On the job: Treatment team leader Christo de Beer
Christo de Beer laughs about being “married to the job”. But after spending a little time in his company, it’s soon clear that’s just the way he likes it.
As the treatment team leader in Waitomo, he’s proud to lead a small but mighty team responsible for all the maintenance and operations at the district’s water and wastewater treatment plants.
“It’s a really awesome team,” Christo says. “We’re close. I stand back and give them the freedom to use their own initiation to grow in their roles and take ownership to do what they need to do. Anyone in the team could take my role.”
Christo’s career began in South Africa, where he worked for 20 years in the petrochemical industry at Sasol. He started as an apprentice maintenance fitter and turner and quickly moved up the ranks until he was the workshop manager at a plant that produced chlorine gas and turned it into a liquid chlorine. With the dangers of the job came a deep appreciation for top-notch health and safety practices, something that has stuck with him since.
When he felt he’d reached the ceiling of his career in South Africa, he moved to New Zealand to pursue a better future for his family.
Christo first entered the water industry in Auckland, where he was doing maintenance at the Rosedale Wastewater Treatment Plant, and the northern area’s wastewater and sewer pump stations.
Working with wastewater, you’re exposed to all sorts of sights and smells – but it was a change that Christo took in his stride.
“I never had a problem with it. I grew up on a farm, so I’d seen that type of thing a lot of times.
“The smell of cleaning a pump station though – that would get into your skin. You needed to sit in a sauna to get rid of it, and fortunately we had one at work.”
When the Christchurch earthquake devastated the city in 2011, Christo put his hand up to go down and help to get the wastewater treatment plant in Bromley up and running again.
“That was quite an experience. It was scary at times,” he says. “One day when we were working on one of the clarifiers, we used a forklift tractor and the next moment it disappeared when a sink hole in the ground just opened. Thankfully the driver was okay.”
Luckily for us, high house prices in Auckland later drove him to Te Kuiti, where he joined Waitomo District Council to look after maintenance at the Te Kuiti, Piopio and Benneydale wastewater treatment plants.
He’s been the treatment team leader for both water and wastewater for the past six years and says his style is to gently guide his team in the right direction.
“I like to guide the team and give them the space to use their own initiative, try something different and grow in confidence. If I can help someone become better than me, that’s the kind of leader I want to be.”
Pictured above: Christo and the Waitomo water and wastewater treatment team.
“I’m still learning every day. A lot of the team say I’m married to the job,” he says with a chuckle.
Even when he’s not rostered on call, he’ll be answering calls to help the team deal with challenges – it could be anything from a power failure to a communications outage or a compliance risk.
“I love my job. It’s challenging and not one day is the same.”
If you can pull Christo away from work, you’ll find him with a camera in hand capturing the stunning landscapes of the Waikato, playing a round of golf or mountain biking.