💧 H2O INTRO 👤 Meet Eddie Paulino, Senior Civil Engineer at the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago.

Every public utility has essential work that takes time away from the field. For Eddie Paulino, one example was the detailed review of construction schedules for stormwater and sanitary sewer infrastructure projects.

Those reviews matter. Contractors submit updated schedules each month, and catching changes early can help utilities identify delays, assign responsibility, reduce disputes, and keep capital projects on track.

But the process can also take hours at a time.

So Paulino asked a familiar question: there has to be a better way to do this.

Drawing on graduate coursework in coding and curiosity about tools like large language models and ChatGPT, he began developing an application that can review construction schedules, identify changes, and generate a report that supports the manual checks engineers already perform.

The goal is not to replace professional judgment. It is to give utility staff more time to be in the field, catch issues, and hold projects accountable.

Paulino also sees the project as a pathway for others. By creating secure guidelines, choosing the right programming framework, and showing how a productivity tool can be built inside a public utility, he hopes to make it easier for other employees to turn everyday frustrations into practical innovations.

His message is simple: public utilities need space for employees to be creative, solve problems, and improve the systems they work in every day.

H2O INTRO is sponsored by Human Capital Solutions, Inc., an executive search, recruiting, and leadership advisory firm. Visit https://humancs.com/

00:00 — The Better Way Question
00:10 — Eddie Paulino’s Role
00:23 — Reviewing Construction Schedules
00:43 — Why Schedule Changes Matter
01:07 — Building an AI Tool
01:36 — Creating a Path for Innovation

waterloop is a nonprofit news outlet exploring solutions for water sustainability. Visit https://www.waterloop.org/

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