"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.

Every single staff member and board member I have worked with for the past four years has played an instrumental role in shaping the District into a global leader in groundwater management.

This year, the board embraces some new changes. We bid farewell to Kathryn Barr, who has successfully served us for 35 years—longer than any other board member. We say "hello" to Dina Nguyen, our newest member from Garden Grove. She has an outstanding background in serving her community as a councilmember for eight years, is very active in local civic activities and organizations and she has an 18-year legal career with the Orange County Superior Court.

I am stepping into the shoes of Shawn Dewane, who has been OCWD president for the past two years. Many thanks to Shawn for his excellent guidance and dedication. I plan to use the positive momentum he has created and, with my team, continue to serve the District and the community proudly.

We had another year of great successes and we were honored to be recognized for our continued leadership.

• The Lee Kuan Yew Water Prize, an international water award, was presented from the country of Singapore to OCWD for its pioneering work in groundwater management and water reclamation using advanced water reuse technologies, as well as for its achievements in public policy and community outreach. This took place in June and I had the pleasure of giving the keynote speech at the event.
• In April of this year, Orange County Water and Sanitation Districts were honored with the U.S. Water Prize by the U.S. Water Alliance for their joint project, the Groundwater Replenishment System, and were lauded as global leaders in reclamation and reuse.
• In October, OCWD, the City of Anaheim, the Irvine Ranch Water District, and Yorba Linda Water District jointly received a California Association of Local Agency Formation Commissions (CALAFCO) Government Leadership Award. We were recognized for manifesting characteristics of effective leadership, not just in the past year through the successful completion of a major annexation into OCWD, but over the course of many years, steadily paving the way politically, economically, and equitably for an annexation that meets water supply needs while further promoting sustainability of regional groundwater resources.

Looking forward...

In November, the citizens of California passed the Water Quality, Supply and Infrastructure Act of 2014, which will allocate $7.545 billion towards statewide water projects and programs in the coming years. This could help with the costs associated with many OCWD projects, including the final expansion of the Groundwater Replenishment System (GWRS), which takes treated wastewater and creates a new source of drinking water.

With regard to the initial GWRS expansion, in early 2015, 30 million gallons of water per day are scheduled to be added to our current production of 70 MGD. The District will soon be creating enough water to meet the needs of 850,000 people. We look forward to generating a far more reliable source of water and having less reliance on costly imported water for the 2.4 million people that we serve.

There are exciting times ahead and the OCWD team is ready to meet the challenges.