Photo by Joanne Beck
You could say that Bailey Groth has had a fluid career so far.
At the age of 27, she has already worked for Genesee County, New York State and now the city of Batavia, and all in ways having to do with that substance none of us can live without: water. Groth began her city career as superintendent of Batavia Water and Wastewater in December.
“I was really excited about the opportunity to work in my community again. I had known and worked well with and befriended multiple people at the city before this, so it just felt like a natural thing to go work with people that I already know and like and work well with, the 2015 Pembroke High School grad said. “I think it's in the field that I'm super interested in, that's always changing. I feel very supported here. I guess I'm just grateful for the opportunity and happy to work and do good work for a place that I'm so comfortable in, like growing up here.”
Her path began after high school when she attended Nazareth College (now University) with her original intention of studying something in the medical field as a biochemistry major. She fairly quickly scrapped that in lieu of a toxicology course as a sophomore, “and it kind of changed my whole perspective,” she said.
“This is what I want to do,” she said. “I just found it really interesting. And I think it was kind of the time period, I was realizing I didn’t want to go into the medical field, and this was a lot of environmental science space, and so that kind of shifted things for me — oh, this is an option where I can do things I’m interested in, stuff like biochemistry and those courses, but I don’t have to do the medical aspects of how I could do more of an environmental science side.”
A high achiever—driven was one of the five words she came up with to describe herself. Groth graduated with not one but two bachelor’s degrees in toxicology and biology. That seemed to complement her personal interests of walking and hiking in nature, having grown up in more rural country of Pembroke, “it was easy to spend time outside.”
“And I ski in the winter, so I’ve always been kind of an outdoor activity kind of person, and so I think it felt a little like kind of natural to go into the sciences in that way,” she said.
Her first job was as an environmental health specialist at Genesee County Health Department, performing health inspections and running the drinking water enhancement program — her favorite part of the job because, one might guess, “the water aspect of it.”
Groth worked with and got to know people at the water plant because they would run the county’s bacteriological samples, “and we had a really good working relationship, and we became friends,” she said.
“So when I became the drinking water program coordinator, it was even easier. We were already friends. So, I worked with the city in a couple of different capacities before I worked here. So then from there, I went to the State Department of Health … my title was environmental analyst, and I wrote drinking water source protection plans,” she said. “So then I got assigned to the city of Batavia to write their drinking water source protection plan. And so then I got to work with even more people at the city … I just found once I had left the county and went to state, I realized that I like working in my own community and doing stuff like that was also a passion of mine.”
She oversees three groups of staff, including chief water operator and chief wastewater operator, supervisor for building maintenance crew, seven water operators, three wastewater operators and a dozen maintenance workers, so 25 total. There is one other woman on staff in building maintenance, and Groth has no problem leading her team or being outnumbered by men, she said.
“I think sometimes women have to work harder than men for recognition than their male colleagues. I haven’t had any issues here,” she said. “I just want to reiterate how awesome everyone is here because they really, really are, and I learn so much every single day from them, and I'm very grateful to work with them.”
For anyone wanting to jump into a field that may be more heavily occupied by men, she encourages you to “go for it” and advocate for yourself.
While she may have to be on-site at the water and wastewater plants many times per week — her office holds a charm all its own. A small pink fridge, just big enough to hold six cans of seltzer, and a string of white lights around the window and over her desk are the beginnings of her decor. Plus, her prized photo of Tuna B. Salad, a handsome, light green-eyed, black cat.
A quick tour of the wastewater facility serves as a reminder of what her staff deals with each day. Chief Operator John Senko, who’s been there since 2009, talked about the 3.5 to 4 million gallons that are processed during the wet season versus 2.5 million gallons in the dryer summer months. The very back room, with blowers running, is where it’s especially aromatic. Similar to a large manure field.
Workers have to manually dump carts, and a ridged track that catches the material hauls it on a conveyor belt, allowing sand and rocks to fall in the water beneath. Small toys will sneak in from household incidents, Senko said.
The facility serves the 15,600 city residents, about 5,000 people outside the city and some 14 industries. The waste is carefully processed through a 24 million gallon per day central pump station, three aerated treatment lagoons, two secondary lagoons that are fed alum to assist in phosphorus removal, four tertiary treatment lagoons and three polishing wetlands.
Once all of the processing and breakdown has happened, with the final phase of screening, settling, and nutrient uptake in the wetlands, the remaining material is ready to discharge into Tonawanda Creek after several months.
There are lab readings and monitoring at every step, similar to at the water plant, to ensure that the water is of consumable quality, Groth said.
“I think as children, I was always taught water is a renewable resource, you know, like the natural cycle of things, but it's not renewable if it's polluted beyond repair kind of thing. So it's definitely a precious resource. And I do think we take it for granted. I think we're very lucky to be in Western New York, where we have the Great Lakes, and we're not in the desert,” she said. “But I do think, as time progresses and we face things like droughts and whatnot, I hope people see more of it as a precious resource, because I do.
“The people that work to produce clean water for drinking water, clean potable water, there's so much work that goes into it. And I don't think people know that or realize how expensive it is and how hard-working these people are that do it. They're not just pushing a button; they're doing hard, manual labor,” Groth said. “And I know from working with people here they really genuinely care and are passionate about it and do everything they can to produce good, clean water. So I also want people to know that and recognize that, too. And the people that do the wastewater too, it's like they want to put out good, effluent … the pond system is kind of a more environmentally friendly treatment system, and so I think that's very cool to have here in a small city like Batavia. I want people to be appreciative of their public works because I think the people do so much work, and that's why they don't think about it is because it's just you turn your tap on and you have water there and it's clean, or you flush your toilet and it goes somewhere, and you don't ever have to think about it again, thank God.”
There will be plenty to keep her busy, with a long-awaited Cohocton water main replacement coming up this year, working on a wastewater discharge permit, and the lead service line inventory throughout the city to identify and replace lead pipes.
When she’s not working on water issues, Groth, who lives in Alden, enjoys spending time with her boyfriend Adam, walking, hiking, traveling — she’s gone to Peru and captured Machu Picchu and to Utah’s national parks — and spending time with lots of local family. They include mom Peg, sister Camryn, brother Ben, his daughters Elena and Leona, and grandparents. Roger and Carol Richardson, nephew Callan, and not-so-local older sister Meghan in Vermont.
Photo by Joanne Beck
