Matthew Thompson

Matthew joined Veolia Water's subsidiary United Water in January 2006 on the engineering graduate rotation program after completing a Bachelor of Civil and Environmental Engineering (Honours) and Bachelor of Science at The University of Adelaide. This is a three to four year program which includes rotations in both Australia and New Zealand in areas such as:

• Networks operations
• Design and project management
• Water and wastewater treatment operations
• Business development
• Research and development
• Asset management

What are your day to day tasks? Describe a typical day.

• Design planning for a new project or a new stage of a project
• Meetings on site to ascertain project requirements
• Making design sketches for drafters to plot on CAD
• Performing hydraulic or process calculations for sizing and checking the suitability of various pieces of infrastructure
• Managing risk on new projects through risk assessments and design
• Managing project timelines, drafting and design resources, budgets
• Writing proposals and being involved in contract negotiations
• Formulating technical and contract specifications
• Issue response and management

What skills do you think you need to be successful in this role?

University study gives you the technical skills but experience on the job helps to build the personal skills such as learning to manage a project, perseverance, dedication and an ability to lead and work with others in your team.

Where have you worked as part of the graduate rotation program?

Adelaide, Ballarat and New Zealand.

What are you currently working on?

Currently I am working in the design group in Adelaide and working on a range of projects in Adelaide and Ballarat in both design and project management roles. Design management is a key task in the design group. Some of my current projects include Aldinga and Bolivar aquifer storage and recovery design; pump station and mechanical design for the southern urban reuse project; and I am also the design leader and project manager for a project involving fluoride at the Ballarat water treatment plant.

What do you like about your role?

I enjoy the constant challenges, a variety of engineering work and the opportunity to work on unique and important projects which are vital to public health and an integral part of municipal water supply.