Recently, we had the privilege of visiting Mr. Casey Johnson, Superintendent of the AJ Water Commission, at the Water Treatment Facility in Jonesboro. The Water Commission is one of our valued Investors, and we sincerely appreciate their commitment to our program. Casey is also one of our dedicated mentors, offering leadership, support, and guidance to our young professionals.

The UCCEO Team had a fantastic morning touring the facility, where Casey gave us a crash course in the immense effort required to supply water to a municipality—it’s far more complex than most people realize as explained by The AJ Wildcats, Drue Teske:

“On Monday, the CEO class visited the AJ Water Commission. There, we met with guest speaker Casey Johnson, who surprised us with many facts and interesting details about his job, the responsibilities of the AJ Water Commission, and how the business functions as a whole.

First, Mr. Johnson explained his job title, which is the Superintendent and Operator of the AJ, Shawnee, Lick Creek, Wolf Lake, and Choate water outputs. He has been in this position since 2016 and has gone through a series of jobs, realizations, and hard work to reach his current point. In fact, Casey picked up this position once he was laid off from his brand new job as a Midwest/Southern Illinois railroad conductor.

Next, Casey went on to talk about how the Water Commission is a well-water facility, where they extract water from the ground rather than from surface water (like in lakes and open bodies of water). Another fact I found interesting was that the Water Commission is deemed a Class A facility, meaning that the plants filter chlorine and lime, providing high-class, purified, and soft water from the tap. Moreover, the AJ Water Commission actually generates their own chlorine by polarizing table salt.

As I could keep going about these interesting facts I found out about what our local water facilities do, I think I should probably go on to explain Casey’s responsibilities. As the operator of various water plants around Union County, Casey is constantly at work, and when he gets a call to come in and attend to his job, his life becomes a “pick up and leave” environment. Typically, an average shift for him and his workers is about 8-12 hours, but they are all still expected to cater to the needs of the facility with equal and necessary care.

Casey also works with updating the plants, attending conventions, and tending to projects that positively develop the business. Casey mentioned that one large project can take three to five years for it to even follow through. That’s like a fifth or a sixth of my lifetime, or a whole high school timeline! That idea blows my mind, but I have to start putting that time into perspective, as I will be needing to look at my personal business and its projected status in the future. Overall, Casey taught me so much about a simple thing that I often take for granted.

I have come to realize how grateful I am to have running water that is operated and monitored under the hands of a 2022 Illinois Water Operator of the year (whoop whoop!).”

AJCHS student, Adam Clark had these great takeaways:

“We started this week with an exciting visit to the AJ Water Commission with Casey Johnson. This was an amazing visit to have, and I really learned more about our county.

I never really had any idea about how the water systems worked, and I think that this was the most interesting visit yet. I really liked how he deep dived into the different aspects of the job. He talked about going back to school and the work he must do to ensure success for the company. I really liked it when he gave us a tour of the building while telling us how everything worked together for the final product. He really worked to explain everything, and I think he was a friendly, knowledgeable guy.

This visit really showed me how there are so many different aspects of my daily life that I am not aware of how they work. This makes me want to understand more and reflect on how I believe things work. It was overall a good visit that made me reflect on my personal knowledge.”

A huge thank you to Casey for an incredible experience, and to the entire team at the AJ Water Commission for keeping our community clean, comfortable, and hydrated!