President's Message – Right as Rain Drought Prediction?

Happy New Year!

Last year ended brightly—with rain. December brought us 3.5 inches of rain in Orange County and boosted our groundwater supply by nearly 40,000 acre-feet—enough water for about 300,000 people for an entire year. We received an additional 0.7 inches in January. The groundwater basin, which gets about two-thirds of its water from rain, was about an inch above normal for this time of year, but we'll be anxiously looking at the critical rain months.

January, February and March have historically been Orange County's wettest months, yet one of the time-honored "crystal balls" of rainfall prediction—the Old Farmer's Almanac—sees a dry foreseeable future in the Southland: Read More...

Southern California Edison Presents OCWD with Grant Award

The Orange County Water District received a $500,000 Savings by Design grant award from Southern California Edison (SCE) for energy-saving strategies that were incorporated into the design of the Groundwater Replenishment System (GWRS) Initial Expansion, scheduled to come online in 2015.

SCE's Savings By Design awards are granted to local businesses that incorporate smart, energy-saving designs into long-term facility planning. Read More...

OC Water Summit Save the Date

The 8th annual OC Water Summit will take place on Friday, May 15, 2015 at the Grand Californian Hotel at the Disneyland Resort. The program will feature prominent national and state policy makers, elected officials, scientists, financial experts and business leaders. More than 500 stakeholders will attend the event, which is hosted by the Orange County Water District, Disneyland Resort and the Municipal Water District of Orange County. Registration will open in February. Please visit O.C. Water Summit site at that time to register, sponsor and read more about the event.

Festival Call for Sponsors, Presenters and Volunteers

There's still time to be a part of the excitement that is the Children's Water Education Festival! Presented by the Orange County Water District (OCWD), Disneyland Resort, the National Water Research Institute and OCWD's Groundwater Guardian Team, the Festival will be held at the University of California, Irvine (UCI) on March 25-26.

Approximately 7,000 third, fourth and fifth grade Orange County students are registered to attend this free field trip to learn about water and the environment. Since its inception, the Festival has taught more than 100,000 Orange County students about water and how to protect natural resources. To sponsor, volunteer or present an activity, contact Crystal Nettles at (714) 378-3202 or cnettles@ocwd.com. To register, go to the Orange County Water District site or directly to the Children's Water Education Festival site.

The proposed Huntington Beach Desalination Project is a 50-million gallon per day seawater desalination plant in Huntington Beach, California that is currently in late-stage development

OCWD Encourages Citizen Input as it Begins Desalination Negotiations

On January 7, 2015, the OCWD Board of Directors voted 9 to 1 to begin negotiating a term sheet with Poseidon Resources to purchase 50 million gallons per day (56,000 acre-feet per year) of water created by the proposed Huntington Beach Ocean Desalination Plant. A term sheet would provide the overall business arrangement and define the responsibilities of OCWD and Poseidon Resources to advance the project. This is the first step in what will be a thorough and deliberate process to carefully consider the proposed project.

As part of this process, the board will appoint a citizen's advisory committee to ensure the public is provided ample opportunity to provide input. 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 December.

Staff participated at the Association of California Water Agencies' ConservaCon event at its annual conference. OCWD featured information about the Children's Water Education Festival, the O.C. Water Hero program and the Groundwater Replenishment System.

Upcoming Community Events

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

• Feb. 4, 2015 6:30 p.m. Mesa Water District: Water Issues Study Group
• Feb. 17, 2015 7:00 p.m. Kiwanis Club of Cypress–Speaker: Second Vice President Philip Anthony

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

OCWD in the News

• Earth Wise radio aired and posted an article about the GWRS, which featured an interview with OCWD General Manager Mike Markus. Here is a link to the segment: Toilet-to-Tap: It's A Good Thing
• Director Shawn Dewane participated in an interview about the Groundwater Replenishment System that was broadcast by Voice America during the Sharon Kleyne Hour: Here is a link to the segment: http://cdn.voiceamerica.com/voice/201001/kleyne120114.mp3.
• OCWD's Groundwater Replenishment System was mentioned in an article in the Orange County Breeze entitled "How's that drought working out for you?" Here is a link to the article: How's that drought working out for you?
• An article about water reuse was published in Environmental Health Perspectives, the monthly journal of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. OCWD was mentioned and GWRS Program Manager Mehul Patel was quoted: Advanced Thinking: Potable Reuse Strategies Gain Traction.
• OCWD was mentioned in an article published in the Orange County Register titled "San Juan Basin searches for water solutions": San Juan Basin searches for water solutions

OCWD Employees

Employee of the Year Frank Simone

The OCWD employee of the month and year program were established to recognize outstanding District employees and to acknowledge their contributions to OCWD. Buyer Frank Simone was September employee of the month and was selected as 2014 employee of the year. Read More...

Employee Service Awards

Every year the District celebrates those employees who have reached their 20, 30, & 40 years of service milestones as well as the directors that have reached service milestones with a special dedication. Employees' families are invited to the ceremony, which, this year, took place at the Dec. 17 board meeting.

Two employees were recognized with a crystal award. In addition, one member of the board of directors was recognized with a service pin. The employees and board member recognized were (front row left to right):

Employees celebrating 5, 10, and 15 years of service with the company were recognized with service awards at the all employee meeting during the month of January.

December Tours

Thank you to the nearly 200 guests that toured OCWD's facilities in December:

Students from West Coast University and Vanguard University nursing programs and Universidad Autonoma de Chihuahua; members of Moulton Niguel Water District, Black & Veatch, the Orange County Sanitation District Ocean Monitoring Group, Financial Executives International, Monterey Regional Water Pollution Control Agency, Australian Water Association, and Xylem, Inc.; delegates from China and the Republic of Korea; a group from Central and South America; and members of the general public.

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.