You might not think much about it whenever you flush a toilet or turn on a faucet. But for Jason Murphy, utility systems facility manager, that’s his job! In this episode, Jason talks about what it’s like managing some of the 44 water/wastewater systems in the park, how he and his team have been repairing systems damaged by the 2022 flood event, and he offers tips for listeners interested in pursuing a similar career.

View definitions and links discussed in this episode at go.nps.gov/WhatWeDoPodcast

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TRANSCRIPT:

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Jake: From Yellowstone National Park. This is What We Do. I'm Jake Frank. Brett: And I'm Brett Raeburn. Jake: Hi, Brett. Brett: Hey, how’s it going? Jake: I’m great. How are you? Brett: I'm good. I had a good weekend. Jake: Yeah? That's good to hear. Hey, how are your pipes in your house doing? You like that transition? [laughter] Jason: Have you flushed your toilet today? Brett: My pipes, I think they're. I think they're good. Do you know something I don't know? Jake: No, I just wanted to, that was the best transition that I could come up with, Brett: That was terrible. I’m not going to lie. Jake: I have a trivia question, actually, I want to ask you. Brett: Okay. Jake: All right. So, Yellowstone, we’re a big park, 2.2 million acres, 4.5 million people roughly visit the park every year. We have a lot of infrastructure in the park that's hidden to support all that visitation. Part of you know, those systems are water and wastewater systems in the park. So how many combined between the, you know, making clean water and then making dirty water clean, if you combine those two systems, how many of those are in the park? Brett: Like pipes? The number of systems? Jake: No, the number of systems, the number of total systems. Yeah, you don't have to it's not like, you know, miles of pipe or anything. Brett: OK, that’s what I was trying to anticipate. Jake: Because they're located all throughout the park. So, if you were to count the total number, how many of their across the park? Brett: Fifteen? Jake: There are 23 wastewater systems and 21 water systems. So, a combined 44. Brett: So, I wasn't even close. Jake: It's a lot. It's like and, and this is like something that I had no clue about until when I started, you know, working with the facilities team to document all of our infrastructure, you know, from like the GAOA projects and putting in money to improve our infrastructure. It is unbelievable how much infrastructure there is. And it's all hidden like no one sees it, but it's by design. It's all, you know, behind the trees and whatnot. Brett: So, do we know how many feet of pipe there are in this park? I really want to know that now. Jake: I have no idea. But maybe, I guess maybe our guest today, Jason Murphy, he's the utility systems facility manager for our water and wastewater systems. Do you know that answer? Jason: The exact number to the top of my head? Brett: To the centimeter to the millimeter. Jason: So, between water and sewer, it's thousands. Jake: Yeah. Jason: There are over 500 manholes that one sticks in my head from that spec sheet. Brett: Wow. Jake: Yeah, that is crazy water. Brett: That's a lot. Jake: Well, speaking of water and wastewater and manholes, how are you today? Another great transition. Jason: It is a very great transition. I am fine. Yeah. Well, thank you for joining us today. Brett: How are your pipes? Jason: My pipes are good. Yeah, toilets are flushing. Great. Jake: That's a win. So, you know, why don't we just kind of dive in? How did you get into the Park Service? Did you start in the Park Service? Or, like, even before then, Jason: Just how did you get my first park Service job? I applied as a summer seasonal in 2001, and I was picked up as a wage grade three garbage truck operator and not the driver, but I rode the garbage truck we had ride along garbage trucks in Canyon. Then we had about 300 of those swinging bears cans and I rode the garbage truck for that summer, picking up garbage in Canyon. Jake: That seems like a fun job. Jason: It was very fun to do. Brett: Like on the outside, like you're the one hanging out? That is cool. Jake: That's like the one that all the little kids want to be when you grow up. Jason: Correct. Yeah, we've taken that away. Now we have mechanical arms that do that, but it was a very fun job. Jake: They always got to ruin all the fun stuff. Yeah, so. Jason: Can't hang on the back of a truck around town. Jake: Yeah. There's somebody probably got seriously injured and then that. Brett: Yeah. Jason: Yeah. Jake: So, how did you find that job? How did you hear about, you know, how did you even know to apply? Jason: Friends at University of Montana who came down here and work for YCR as seasonals? Jake: Okay. Jason: And they were like to apply for these jobs. Jake: And so, are you from the area? Did you go to school here? Jason: We were living in