Moate native and Irish Water engineer, Emily Kavanagh, has always been passionate about her profession aiming to walk the path chosen by her father as she look towards her future career.
Born and raised near Moate, Emily now lives in Dublin with her engineering husband and three young children. Having studied Civil Engineering in UCD, she went on to gain a Post Graduate Diploma in Environmental Engineering from Trinity College Dublin, before enjoying a very varied career working in the water industry.
For five years she worked with leading consultancy group RPS, developing and delivering water supply and wastewater strategic planning for the Dublin region, working on a number of projects including the Water Supply Project and flood modelling. She then transferred to Dublin City Council where she worked for two years on the Water Supply Project before joining Irish Water in 2014 as part of the Sustainability Team.
She now works as a project engineer on the largest wastewater treatment plant in the country, an upgrade project for Ringsend Wastewater Treatment Plant, which will deliver, on a phased basis, the capacity to treat the wastewater for a population equivalent of 2.4 million while achieving the standards of the Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive.
“No two days are the same and I enjoy the challenge of working to solve different issues that arise on a daily basis that require collaboration with a variety of people from many backgrounds and skillsets, including contractors, consultants and internal stakeholders to progress the project,” Emily enthused.
Emily spoke of the reasoning behind her chosen career path.
“A qualification in engineering opens the door to many opportunities to allow you to find a career that will play to your strengths. These can range from the roles that are highly technical, to those roles that are more people focused. There is a wide-ranging choice of areas to choose from within the field of engineering and in that respect, there are no limitations to what you can achieve,” Emily added.
