Jim Shoemaker, Sr. Chemist, runs a water analysis on an inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometer, or ICP-OES, in OUC’s Water Quality Laboratory
“It’s hard to simplify this rather complex job,” Jim Shoemaker says in response to an inquiry about the role he performs as a senior chemist in OUC’s Water Quality Laboratory. Yes, the job title and workplace offer clues, but they don’t tell the story of a 33-year career dedicated to the science of water analysis.
It’s not an easy story to tell, Jim admits as he struggles to tell it himself.
Chemistry was a subject Jim was drawn to in high school. He earned a bachelor’s degree in it from the University of Florida and later, in 1990, came to work for OUC. Jim is a scientist in speech, manner and appearance, even when not wearing a white lab coat.
Pressed for details on the things a water quality chemist does, he rattles off abbreviations as shorthand for the names of the inorganic chemicals and organic compounds he analyzes using instruments he refers to by ICP-OES and GCMS. That’s “inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectroscopy” and “gas chromatography mass spectroscopy,” in case you didn’t know.
“We don’t make the water; we just test it,” he says, referring to the work he and his four coworkers perform in the Water Quality Lab at Gardenia Innovation & Operations Center.
That testing is serious business. Think of Jim as a safety inspector, diligently checking water samples to ensure that the water OUC delivers is safe to drink and meets all regulations. The water Jim tests is water OUC draws from the Lower Floridan Aquifer. OUC also treats the water at its water plants and pumps it to its customers. Here’s where the high-tech instruments ICP-OES and GCMS come into play, as they are used to analyze the samples for traces of inorganic and organic contaminates. The work he and the lab team do in this area is represented in OUC’s annual Water Quality Report.
Drinking water isn’t the only water he tests. Jim also travels to OUC’s power plants and takes samples from monitoring wells located on the properties. Tests on these samples are done in order to comply with state and federal environmental requirements.
“I’ve always told people that this is interesting and important work. You get these samples and analyze them and get results that must meet the criteria for our permits and the Safe Drinking Water Act,” he says. “The work is complex, and on a good day it’s fun.”
Jim’s work also exemplifies one of OUC’s key values: Make Safety First. Jim and his coworkers at the Water Quality Lab work daily on prioritizing the health of OUC customers, ensuring the delivery of clean, safe water.
Outside of the lab, Jim enjoys traveling to national parks and has visited Yosemite, Yellowstone (above) and sites in Hawaii and Alaska. He does a little woodworking at home, where his two dogs keep him company.
More than three decades ago, Jim was split between the choice of staying in the job he had at the State of Florida’s water lab in Jacksonville or going to work in a similar capacity at OUC. He recalls the hiring manager at the time assuring him that he would have a long and fulfilling career here.
“Everything he told me has come to fruition. This is a great place to work, and I work with a lot of really good people in the lab and other departments. The equipment we work with in the lab is state-of-the-art, too. If you’ve worked in the same place as long as I have it must be the right fit,” he says.
