Steve Christianson, Founder

Steve serves as the Executive Director of the Water School and H2O Baseline consulting. His journey through the water world started as a high school student, spending several years working as an informal apprentice in the plumbing and heating field in Connecticut. Upon graduation from high school, Steve worked for a year in the field, and then found his way to Columbia College in California. After 2 years at Columbia, Steve was recruited by ITT into their International Construction Division and served as an Assistant Project Manager and spent the next several years developing infrastructure for Palm Coast, a planned community of 40,000 residents in Florida. Steve has also served as Project Manager of an EPA designated Brownfield cleanup site with contaminated ground water (an old mill site), as well as Project Manager for the redevelopment, subdivision, and new infrastructure for the same 135-acre industrial site.

Having served as a General Manager for a small exclusive water district on the Northern California coast, as well as many small systems, Steve has the real world experience which benifits both employers and employees

Steve serves on the faculty at Columbia College specializing in Water Technology. As a consultant, She has worked with Columbia College, Fresno State and Allan Hancock College, developing educational pathways for students pursuing water careers.

Steve holds a B.A. in Organizational Management specializing in Public Administration, and a M.B.A. specializing in Environmental Management and Human Resources. In addition, he is a certified Water Treatment Operator. 

In 2011, The Water School was launched and started helping select students and adults attain training for water careers.  Through personal experience and understanding industry needs, Steve developed a unique hybrid learning program.  Having raised 3 daughters in rural California, he grew to understand that there are some very bright and talented residents (both youth and adults), who get dead-ended in our rural communities. To date, The Water School has successfully trained hundreds of water operators from all over California, creating new careers.

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