Missoula at the time. I grew up in Buffalo, New York, but we had moved out in 98 to Missoula and just met some folks that, you know, had been coming down and working seasonally for the Park Service. And the housing was a very big draw at that point that you could get a job that came with housing. Jake: Yeah, In Yellowstone. Jason: In Yellowstone. Jake: Yeah. That's pretty cool. Yeah. So, you know, between, hanging off the back of a garbage truck and your current position, there's probably a few jobs in between those two jobs? Jason: There are a few in between, yes. Jake: Yeah. What you want to walk us through that? Jason: Well, you know, my father was in the utility stuff, so I kind of grew up with some of that, at least in the collections and distribution side of things. So, I had known about it. And then in between that summer season and kind of, you know, still as a seasonal working for, you know, doing the ski school thing in the winter and then coming back. It was even back then it was recruitment and retention for water and wastewater operators was tough. The people came and came and went pretty regularly, even going all the way back into the late nineties. So, I kind of saw that there was there was a way to get in there. Then I did then do a little stint for the Department of Defense in Germany, working for the Army for a few years in early 2002 through 2004 or 2005 when we came back, and I've been here ever since then, and it was kind of that on the job training, you could get in, do some correspondence courses, grab some certifications and then get in the door that way. And that was pretty much the easiest way to get a permanent job in Yellowstone. Jake: Yeah, so we've done a handful of these interviews now and it's at the consistent thing is like I think that John Cataldo said move at the speed of opportunity is that it's just kind of being in the place and being willing to learn some new thing and then take advantage of it. Jason: Yeah. I didn't leave. [laughter] Jake: Yeah, yeah, yes. That is another way is just to plant your roots. Okay. So, in your current job, so as the utility systems facility manager, do you have a typical day and like or a time of year or like, like what does your job look like? Jason: Well, let's be honest, there hasn't been any quite typical day since June 2023. Jake: What happened then?!? Jason: There was a flood. Jake: There was a big flood, yeah. Jason: Yeah. So I've been pretty wrapped up in that project, getting the wastewater plant up and running here in Mammoth, which it's been up and running since July of, did I get the date mixed up? It was 2022. Jake: Yeah. So, for folks that don't know, we had a big flood in June of [20]22 that washed away one of our roads and in that road was a wastewater line that would take our sewage from Mammoth out to the town of Gardiner, [MT] where it was processed. And then when that line severed, we basically had to build a temporary wastewater facility in Mammoth. Jason: We resurrected a facility from the it was last used probably in the late sixties, within a matter of 48 hours after we lost the main line down to Gardiner. Brett: It's like a zombie facility. Yeah, came back from the dead. Jason: There's a lot of chainsaws and weed whackers out and things to YCC and a bunch of other folks and fire crews for getting some stuff cleaned up and we were able to utilize some existing infrastructure actually to great success for a while to keep the community of Mammoth here. And then over the course of that, that year, I got those dates mixed up. So, June 2022 to July 2023, build a biologically processing wastewater treatment facility here in Mammoth. Brett: It wasn’t on your radar either, as I was just like, by the way, Jason: Not on the radar. Brett: But this is a new thing that you have to do starting now. Jake: Yeah. And, you know, living in and living in lower Mammoth, looking down and seeing that thing go up and just the how fast, you know, there's always speed bumps in the road. But I mean, with the government building things like building a wastewater facility in like less than a year isn't a typical timeline. Jason: No, no. Jake: Yeah. So, so I'm guessing that that's been your primary thing to take care of? Jason: Yeah. Yep. Being on site. There's a few other folks like Molly or Parks civil engineer who's very critical in getting that up and running. We got great support from Denver Service Center and then the contractors and stuff that stepped up to get it all going. Jake: So, with, you know, all of the things that you're mentioning, is there like a skill set that you have that you found that has like kind of allowed you to be the most successful in your position? Jason: I feel like I'm pretty adaptable. Flexible. Kind of got to roll with the punches. And you need to be creative and use what you have around you. Like I said, those you know, there are some folks here who have been here for a while. So, when the flood happened, we reached