Employee Profile: Emily Fritz

Worked at Louisville Water since 1999

“I realized early on that I wanted to work in environmental science and water quality,” said Emily Fritz, who is now one of Louisville’s leading water scientists.

She studied biology at the University of Louisville, where she dedicated long hours to the chemistry lab and focused on ecology, taking numerous courses on river and stream ecology.

One summer, she took part in a co-op at Louisville Water, drawn by its reputation for pioneering water quality initiatives. This co-op led to part-time work, which eventually transitioned into a full-time role after her graduation.

Now, her responsibilities as Supervisor of Water Quality and Compliance focus on “building a lead team consisting of a full-time Heavy Metals Laboratory scientist and three part-time retirees with the expertise to identify sources of lead and ultimately remove them,” she said.

Since 2004, Fritz has helped Louisville Water maintain compliance with the EPA’s Lead & Copper Rule (LCR), a regulation aimed at minimizing those metals in drinking water. Although lead has made headlines in various regions, it is not a significant concern for water quality in Louisville. The city’s water is lead-free upon leaving the treatment plant; however, a risk lies with older homes and businesses that may potentially still have lead and galvanized steel pipes. Louisville Water uses a comprehensive strategy to manage potential lead risks, including ongoing research and corrosion control from the treatment side.

In 2019, the EPA announced a proposal for significant revisions to the LCR. Louisville Water quickly established a collaboration with other utilities throughout the state to understand the revisions and develop a strategy to implement the new compliance requirements.

“The EPA’s changes to the LCR are much needed for the sake of public health, but they require massive collaboration efforts for every water utility and impact every department in our company,” Fritz said. “It’s unfortunate that the brunt of this work falls on water utilities, but working together and building partnerships internally and externally will ultimately be a win-win for everyone.”

Fritz said her team “uses samples to investigate sources of lead in someone’s drinking water. It can come from a variety of sources, including solder used on copper pipes and household fixtures that may contain lead (until 2014 ‘lead-free’ fixtures still contained up to 8% lead) as well as water service lines made of lead or galvanized steel.”

Fritz’s team plays a key role in identifying and replacing those service lines for customers, which is a more recent strategy in Louisville Water’s lead mitigation efforts.

For many years, Fritz has managed a comprehensive School Lead Monitoring Program. While Louisville Water conducted its first round of lead monitoring with schools in 1989, Fritz helped strengthen this initiative in 2004 by working directly with schools throughout the company’s service area. New federal drinking water regulations now require all water utilities to offer the same service. Beginning in late 2024, Louisville Water began reaching out to all schools and childcare providers in our service area to tell them about enhancements to the program. (That’s more than 200 schools and 500 childcare facilities!)

Fritz identifies the most challenging aspect of her job as “being prepared for change, whether it’s regulatory updates, treatment advancements, or technological innovations.”

She underscores the importance of effectively gathering and analyzing information to develop practical solutions.

“Staying updated with new information and figuring out how to apply this knowledge can be difficult,” she said, “but our team collaborates effectively to tackle these challenges, and it’s rewarding to know that our efforts can positively impact the community.”

When she’s not on the job, Fritz enjoys playing sand volleyball and spending time with friends and family at her farm in Spencer County.