Ready, Set, Network!

As the General Manager of Infrastructure and Water Services, Alicia is responsible for the operation, maintenance, infrastructure engineering and capital improvements for the regional water and wastewater systems in the CRD. She is also responsible for the water and wastewater systems in the local service areas of the CRD.

Prior to joining the CRD, Alicia Fraser was the president and CEO of the Ontario Clean Water Agency (OCWA), a provincial agency that provides water and wastewater operations and technical services to municipalities across Ontario. Before becoming president and CEO, Alicia was VP of Operations in South Peel, where she was responsible for overseeing the operation and maintenance of water, wastewater, distribution and collection systems that serve nearly 1.4 million people in the Region of Peel.

Alicia has spent her entire career in the water industry with experience in consulting engineering, designing and project managing water and wastewater plants throughout Ontario and British Columbia.

Isaac Armstrong is a Ph.D. candidate in Biology at Queen’s University, specializing in paleolimnology. His research focuses on the ecological impacts of historical mercury and heavy metal contamination in the Cornwall waterfront area of the St. Lawrence River. Using subfossil chironomid assemblages, he examines long-term ecological changes caused by industrial pollution. His work supports environmental management and remediation efforts, and he has presented at seminars and published in the Journal of Great Lakes Research.

Linda is an Environmental Engineer heavily involved in complex and multidisciplinary projects in both the public and private sectors. In recent years, Linda’s work has focused on supporting the pharmaceutical industry with environmental management and infrastructure construction. Linda has been a dedicated committee member with several Canadian and international water associations.

Elia is a Director on Associated’s Group Board, Vice President – Integrated Water Solutions, Senior Infrastructure Specialist, Senior Process Engineer and our Ontario Strategic Advisory Services Leader with over 28 years of experience in the municipal infrastructure sector. Elia provides valuable insights into major capital infrastructure planning and implementation, supports clients in their climate resilience, low-carbon and digital transformation journeys, and leads the development of infrastructure performance assessment tools. He has strong industry relationships through his work on projects across Canada and involvement in technical associations, supporting alternatives evaluation, agency and community engagement, structured decision-making, and implementation considerations including the use of alternative collaborative delivery models. Elia is long-standing member of the OWWA and is most proud of his receipt of the Michael R. Provart award at the beginning of his career. Outside of ‘water’, Elia spends as much time as possible with his partner and four children enjoying an ever-eventful life at this point in time – often at a soccer pitch, swimming pool or a concert hall. Elia also remains active in various local community efforts.

Rasha is a principal scientist at the CDM Smith Research and Testing Laboratories in Bellevue, where she oversees environmental microbiology and innovative water and wastewater treatment R&D projects. She is also an adjunct professor at the University of Alberta’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. She completed her PhD in Environmental Microbiology at the University of British Columbia and her two MSc degrees at the Harvard School of Public Health and Dalhousie University. She is honored to serve as a Trustee of the Water Environment Federation’s (WEF) Board of Trustees. She lends her expertise to the editorial boards of Science of the Total Environment, Water Practice and Technology, and Data in Brief. Rasha was the recipient of several prestigious water industry awards, including the WEF 2020 Water Heroes Award, the 2023 Western Canada Water Analyst Excellence Award, and the 2020 US Empowering Women in Industry STEM Award. She has authored more than 50 peer-reviewed publications. When she’s not working, she enjoys travelling and playing Dungeons and Dragons with her family.