For six years, Madison Malicki’s morning began at 8 p.m. The Sacramento Water Plant Operator would skip breakfast, get ready for work and jump in her car to start her commute from Dixon to Sacramento on the Yolo Causeway.
“ It was tough at first in the beginning of my graveyard shifts,” said Malicki, who grew up in Vacaville. “I'd have to leave well over an hour early just because the construction's done at night.”
Malicki was heading to the Sacramento River Water Treatment Plant off Bannon Street to make it to her 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. shift. Music amped her up for what would often be an isolating eight hours.
“When it comes to work, I like songs about money,” she said. “My go-to work song is Barrett Strong, the title is literally ‘Money.’”
Malicki usually arrived a bit early, which she said is an unspoken rule at the plant, to relieve the swing shift operators. Her first order of business was checking the lime slaker, a piece of equipment that mixes calcium oxide with water that helps with the PH of the water.
“That can be our problem child,” she said of the machinery. “It helps with increasing the PH of the water to get it good to go out the door, and it helps with the taste of the water as well. Gives it that minerally taste, and I love it.”
Clean and safe drinking water in the city of Sacramento is dependent on a small crew of water plant operators including Malicki who monitor the century-old plant 24 hours a day. The city staffers provide this critical service with little fanfare but growing concerns.
For at least the last few years, the city’s water treatment plants have been understaffed and their operators overworked, often logging 60 hours a week. Since 2023, overtime hours for the city’s water plant staff have increased from about 4,000 hours to 5,300 hours. The total overtime cost to the city during that time? $3.5 million.
Malicki, a 34-year-old Dixon resident, told CapRadio that working double shifts has become normal. While she said the job isn’t dangerous on their bodies, falling asleep driving home is a regular concern.
“ There's a lot of overtime that needs to be covered and we're doing 16 and 17 hour shifts to make that happen,” Malicki said. “When I cover swing shift, I work 6 a.m. to 11 p.m.”
Madison Malicki, senior water plant operator at the Sacramento River Water Treatment Plant, demonstrates water testing procedures on June 11, 2026.Ruth Finch/CapRadio
Long hours and an essential service
Union representatives, plant management and workers told CapRadio they are worried about burnout.
Local 39 Union Representative Payden Martin represents the city’s water plant operators. He said they provide an essential service and uphold public safety. But he added that he’s worried his members are being pushed beyond their capacity because of the vacancies.
“At some point, people are going to be burned out and that’s when mistakes happen,” Martin said. “They know the community needs clean drinking water and they sacrifice their own personal lives to do it.”
Sacramento’s Department of Utilities confirmed it has a problem with department vacancies, due to grueling work schedules and uncompetitive pay.
As of May 5, the city lists the salary range for junior plant operators between $27 and $39 and plant operators between about $32 and $45 an hour. Senior operators make between $38 and $54 an hour.
Dalia Fadl, director of Sacramento’s Department of Utilities, said the city is aware of the staffing challenge and that water plant vacancies are a statewide issue. At a February city council meeting, the city’s human resources department said Sacramento’s plant operator vacancy rate was 20%.
Blue pipes at Sacramento River Water Treatment Plant connects river water to the Flash Mix/Flow Split Structure which helps in chemically treating the water on June 11, 2026.Ruth Finch/CapRadio
City management acknowledged the problem in a letter to the Local 39 representatives in 2023. It agreed to hiring and retention bonuses, as well as training incentives, which are no longer available.
Officials set up a contract for $240,000 in the event of a staffing emergency at the time. A spokesperson with the utilities department said it has yet to be used.
An extension of that emergency staffing contract has been proposed for this year. Documents reviewed by CapRadio show outside contractors, who do not receive city benefits, would make three times the maximum hourly rate of a city employee.
The document shows a contracted plant operator would make $134.68 per hour while the maximum hourly rate for a city plant operator is $44.89.
Martin argues that it would be more prudent for the city to pay operators more instead of seeking out contracts.
“There's tools at their disposal to try and address recruitment and retention,” he said. “Taking on these high-paid contracts is probably not the most effective way of making sure that your system is running.”
Plant first of its kind west of the Mississippi
The Sacramento River Water Treatment Plant off Bannon Street opened in 1921 with the push of a red button from the United States’ 30th President Calvin Coolidge. Those who work at the plant described it as the first of its kind west of the Mississippi River.
The 45-acre complex is unassuming and generally quiet, aside from the hum of machinery, the rush of water, and the families of geese who call the site home. From the sky, the basins look like deep blue swimming pools. On foot, one feels like an ant amongst the concrete filtering basins.
The water flows in from a dragonfly-shaped structure off the Sacramento River into two 54-inch concrete pipes underneath Interstate 5, then into the concrete grit and sediment basins to be filtered, cleaned and chemically treated.
Operators work in the control room where they adjust and verify chemical levels during the treatment process. They go outside multiple times a shift to put human eyes on the process and manually operate the equipment as needed.
