Thirst for innovation floated 27-year career at helm of water plant
Staff writer
For months in 2003, Morgan Marler had a problem.
A blue-green algae bloom had taken over Marion Reservoir, unlike anything the lake had seen before.
Hillsboro’s water treatment plant, which gets its water from the reservoir and also supplies water to Peabody, was shut down for nearly a month.
Simply put, “it was bad,” Marler said.
And at the time, there weren’t many answers.
Kansas Department of Health and Environment didn’t yet have the authority to provide much assistance because there were no federal standards or guidelines governing the problem.
“Since it didn’t have that at the federal level, then KDHE didn’t have any legislative authority to enforce anything,” Marler said.
So Marler started making calls.
Eventually, she got in contact with Wayne Carmichael, a leading algologist specializing in cyanobacteria. She sent him water samples, a process that took several days, and waited for the results.
The toxicity levels were the highest Carmichael had ever seen.
Marler then went into further action.
She, the City of Hillsboro, and the county pushed to secure resources and find a way to combat the outbreak. Marler declared a state of emergency, which allowed access to emergency management money to help figure out the problem.
Eventually, she found ways to chemically remove toxins from the algae from water at the plant.
At the time, Marler had been in the water business for just four years.
Looking back, she can see how much that moment changed her career and, in some ways, the work being done around the state.
Awareness of blue-green algae grew. Other water professionals began finding blooms in their own reservoirs. Methods for treating them developed.
And all the while, Hillsboro became part of that conversation.
“Unintentionally, that was probably a career-defining moment,” Marler said. “The City of Hillsboro was a pioneering entity in pushing Jerry Moran to help us get some funding at the legislative level to help us do these things. Years later, the entities in Topeka are now aware of this.”
Now, more than two decades later, Marler is preparing to leave a job that started on a whim and became a 27-year career.
Her last day as Hillsboro’s water and wastewater superintendent will be Friday.
If there were one word Marler would use to describe herself in the water world, it probably would be “anomaly.”
Most people in her position don’t stay long. They move from plant to plant, climb organizational ladders, or leave when funding issues eliminate their positions.
Marler did none of those.
Even when she started, she didn’t expect to still be here nearly three decades later.
Fresh out of college with a bachelor’s in biology and a minor in chemistry from Southwestern College along with a master’s in environmental studies from Friends University, Marler initially taught science at Cowley County Community College.
After six years there, she wanted a change in scenery.
Growing up in Peabody, she felt a pull back toward Marion County. She applied for a variety of positions, in local and county government, before taking the job in Hillsboro.
Delores Dalke, Hillsboro’s mayor at the time, took a chance on her.
“She just knew that I had some tenacity,” Marler recalled.
That tenacity would come in handy.
Water treatment became a love — a love for community and the people she worked with and employed, a love for projects most other water treatment plants don’t get the opportunity to do.
“I landed in this world by mistake,” Marler said. “But, over the years, we managed to become somewhat impactful in the state. We do a lot of projects, a lot of pilot studies, a lot of different things that are unusual for water treatment plants.
“We’re gung-ho for whatever they throw at us. We’re always up for a good challenge.”
That willingness to take on a challenge has become part of what sets Hillsboro’s water treatment plant apart from other plants its size.
So have the people Marler has hired.
Her four-person staff is creative, tenacious, industrious, well-trained and certified. Together, they’ve built a workplace where no task is too large, no role is more important than another, and knowledge is shared rather than kept with one person.
Over the years, that has created a level of trust that extends beyond the plant.
When there’s a water problem, people in nearby communities know who to call.
Just recently, Marler and Company helped Durham during a boil-water advisory.
Ayden Brammer, who has worked at Hillsboro’s water treatment plant for three years, wouldn’t want the department to be run any other way.
“I would treat my crew significantly differently compared to anybody else from what I’ve seen, based on how Morgan has treated everybody who gets employed here,” he said. “I would try to have them have the exact same knowledge I would in order to make both our lives a lot easier, and I’m not the only one creating ideas. We all are.”
Ideas have become something of a trademark at the Hillsboro plant.
There are fully automated systems, in-house maintenance, pilot studies, and a partnership with Kansas Biological Survey on a buoy that monitors various levels in the reservoir and records data minute by minute to name a few.
Marler credits much of that to her staff, as well as Hillsboro’s willingness to let the staff experiment. She also knows that people need room to try — and sometimes fail — before they can figure out what works.
“They’re problem solvers. They think outside the box. They have ideas,” she said. “They’re not afraid to jump in and try to do these things. It’s hard to find those people.”
For 27 years, Marler has been one of those people.
She has spent long stretches — sometimes as many as four days at a time — at the plant. She has been stopped by passers-by while getting gas or groceries. She helped the county out of its worst blue-green algae bloom this century. She has become the person people turn to for institutional knowledge that comes only from nearly three decades on the job.
Retirement will mean leaving that behind.
“I’m going to miss all of it,” she said.
For as much as she’ll miss the people, the problems, and unexpected challenges, Marler knows the timing is right.
Her mother, Susan Marshall, died after a battle with dementia about a year ago. After years of working around chemicals and putting in long weeks, Morgan knows some of the wear and tear of the job has caught up with her.
She’s ready for a different pace.
She plans to move out of the country, spending her first six months of retirement on the Isle of Wight before returning to liquidate the rest of her possessions here.
For the first time in nearly three decades, there won’t be a plant waiting for her. There won’t be an algae bloom to figure out, a system to troubleshoot or a community calling for advice.
Instead, in its place, there will be time.
“I want to spend some time getting my body and brain healthy, eating good food,” Marler said, “just kind of getting back to a normal life. I’m sure I’m going to get involved in something.”