Hi, I’m Op Waters — a licensed water treatment and distribution professional with over 20 years in North Carolina’s municipal water systems. Along the way I’ve worked as a treatment plant operator, a plant supervisor, a lab analyst, and a state regulator — so I’ve seen water quality from just about every angle there is.
My credentials include Grade A Surface Water, Grade A Well, and Grade B Distribution licenses, along with a Physical/Chemical Grade 1 wastewater license (specific to treatment plant process discharge, not municipal wastewater treatment) — all certified through the North Carolina Water Treatment Facility Operator Certification Board and the North Carolina Water Pollution Control System Operator Certification Commission. I also hold a BS in Biology, which has shaped how I think about water chemistry and contaminants.
I took over this site because I know things about water quality that most people never get a chance to learn, and everyone deserves that knowledge — not a sales pitch, and not a scare tactic. It used to be a fairly typical affiliate-heavy site; I’ve been reworking it into something focused on real education instead. If you’ve ever stared at your utility’s annual report with no idea what the numbers mean, or wondered if that smell from your tap is something to worry about, that’s exactly what I’m here for. My goal isn’t to make you afraid of your water — it’s the opposite.
Understanding what’s in your water and what your real options are should leave you more confident, not more anxious.
Everything here comes from real, hands-on experience — not repackaged marketing copy. That’s me in this picture, running a batch of water samples through my Total Organic Carbon (TOC) analyzer. This isn’t a stock photo or a stand-in — it’s a snapshot of the actual work I do. TOC is one of the key indicators we track in water treatment, monitored from source to tap, because reducing it contributes directly to higher-quality drinking water.
A quick note: some links are Amazon affiliate links, and I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. It helps keep this site running, but never affects what I recommend.
Questions or topics you’d like covered? Reach out through the Contact page — I read everything.