The Lagos Man At The Centre of Washington’s Water Programme, By Amir Adeniran

Muminu Adekunle Badmus, the man who supervises operation and maintenance of water distribution to the White House and other parts of Washington DC, is a native of Epe Alaro Ogunmodede in Lagos State.

He is a senior manager with the District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority, aka DC Water, and a thirty year veteran of the engineering profession. Badmus is in charge of DC Water’s Capital Improvement Program (CIP) which handles million dollar construction and maintenance projects for the District of Columbia (DC) water and wastewater authority.

He manages a team of 50 professional, administrative and field employees, and several contracting firms, which services projects in a 725 square mile area that includes DC and parts of Maryland and Virginia.

In addition to the White House, at least 600,000 residential, commercial and governmental structures are also connected to DC Water, this translates to around 2.3million people.

A mechanical engineering graduate of the University of the District of Columbia and Howard University, Badmus joined DC Water in 1990 after a five-year stint with Prince William County Government in the state of Virginia.

He worked his way up through several engineering design, construction and operations projects including Trenchless Technology for sewer lateral replacement, Fat Oil and Grease (FOG), Wireless supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system, Vulnerability Assessments and various improvements to the aging water and sewer frame in the District. Badmus also oversees long-term sewer infrastructural planning, standardization of DC’s water and sewer infrastructure and the US Federal Government’s Clean Water program in the District.

Muminu is the son of the late Chief M. B. Shillings, and Alhaja Sidikat Kuti, he left Nigeria for the US after his secondary school education in Lagos.  He is active in US-based Nigerian community and regularly contributes to welfare and civic programs for Nigerians at home and abroad. He is a founding member of the Nigerian Democratic Movement (NDM) and Egbe Isokan Yoruba but his community outreach activities extend well beyond these two organisations.

Friends and colleagues appreciate Badmus’ thirst for knowledge and learning. He is a member of many professional bodies including American Society of Mechanical Engineers and Water Environmental Foundation (WEF).

He is also a key member of DC Water Speaker Bureau and has authored several public presentation on different topics including wireless SCADA and Sewer Lateral Replacement and Point Repair using Cured in Place Pipe or CIPP. In fact, Badmus is recognized as expert in the use of CIPP which is the industry standard for relining and repairing sewer laterals without excavation.

Badmus was featured on the August 2014 front cover of Municipal Sewer & Water, the trade magazine for Sanitary, Storm and Water System maintenance professionals.