Rebuilding Paradise

October 31, 2023

Introducing Brandon Kennedy, a San Diego Education Fund alum and 2020 graduate of University of San Diego who brings his talents as a mechanical engineer to where they are needed most.

As a staff engineer for Water Works Engineers, Brandon is helping to rebuild the potable water system in Paradise after it was destroyed by the Camp fire in 2018. He serves as an inspector, field engineer and construction manager.

California’s deadliest wildfire also destroyed 95 percent of the homes in Paradise, a town of 9,200 northeast of Sacramento in the Sierra Nevada foothills.

For Brandon, restoring safe and reliable water service has involved a top-to-bottom replacement of the system’s many parts: meters, service laterals, valves, backflow prevention devices and two, 1.5-million-gallon bolted-steel reservoirs.

His next project is to build a new pump station at Paradise’s water treatment plant.

“I am grateful to be working with Water Works Engineers,” Brandon said. “I am being exposed to a variety of work tasks that will help diversify my skillset as an engineer. I can say that I am working for a respectable company that takes pride in its work and creates a thriving work environment for its employees.”

Great job, Brandon!