Waupaca plumber helps Navajo Nation

WAUPACA - It turned out to be an opportunity that Sam Woolsey couldn’t pass up. Woolsey runs the family business, Woolsey Plumbing & Heating Inc., in Waupaca with his father, Bill, and recently used his plumbing expertise to help a Navajo community in New Mexico.
“I was approached by my former plumbing instructor, Randy Lorge, who’s been fore-fronting a project down on the Navajo nation,” said Woolsey, a 2001 Waupaca High School graduate.
“Randy’s dad Ron used to work here and Randy was my plumbing instructor,” he said. “He knew I had a background in septic systems. He was doing other projects with them, but wanted to do something with the septic systems because there are a lot of failed systems there.
“He called me up and asked if I’d go down there and do some soil evaluations because there’s nobody down there that does that, especially to Wisconsin standards,” he said. “I agreed and in talking with my dad and wife, it’s an opportunity I shouldn’t let go. I jumped on it.’
Woolsey eventually took four one-week trips, two in 2023 and two last year, to the reservation, located about an hour west of Albuquerque in western New Mexico.

“They’re putting in in-ground systems, which don’t work,” he said. “The wastewater is pooling on top of the ground and causing health hazards. I did some soil evaluations with the help of an organization called Dig Deep. They dug some holes for me, I evaluated the soil and determined that mound systems would be appropriate to install down there for adequate wastewater treatment.”
Above-ground mound septic systems are common in rural Wisconsin. Woolsey volunteered his time for the project and said he’s glad he did.
“I did it as a volunteer,” he said. “They paid for my flight down there, my meals and stay, and flew me back. I went down there in April of 2023 to do the initial soil test and I did 15 of them. I went back in August of ‘23 and did two mounds for residences. They were experimental because we were working with the EPA of the Navajo Nation to say, ‘Here we are, this is what we can do to help.’ The following year, I went back down and we put in two mound systems, one for the BACA Chapter House, which is like a town hall, and the senior center. They were right next to each other. We did a total of four mounds.”
Woolsey said he never had second thoughts about his involvement with the project, which still isn’t finished.
“I was scared to death going out of state and never being there before,” he said. “I didn’t know what I was really getting into until I got down there. The biggest sacrifices were my family and the business here. My wife was very big in supporting me going down there. I went down there by myself. I worked with the natives. They helped me out and taught me some things about some areas that were sacred. I took what I knew as a plumber here in Wisconsin and applying what I knew down there.”
Woolsey designed the mound systems himself based on his recommendations. “I do it the old-fashioned way with pencil and paper from what I was taught by my father and school,” he said. “Based on the flow going from the building and the soil type on the site, I figure out by math and formulas how the system has to be.”
He said he never thought he wouldn’t be able to make the project work. “I thought, ‘No matter what, I can make this work, I just have to figure out how to make the mound fit on this site,’” he said. “At no point did I think this was way out there. I didn’t want to let anybody down, but I also didn’t want to let myself down.”
Woolsey plans to return to the reservation soon. “I’m going back in April to modify a system that didn’t quite work,” he said. “They wanted us to do one system their way, it wasn’t at all to the specs I originally picked and I knew it wasn’t going to work. It’s not working, so I have to fix it. I found what wasn’t working and I insisted that I go back down and fix it because I stand behind everything I do. I’m not letting them down. I will fix it.”
The project isn’t much different than the projects Woolsey oversees as part of his business.
“It’s no different other than it’s a long commute,” he said.
It didn’t take long for Woolsey’s volunteer efforts to be recognized on a national level. He was invited to attend an International Association of Plumbing and Mechanical Officials convention in Las Vegas, Nevada.
“IAPMO writes the code books for the Uniform Plumbing Code,” Woolsey said. “We have our own state plumbing code for Wisconsin. They didn’t have mound systems in their code. Randy Lorge, working for IAPMO, couldn’t propose a code change. Through all this, I became a member of IAPMO and I could propose a code change to add mound systems, so I did. I got the ball rolling and was told there was a convention in late September and I would have to go there and defend the code change and why it needed to be done.
“I did a lot of research and was ready to take this on,” he said. “I’m not a very good public speaker, but I said I’m going to do this. The day I thought I was going to do that, they sat me down and there was an audience of I don’t know, 300 or 400 people. Instead, they gave me an award for all my volunteer work for designing the mound systems for this project. I was speechless. I thought I wasn’t deserving of an award. I was just doing what I normally do. Just helping them is an award.”
Woolsey didn’t rule out another volunteer project if it fit his schedule.
“I was outside my bubble,” he said. “I got a grasp on what I was doing and didn’t realize how much of a difference this was going to make to these people.
“It’s all about treating wastewater,” he added. “The plumber protects the health of the nation. Because of Randy pushing me, I was out there protecting the nation.”