She brought the numbers to the quarterly review. Turbidity readings, pH trends, the three-month moving average she’d tracked since 2019.
“These show things working,” the director said. “That’s not a budget case.”
She pointed to February. The reading she’d caught at 2 AM. The filter she’d replaced before the downstream sensors could trigger.
“The county next door missed their February spike. Three-day boil-water advisory. Two-point-three million in economic impact.”
“But that didn’t happen here.”
“Because I caught it.”
“Right. So everything’s working.” He made a note. “Which is why we’re looking at shifting overnight monitoring to the new treatment facility’s automated system.”
She looked at her chart. Nineteen months of stability. It was the best evidence of her work. It was also the best argument for cutting her position.