Katie Loakes

It was my favourite subject at A-Level so was a natural choice for me; I didn’t have a clear idea of what I wanted to do after university so I thought it was best to choose something that I was already interested in and would enjoy for the next three years.

I loved physical geography subjects like rivers, lakes and glaciers because they were so complex; there was far more to them than meets the eye and they encompassed bits from other subjects like ecology, chemistry and physics. I began to specialise in limnology and focused my dissertation on investigating zooplankton dynamics during seasonal changes in lake systems. Eventually I went on to do a PhD examining palaeo-lake systems in East Africa, which I absolutely loved!

Field trips were always fun in geography – I had a brilliant time on my final year fieldcourse. I chose to do my coursework on lichen and it turned out to be one of the most interesting pieces of coursework I ever did!

Being at Loughborough University really helped me come out of my shell as I’d been a bit quiet and shy before leaving home. I became more confident and outgoing, which are traits I’ve definitely carried forward into my career and has helped me progress.

Try not to have any predispositions about preferring physical over human geography, or vice-versa. You might think you prefer one over the other, but you’ll always find something interesting in both that might just surprise you.

I didn’t do any extra-curricular activities; I managed to fill my time enough with friends and going to Hey Ewe!

After finishing my BSc, I did the MSC Environmental Monitoring for Management at Loughborough as I had decided I would like to pursue an environmental career but wanted more practical experience. During the MSc I was offered the opportunity to do a PhD on East African palaeolimnology and I jumped at the chance! 

After finishing my PhD I decided to go into industry rather than stay in academic. So I began applying to various environmental and civil-engineering consultancies and eventually got offered a graduate position at Mouchel (now WSP), working in their wastewater team. I’ve been here for three years now.

I am an Assistant Engineer for WSP, working in their wastewater team. Our main client is Severn Trent and we look after several of their SMP (Sewerage Management Plans). My job is to build and maintain hydraulic models, representative of the below-ground sewerage network. These models are essentially tools, which are used to inform Severn Trent about how the individually catchments are performing and what the main risks are (pollution, flooding, growth etc.). This information is then used to make decisions regarding long-term investment and planning.

My key responsibilities are to build and verify the hydraulic models using asset and flow survey data, identify existing and new catchment risks and develop interventions, and build different hydraulic models to reflect growth and development in the catchment. All this information gets stored in various tables, workbooks and reports which I maintain and report back to Severn Trent. 

As well as my day-to-day tasks, I was also the Charity Coordinator in my office for 18 months. During this time, I led a team in doing the Three Peaks Challenge and we raised over £2500 for Rainbows Hospice for Children and Young People based in Loughborough. I am currently the WSP representative for Loughborough University, meaning I liaise closely with the university still to identify opportunities where we can engage with students as a potential employer. I really enjoy this role and it means I get to visit Loughborough still!

I really enjoy the verification process. This is when we use flow survey and rain gauge data collected from across the catchment and try to make the hydraulic models react the same way that the data is showing us. It’s a simple premise but is actually quite complex and challenging – it’s very much a problem-solving task. Depending on how big the catchment is and how much data you have, it can take several months to complete, but it’s very satisfying when you have all the sites verified and the model represents the below-ground network accurately.

I am currently considering a change in my career; I’d like to work for a water company and see what it’s like from the client’s perspective, rather than being the consultant. There are several exciting changes around the corner in the water industry as AMP6 comes to an end (these five-year Asset Management Periods are the operational cycles that all water companies operate on) and DWMP (Drainage and Wastewater Management Plan) frameworks become implemented in future AMPs. This will generate many challenges as the water industry already face the pressures of population growth, climate and environmental changes.

I was really proud when I completed my first full catchment verification (as described above). It was such a challenging process and I learnt a lot of important lessons such as the limitations of some methods, as well as wastewater engineering. It took several months to complete and when it was eventually completed and signed-off by the client, I was very proud.