Member Profile: Meet Tim Loftus, NEWEA Laboratory Practices Committee Member

Tim Loftus

Tim Loftus has been a member of NEWEA for more than twenty years and has made a significant contribution to the NEWEA Voluntary Laboratory Analyst Certification Program, as a test question writer. Tim’s full time position has him working as the Operations Manager and Chief Chemist at the Town of Webster’s WWTP. Through this work he is responsible for producing approximately one billion gallons of clean water each year.

Beyond his work with the Town of Webster and NEWEA, Tim likes to lead an active lifestyle. He is an Appalachian Club Member and leads hiking groups in New England, especially the White Mountains, as well as occasional trips to Oregon and Washington State. He enjoys the challenge of longer expeditions, but also regularly leads beginner level hikes for groups that are new to hiking. After a long day on the Trails, Tim enjoys playing Irish music with a band, touring everything from pubs, libraries, and fairs to senior centers. He is skilled in a number of instruments but most often plays guitar or the Irish flute. You can listen to a hand full of tunes for free through his website, www.timloftus.com or find him out and about through his gig postings on the site.

A little more than 6 years ago, a childhood friend of Tim’s, contacted him for an opportunity to apply his water resources experience to support a community that was in desperate need of clean water. His friend, a nurse, and her husband, a doctor, had founded an organization working towards providing health services to communities in Haiti. At that time, the organization, “Forward in Health,” was preparing to construct a medical clinic in an area that did not have access to clean water. Naturally, a medical clinic could not function without clean water, Tim offered his expertise in treatment and chemistry to provide testing services and source an affordable and easy to operate treatment systems to support the clinic.

Tim visited Haiti on numerous occasions, both in support of that initial construction project, and since to provide testing and consulting services for the maintenance and upkeep of the facility, Once built, the clinic was able to provide basic medical services as well as the community’s first safe and reliable water source. The clean water that is produced at the clinic is also made available to members of the community that would otherwise source water for drinking and cooking from an untreated surface water. Tim worked with “Water Missions International” to purchase and construct the easily operable treatment system for the Clinic and later volunteered with that organization as well to build portable water systems that are installed in similar communities around the globe.

Friends often wonder where Tim finds the time for his hobbies and volunteer work. To that he says, “Get rid of your TV, You’ll do a lot.”