Ellen Stitt

As a Walkerton, Ontario native, providing access to clean, safe drinking water has been Ellen’s calling since 2000. It was her hometown’s water crisis event that influenced her career path as she pursued an education at Durham College (DC).

Over the past seven years Ellen has fostered an incredible career. She is currently a senior operator and mechanic for Ontario Clean Water Agency (OCWA) and is the marketing manager for the Ontario Association of Sewage Industry Services. In addition to her operational responsibilities, Ellen facilitates the agency’s OneWater Education workshops teaching grade eight students about water and wastewater treatment processes. 

In 2016, she was the recipient of the OCWA Marine Citizenship Award (2017) and Leadership Award (2019) and was a finalist for the Water Environment Association of Ontario’s Outstanding Young Professional Award and the Water’s Next Young Professional Award in 2018.

Outside of work, Ellen volunteers by serving on the Walkerton Clean Water Centre’s Board of Directors and numerous other sector committees including Great Waters Challenge Youth Advisory Board with Waterlution. Through her work on this committee, Ellen co-authored a children’s book entitled Canada’s Great Water Adventure.

Ellen also attended Waterlution’s H20 Global Leadership Training and participated in their Water Innovation Labs in Australia and Canada, where she was chosen to receive seed funding for her project, Rain It In, a competition that empowers college and university students to make a difference in their communities and positively impact the environment. In March 2019, Rain It In was hosted for the first time at DC, with 10 teams from post-secondary institutions across Ontario.

Ellen has also contributed to her alma mater in a variety of other ways; she  served as a panelist for Women In Science: Innovation and Disruption Panel for Young Women in Science, Technology and Trades, was as a judge for Enactus DC’s CleanTech pitches and is a member of the Water Quality Technician Program Advisory Committee.