Director of Health and 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. The IAB provides strategic review of the ReNUWIt's research plan to assure relevance and impact with industry and practitioners. In addition to reviewing ongoing projects, this IAB meeting focused on ReNUWIt's increased emphasis on potable reuse research or research regarding water recycling for drinking water supplies.

OCWD is currently working with ReNUWIt researchers from Stanford University, UC-Berkeley, and the Colorado School of Mines on the Prado Open Water Unit Process Wetlands research project. The project seeks to assess the water quality and maintenance requirements for a plant-free alternative to traditional vegetated wetland ponds. A set of experimental ponds at Prado have completed one year of operation and are currently undergoing minor modifications to support a second year of testing.

The District participates in and supports endeavors such as this as part of its ongoing commitment to advance water recycling research. This type of research is instrumental in helping to solve the serious water shortages in the United States and around the globe.