Kalispell's environmental coordinator aims to educate about impacts of stormwater
Jun. 27—Casey Lewis thinks a lot about stormwater.
"My job focuses a lot, if not entirely, on stormwater so I'm thinking about that all day every day," she says with a laugh. "And that is a never-ending item to work on."
Although the average person may only think of stormwater when there is a threat of flooding, as the environmental coordinator at the City of Kalispell, Lewis knows that stormwater has an effect on the environment and it's a message she works to educate others about.
"Many residents don't understand that a lot of the pollution in Montana's lakes and streams come from storm drains and that the ones in their neighborhoods typically run untreated to our local bodies of water," Lewis said. "So I work to equip them with the knowledge they need to realize that keeping your community clean, keeping your neighborhood clean, directly translates to keeping our waters clean."
Lewis, who earned her master's in environmental science and management from Portland State University, has worked for the city for about four years expanding its stormwater program while focusing on protecting and improving local water quality. She is also the vicechair of the Flathead Basin Commission.
Her knowledge, as well as the willingness to innovate and collaborate with communities and other organizations, led Lewis to earn the Environmental Excellence Award, which is given out by the Montana Department of Environmental Quality. The award was launched in 2018 as a means to honor those who went above and beyond what was required of them to protect the environment and better their communities.
According to the DEQ, Lewis was honored for her "engaged, thoughtful, organized community leadership in stormwater management." This was only the second time the award has been given out since its inception and although the award had 11 other recipients this year, Lewis was the first employee with a municipal stormwater system to receive the award.
Lewis prefers to think of it as a collaborative accomplishment rather than a personal one.
"I think a lot of the pride I get from this award is how much it affirms the success we've found as a team from not just collaborating extensively together but also increasing capacity with those collaborations," Lewis said.
Chris Romankiewicz, the State Lead Compliance Director of the Department of Environmental Quality, has worked with Lewis for over five years and says there's no one that deserves the recognition more.
"Casey is a leader," Romankiewicz says, "and the reason she achieved this award has everything to do with her leadership and compassion for her community."
One of the main goals the DEQ wanted to achieve with the invention of the award was to help encourage leaders within the environmental protection community to do the work and take on the challenges involved when grappling with a rapidly changing environment, Romankiewicz notes.
"We need a way to tell these incredible people that they serve a really important purpose and that we see them and we recognize them for all their hard work," he said.
When asked about how she hopes the Flathead can better tackle environmental issues, Lewis finds a way to circle back to what's most important to her.
"Stormwater is complicated," she said. "It's not just one person or one business. It's all the cities. All the residents. We all come here for recreation: to swim, fish, camp, backpack. Keeping all of the amazing amenities in Montana clean and usable is probably one of my greatest motivations. It should motivate everyone."