Underground filter stations at the Sacramento River Water Treatment Plant on June 11, 2026.Ruth Finch/CapRadio
The 24-hour operation is complex to manage. It takes a plant operator two to three years to fully learn the facility, and working in teams is important due to the nature of being exposed to chemicals.
Martin said vacancies in the utilities department have been an issue since he started as a union representative in 2020.
“At least anecdotally it feels like the worst it’s ever been,” he said. “One of my guys was telling me he got called out on Christmas because of a rainstorm event, and he has kids. This isn’t a normal job by traditional standards.”
‘It’s not enough.’ City faces pay, retention problems
May Turner, the water plant supervisor, knows the hardships her operators face. Right now, her two biggest challenges are staffing and maintaining the machinery. As of July, Turner said there are 11 plant operators and five vacancies at the Sacramento River Water Treatment Plant.
Per state requirements, there needs to be a minimum of two plant operators on all shifts. Turner said the vacancies come at a time where some operators are looking at retirement, or want to take parental leave, meaning operators are sacrificing their personal lives to meet the city’s critical needs.
“That’s a lot. If it were one or two (vacancies), that would be more manageable,” Turner said. “It’s a big facility, so some of the housekeeping we need staff to do, but if they're too busy in the control room, sometimes they don't have time.”
Turner said she and her operators do everything in their power to ensure the plant is running effectively, especially because their individual certifications are on the line.
“I’m signing off and looking at the water quality right?” she said. “You’re responsible for your staff and if you’re able to manage and make sure we treat the water as safe leaving this facility.”
Turner said the graveyard shift is one of the biggest obstacles to bringing new hires through the door. The city pays an additional 5% shift pay on top of their usual wage for graveyard work, but Turner said it isn’t enough to keep people in those positions.
“It’s not enough when you have other agencies paying 10% or even 15% more for those shifts that no one wants,” Turner said.
The City of Vallejo pays a 10% graveyard shift differential while East Bay Municipal Utilities District pays 15%.
Operators know other water agencies in Northern California pay more, and that working somewhere else could give them a better quality of life. Greg Ross, a plant operator, told CapRadio some operators find better opportunities at other water agencies that aren’t governed by a city because there’s less bureaucracy.
“People tend to find better options and more advancement when they go to other agencies,” Ross said. “All those decision makings fall on labor relations, HR, the city council and the city manager. We don’t really have any agency over ourselves in a lot of aspects for things.”
Fadl, the utilities director, said the city is evaluating salaries for operators and other competing agencies, such as the Placer County Water Agency and Sacramento Suburban Water District. Outside of salary, Fadl said they are also looking at hiring bonuses and starting apprenticeship programs for those exiting high school.
“ There really needs to be a multi-step way to address the issue,” Fadl said. “Once we know more about where the salaries need to be, maybe even looking at scheduling options that some of the other agencies are implementing and having more success with, is that something we also want to incorporate?”
At the end of the day, Fadl said the city would never put itself in a position where it’s not meeting "regulatory responsibilities,” even with the vacancies.
“Our team will do whatever it takes to ensure that we are providing reliable, safe drinking water,” Fadl said. “If that means people have to do overtime, if that means people have to put in double shifts, managers have to step in and staff these shifts.”
Union representative Martin said he has complete faith in the small team of operators to do their job effectively, but doesn’t see a solution to the staffing shortages in sight yet.
Madison Malicki, senior water plant operator at the Sacramento River Water Treatment Plant, gives a tour of the facility on June 11, 2026.Ruth Finch/CapRadio
“There’s safeguards in place, but they all rely on a human at some level,” he said. “If you run out of humans, then what?”
Managers in the Utilities Department said they see contracting as a last resort. Turner, the plant supervisor, is also against the idea of bringing in contractors. She said the complexities of Sacramento’s water treatment system makes it especially hard to bring in just anyone.
“A contractor who has experience in water treatment is not going to know how to treat city of Sacramento water,” Turner said. “ We get such a different range of water through the seasons. There's years with storm (water) that's coming in extremely dirty. There's days when we're dealing with wildfires. Those things you don't learn overnight.”
Workers take pride in their water
Malicki said she and the other plant operators are taking on overtime in part because they worry about what it means to have contractors around.
“It’s scary. It sounds like we’re replaceable,” she said.
The 34-year-old has been working at the water treatment plant since she was an intern 10 years ago. As a woman in a blue collar profession, Malicki believes she’s built trust and respect at her plant after a decade. The employee benefits and pride in the job also help.
“Working for a city is a public service,” Malicki said. “Nobody in my family has ever had a retirement or a pension. I’m the first and I’m extremely proud of that.”
The plant is a second home for Malicki, and not just because she spends so much time there.
“ There's stakes that we have in these plants,” she said. “Every shift, (our) job is to hand the plant off better to the next shift. We're just always trying to shine and always trying to optimize and just do better.”
Follow us for more stories like this
CapRadio provides a trusted source of news because of you. As a nonprofit organization, donations from people like you sustain the journalism that allows us to discover stories that are important to our audience. If you believe in what we do and support our mission, please donate today.
Donate Today
