Candace Easley

Tell us about yourself.
Well, I'm orginally from Fresno, California, and I came straight to Wasilla from there. I attended Heald College in Fresno for Accounting, making the Dean's list a few times. I transferred to the University of Alaska Anchorage, and worked on my degree in Psychology, with a minor in Women's Studies. I love Alaska, even though waiting for the summer to come around gets a bit challenging. During college I interned at a refugee placement agency in Anchorage, and that really opened my eyes. Now, I volunteer my time as a foreign exchange student liason. I'm always looking for host families that are interested in having a student. It's a lot of fun getting to know kids from all over the world, and watching them grow as they learn about our culture and country. Before water treatment I owned a tutoring company and worked closely with No Child Left Behind kids that weren't meeting state testing requirements. I really like being active, and I hope to do more community service work in Alaska.

What got you into water treatment?
It was a culmination of two things- I had a rediculous time with my first well here in Alaska, and learning about the experiences of refugees really got me thinking about how important safe water is. Granted, we here are so lucky to have access to water- it's almost not the same thing. But my experience in both water treatment and community service works well together.
My first water system in Alaska was a low production system - basically storage tanks and a pump. I wasn't really informed that there was a silt problem, but before I knew it, my tanks, pump, hot water heater, and even the toilet tank was full of silt! It was really frustrating and I didn't know who to call. I called a bunch of well drillers... that didn't get me anywhere, but I got some water treatment leads. Coming from California, I always had municipal water and had never given any thought to "bad" water. A few of the people I called wanted to sell me a water softener, but that just didn't sit right with me. It didn't make sense... how on earth was a water softener going to get rid of the silt? I was afraid that the silt would just plug it up too, and then I'd really be in trouble. That's when Ben showed up. He popped on by with his happy-go-lucky attitude and told me I needed a sediment filter. He didn't try to sell me on anything, and on top of that, a sediment filter made sense and was so much cheaper than a softener. I knew this guy knew his stuff. When Ben decided to start his own water treatment company, I knew we'd make a good partnership. He has expertise, he's really concerned with giving his customers exactly what they need at an affordable price, and that inspired me (and still does).
On top of that, over the last few years I have developed a huge appreciation for clean water. I really believe that everyone deserves clean, safe water. It's at the very core of our lives and we can sometimes take it for granted.

What is your mission with WaterPro?
It's really hard to put it into a few paragraphs, but for the long term we want to provide well thought out solutions that are affordable. I've really enjoyed seeing how water treatment systems for schools and daycare centers are designed. You have to balance a lot, between getting the job done and staying within tight budgets in rural areas (and everywhere really). Sometimes the water that is available has 9 or 10 different issues that need to be addressed, and you have to address them in the proper order, efficiently, and affordably. It can take a lot of time, but when you complete a complex job with no hiccups, it's really rewarding. Especially when you are combating serious health issues such as arsenic or nitrates; you can't help but feel excited when you know you did a good job and no one is going to get sick or suffer any long-term health effects. So yeah, our mission is to provide solutions for problem water- whether its damaging to plumbing and machinery- bad for your health- or just really frustrating, at a price that is accessible to everyone.

Ok, one last question. If you could go anywhere in the world, where would it be?
I would love to go to Ethiopia. It's been a dream of mine since.. forever! In 5th grade I had to do a country report and I picked Ethiopia. I love it all, the culture, the language(s), the animals! I plan to go there in the near future- I've got to check it off my bucket list.