Thinking Big: Meet Rania Bashar

Rania Bashar, PRESERVE’s manager, brings core expertise on nutrient removal and recovery, converting waste streams to value streams, process optimization for treatment capacity and energy and emerging contaminants. Her experience with  Moonshot has reinforced her belief in power of collaboration among utilities. “When the Great Lakes project started, one of the main goals we had was to make sure we had a watershed wide impact. While we have been very successful with our 1:1 technical assistance, we needed to think BIG to make a basin-wide impact,” she says.  

Based on lessons learned and solutions identified, Rania felt smaller utilities needed a way to disseminate these practical solutions. “Smaller utilities have less opportunities to come together and work on their shared challenges,” says Rania. “Even if they meet at conferences, other types of meetings, there aren’t that many opportunities for them to come together, share challenges, and work toward a certain goal.” 

Rania has the following advice for members hoping to make the most of their time in PRESERVE:  

1. Share your ideas: Every single utility does something good. I’ve been engaging with utilities for four years now, and I was impressed with every single utility. Share those ideas and do as much as you can to learn from others! 

2. Keep an open mind: Smaller utilities tend to focus on meeting their limits, meeting their compliance. Often innovation comes from nontraditional solutions, so think about those creative solutions.  

3. Engage your stakeholders: My dream for PRESERVE is to truly be a regional collaboration- universities, nonprofits, local entities, community organizations, everyone taking part. Water quality protection goes beyond utilities; it’s a shared responsibility. 

“PRESERVE is not just about sharing opportunities, it’s about working together towards a common goal,” says Rania. By creating a platform for smaller utilities to come together, Rania sees PRESERVE as providing an opportunity to share stories so that others can learn. “Smaller utilities do incredible work despite limited resources.,” she says. “They have great stories to tell.”