Member Portrait: Brian Tripp

This Member Portrait was originally printed in the Summer 2016 issue of NC Currents magazine.

As officers of NC AWWA-WEA, we’re always interested to see how people get involved or how we can involve them,” says Brian Tripp, Principal and Vice President at W.K. Dickson & Co., Inc, and the AWWA Director on the NC AWWA-WEA Board of Trustees.

Tripp first became involved with NC AWWA-WEA thanks to the encouragement of his supervisor at his first job as a regulator. He joined the Young Professionals Committee of the South Carolina Section of the American Water Works Association, and shortly thereafter, the NC AWWA-WEA YP Committee, ultimately serving as chair for each.

Then in November 2010, he joined the NC AWWA-WEA board. “I would call the trustee role a learning position by which you learn about what the board does and, in greater detail, what the NC AWWA-WEA does,” says Tripp. “If you see the value in it, hopefully you take the next step and get more involved.”

Aspects of his involvement that he has enjoyed include the many opportunities for leadership, public speaking, education, and networking. “Getting to know the people in the industry provides a value that’s hard to measure,” says Tripp. “To be able to give back in a profession that you enjoy is highly gratifying.”

Long before becoming a civil and environmental engineer, he knew that his life’s work would involve preserving the environment. Growing up in Philadelphia, he naturally gravitated to the outdoors, spending many hours hiking and camping. So when his first three semesters of the co-op program at Clemson University had him cooped up in a chemical process plant, he knew he had to make a change. Tripp transferred from chemical to bio-systems engineering and never turned back.

“After completing his undergraduate degree, he went to work for the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (SC DHEC). In the evenings, he started working on a masters in civil and environmental engineering from the University of South Carolina – Columbia. “When I started the distance learning program, I had to pick up VHS tapes at the local library,” recalls Tripp. “By the last year, I was downloading content on my home computer.”

During the years he was pursuing his masters degree, technology in environmental management was also evolving, along with the laws and regulations governing the industry. As a district engineer at SC DHEC, Tripp handled the permitting for water and wastewater systems as well as drinking and wastewater compliance issues. Other areas within his purview included stormwater, earthen dam safety, and the Savannah River Site, which consisted of five decommissioned nuclear reactors.

“I really enjoyed what I did as a regulator,” says Tripp, noting that working at SC DHEC provided exposure to a wide variety of areas he might not have otherwise experienced. “But I got into engineering because I really wanted to design things.” So three years after starting with the regulatory agency, he made the transition to consulting engineering. Then in 2004, he accepted a position as project manager with W.K. Dickson.

A few years later, the company’s leaders asked Tripp to run their Hickory operation but, when the economy contracted in 2008, they tapped him to reboot the water and sewer group in Charlotte. Today, he runs both the Charlotte and the Hickory offices, managing diverse groups involved in site development, aviation, natural gas, and watershed sciences (stream restoration and high-end stormwater work for municipal clients).

Along with his managerial duties, he is still involved in assisting clients with problem-solving around water and wastewater issues. “My love and passion is still in water and wastewater,” explains Tripp, who continues to work as a senior project manager in W. K. Dickson’s water and sewer practice.

One of the most rewarding projects he has tackled lately involved a feasibility study with Rutherford County, evaluating the impact of consolidating sewer service for the towns and communities within its boundaries (see “Making the Case for Consolidation” in NC Currents, Spring 2016, pages 50-52). “It’s gratifying to see that the County is taking the incremental steps and the roadmap that we planned out, in the best interest of the County, the constituents, the citizens, and the environment,” says Tripp.

He is pleased to be able to share this information with other members of NC AWWA-WEA. Over the past few years he has also been heavily involved with the NC Safewater Endowment Committee as the scholarship selection coordinator. He recently started a 3-year term on the national AWWA Finance Committee and is looking forward to serving in that capacity.

Despite a busy schedule – and three children under the age of six – Tripp will continue volunteering with NC AWWA-WEA, including serving on the Endowment Committee. “We need to continue drawing people to our industry, particularly on the operations side,” he says. “We seem to have fewer and fewer people entering the ranks, so it’s important that we fund education for those who want to do this important work.”

Brian Tripp is a member of the Select Society of Sanitary Sludge Shovelers (5S) . He was also awarded the WEASC Engineer of the Year Award in 2008