Carol A. Rego, PE

“Facing challenges and solving mysteries drives me to do great work,” says Carol Rego, water quality and corrosion control treatment expert. “Drinking water has only grown in complexity since I started about 40 years ago. With the public’s health on the line, it’s imperative to be thorough to deliver safe and quality drinking water.”

Her expertise spans treatability studies, process selection and drinking water research, water supply planning, water treatment plant evaluation, operations, and design, as well as Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) and Lead and Copper Rule (LCR) compliance.

Her proudest project to date was a contract for the City of Newport, R.I. to assist them in compliance with new water quality regulations for trihalomethanes (THMs). “The seemingly ‘no-brainer’ solution was to convert their residual disinfectant from free chlorine to chloramines. Something was not adding up for me in terms of corrosion control with the chemistry of their system, so I decided to take a deeper, more holistic look at their overall water quality,” she says. “We partnered with Newport’s team and EPA researchers for further investigation and discovered evidence of tetravalent lead in the service lines and prevented a lead release.”

With nearly four decades of experience, Carol has completed projects with public health at the forefront of every decision. “With drinking water treatment, you can’t play experiments on the public. Public health is too important, and you have to get it right.”