we can receive this data live in real time. And this helps us hugely with emergency events like flooding. We've also seen certain instrumentation. We've got, you know, cameras that help us do remote sensing. We have radar now, improved water quality sensors. There's just so many advances and with things like AI on the horizon, technology will just continue to advance.

Is water an exciting field to work in?

One thing I would say to anybody thinking about a career in the water sector, particularly in monitoring and data, is that it is never boring. One day I might be at my desk writing some SQL or code, and the next day I'll be in the field visiting a monitoring site. It's great fun. We love that sometimes that challenge of writing some SQL that's not necessarily the easiest query or code to write. It's a little bit like a problem-solving exercise. And I think that's why I like it.