President's Message – Year-End & New Year Highlights

"The strength of the team is each individual member. The strength of each member is the team." –Phil Jackson

The Orange County Water District has a strong team of industrious individuals—staff and board members—who care about the needs of the community when it comes to our valuable water resources. I now have the pleasure of being "team leader" and I am looking forward to it. Read More...

Welcome Board Member Dina Nguyen

Dina Nguyen was voted to the Orange County Water District by the citizens of Garden Grove to represent them in Division 1, left vacant after 35 years by Kathryn Barr, who retired recently. Director Nguyen was formerly councilmember for the City of Garden Grove and most recently Mayor Pro Tempore.

"We welcome Director Nguyen to this important position that will help guide the District in its mission to provide quality, reliable water to 2.4 million people in Orange County," says OCWD General Manager Mike Markus. Read More...

Director Barr Farewell Reception

At the November 19 board meeting, Director Kathryn L. Barr was presented with a resolution commending her for dedicating 35 years of service as an OCWD board member. A reception just prior to the meeting featured commendations and resolutions from several local water providers and elected officials throughout Orange County. Director Barr's last day was Dec. 5.

"Director Kay Barr has been the consummate professional in exercising her duties and responsibilities as an OCWD board member. She greatly respected the time and efforts of her fellow board members, was always on time to meetings, was prepared, and completed all assignments. She has also been a model member of the local community," says OCWD General Manager Mike Markus. "We will forever remember her with great admiration."

Newly-Elected State & Federal Officials

On November 4, millions of California residents cast ballots in the 2014 general election. There were several contentious races across the state, including many in Orange County. At the statewide level, the Democratic supermajority was overturned by a number of key Republican victories. The new balance within the legislature still maintains a strong Democratic majority, with 52 Democrats and 28 Republicans in the Assembly, and 39 Democrats and 14 Republicans serving in the Senate. Read More...

GWRS Pipeline to ARTIC

OCWD staff recently opened the GWRS pipeline connection to the City of Anaheim's Regional Transportation Intermodal Center (ARTIC) located in Anaheim near the Honda Center. The facility is designed to be a multi-use transportation hub including restaurants and retail stores. The ARTIC facility intends to use approximately 11 acre-feet/year of GWRS water to feed an underground storage tank, which provides water for its HVAC cooling towers, irrigation water, and water for its facilities. The project recently opened on December 13, 2014.

Expert Panel Affirms Effectiveness of OCWD Monitoring

Staff from OCWD's Water Quality, Research & Development, Planning, and Regulatory Affairs departments collaborated to complete the 10th Annual OCWD Santa Ana River Water Quality Report. The report was recently reviewed by local regulators and members of the National Water Research Institute (NWRI) Independent Advisory Panel for the District's Santa Ana River Monitoring (SARMON) program at their annual review meeting. Read More...

ReNUWIt Meeting Focuses on Potable Reuse

Director of Regulatory Affairs Jason Dadakis participated in the annual Industrial Advisory Board (IAB) meeting for the ReNUWIt National Science Foundation (NSF) Engineering Research Center (ERC).

ReNUWIt's focus is on reinventing urban water infrastructure and the center is in its fourth year of operation. Read More...

Out in the Community

As part of its standard to forge and maintain long-term, positive and proactive relationships with members of the community and be transparent about its operations and programs, OCWD board members and staff participate, regularly, at community events and speak before civic groups. Below are a few we participated in during November.

• Director Philip Anthony gave a brief presentation to the City of Garden Grove about OCWD, its cleanup projects and water supplies.
• Executive Director of Operations William Hunt was one of three panelists discussing "California Water: Past Present & Future" at "All Points of the Compass," Cal State Fullerton's annual geography symposium.

Upcoming Community Events

We encourage you to mark your calendar for the following water supply briefings in your community:

• Jan. 6, 2015 12 p.m. Rotary Club of Cypress — Speaker: Director Philip Anthony
• Jan. 12, 2015 12 p.m. Rotary Club of Anaheim — Speakers: Director Harry Sidhu and Principal Hydrogeologist Dave Mark
• Jan. 22, 2015 12 p.m. Orange County Association of Environmental Professionals — Speakers: TBD

For additional information or to book a speaker, please contact Rose Wilke at (714) 378-3206 or rwilke@ocwd.com.

OCWD in the News

• NBC San Diego Reporter Vanessa Herrera interviewed Mike Markus about the GWRS process and plant. The San Diego City Council recently moved forward with its own water purification project. Here is the link to the segment: Tasting Results of Pure Water Project
• GWRS Program Manager Mehul Patel was interviewed by Raquel Rimbach, editor of Pollution Equipment News, about the Groundwater Replenishment System. Here is a link to the story: Orange County Groundwater Replenishment System

OCWD Employees

OCWD's employees are its most valuable resource. It is committed to recruiting the best and enriching their lives to grow within the industry and the District family. OCWD welcomes new employee Jason Jaw, Laboratory Technician.

November Tours

Thank you to the nearly 465 guests that toured OCWD's facilities in November:

Students from the Saddleback College Physical Geology class, Cal State Long Beach Engineering class, Costa Mesa High School/OC Coastkeeper, Cal State Fullerton Nursing Program, CSU Dominguez Hills, the Academy Charter High School of Santa Ana, CSU Long Beach Nursing Program, Chapman University Aquatic Chemistry class, West Coast University Nursing Program, Coastline College, and Anaheim Union High School District; members of the League of Women Voters—Orange County, Randwick City Council in Australia, International Facility Management Association, and Orange County Sanitation Department operators; and delegates from the Ministry of Environment Korea and Center for Eco-Smart Waterworks System, Korea Environment Corp. and the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

Public tours of the Groundwater Replenishment System are offered at
10 a.m. on the first Friday of every month; reservations are required. Tours may be scheduled for other days of the week, depending on staff availability. To schedule a tour or to request more information, please contact Becky Mudd at (714) 378-3362 or bmudd@ocwd.com. To schedule a speaker, please contact Rose Wilke at (714) 378-3206 or rwilke@ocwd.com. You may also visit www.ocwd.com to schedule these activities online.