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When civil engineer Teresa Elliott came to work for the Portland Water Bureau in 1996, it was because of one thing: seismic.

Elliott was recently promoted from principal engineer to chief engineer, the first woman to hold that job title in the bureau’s history.

Seismic and resiliency have always been her passion. She left her former job at the state Department of Transportation because there was little in the budget at the time for seismic work. Resiliency refers to the ability of an agency to provide services before and after an earthquake, she said.

Her decision to work for the water bureau was based in large part on the fact that the agency has 鈥� and had — an active seismic and resiliency program.

鈥淎ll of our facilities could be affected by a seismic event,鈥� she said. 鈥淲hat we plan for is a Cascadia Zone seismic event 鈥� the big one.鈥�

Elliott supervises about 125 people, mostly other engineers, of all disciplines.

She was hired by Mike Stuhr, who had been chief engineer at the water bureau for the past 10 years, and was recently named director, replacing retiring David Shaff.

Preparing for a major earthquake and responding to a disaster is important to both Elliott and Stuhr, and they got critical first-hand practice after Hurricane Katrina.

They both went to New Orleans after the storm hit to help restore the city’s water system. They camped out at a water treatment plant in Algiers (across the Mississippi River from New Orleans) and worked for the New Orleans Sewer and Water Board.

鈥淲e assessed damage and had build crews that did repairs,鈥� Elliott said. 鈥淚t was good training in emergency preparedness on how to respond. Before that we only had dry training.鈥�

With scores of structures and 2,800 miles of water lines in Portland that need seismic stability and constant upkeep, Stuhr said he picked Elliott for the job of chief engineer because of her engineering abilities and also for her talent for working with people.

鈥淚t’s hard for younger engineers to understand that one of the challenges is getting permission (for work on the water system),鈥� he said. 鈥淵ou have to get permission from state agencies, interested groups in the communities and boards. She does very well interfacing with city groups.鈥�

But Elliott’s overriding concern is with the safety of the city’s water delivery system in case of an earthquake. She said no system is completely infallible, but the bureau strives to engineer the water system so that if a break occurs, it won’t be deep underground. Instead, it can be accessed to allow repairs to happen quickly.

The bureau is also laying new water lines under the Willamette River that will be buried under the surface of the river bed rather than on the top. Current lines are aging and are more susceptible to failure because they lay on the river bed surface.

鈥淢ost of the (water line) crossings are 40-plus years old and have joints,鈥� Elliott said. 鈥淭he new ones will be below, in the silt, and seismically up-to-date.鈥�

Elliott said she has been in public service for 30 years and believes deeply in 鈥済iving good service to the public.鈥�

鈥淚 mean to show we want to do the best for the community and the water system,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hat’s why I’m so excited about resiliency. It’s fun and exciting to do.鈥�

Elliott holds a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from the University of Portland and has also worked for the Federal Highway Administration and the U.S. Forest Service.

She encourages girls 鈥� and boys 鈥� to think about engineering as a career and get interested in math, engineering and science.

鈥淚f you get involved in one, you’re likely to get involved with all three,鈥� she said. 鈥淚f you like problem solving, if you like to tinker with things and put things together, this is the best place to do it.鈥