OCWD Board of Directors
President
Cathy Green
First Vice President
Denis R. Bilodeau, P.E.
Second Vice President
Philip L. Anthony
Jordan Brandman
Shawn Dewane
Jan M. Flory, ESQ.
Dina L. Nguyen, ESQ.
Roman Reyna
Stephen R. Sheldon
Roger C. Yoh, P.E.
General Manager
Michael R. Markus
P.E., D.WRE.




World Environment
and World Oceans Days
Celebrated in June
World Oceans Day
June 8
Healthy oceans, healthy planet

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) featured two celebrations of awareness and action during the month of June: World Environment Day (WED) on June 5 and World Oceans Day on June 8. They encouraged commitments, not only for their specific day, but for a lifetime. "Although individual decisions may seem small in the face of global threats and trends, when billions of people join forces in common purpose, we can make a tremendous difference," says UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon.

The Orange County Water District (OCWD) is helping both efforts by sending less treated wastewater to the ocean, saving half the energy of imported water by producing GWRS water and reusing a resource (wastewater). OCWD also improves the water quality of the Orange County groundwater basin, protects the basin from seawater intrusion and helps the region be drought resilient by producing 100 million gallons of water each day.

The WED theme this year was "Seven Billion Dreams. One Planet. Consume with Care." According to the WED website, by 2050, if current consumption and production patterns remain the same and with a rising population expected to reach 9.6 billion, we will need three planets to sustain our ways of living and consumption.

With regard to water, WED officials state: Even though households are relatively low consumers of water, population growth and expanded water use have outweighed the effect of water saving technology and behavior. More than 1 billion people still do not have access to freshwater. Excessive use of water contributes to the global water stress. To learn more, please visit the WED Water Page.

World Oceans Day was established to show solidarity for the conservation of the world's most important resource that connects us all.

To help ensure that our ocean is healthy for future generations, World Oceans Day officials recommend:

  • Changing perspective about what the ocean means to us, individually, and what it has to offer all of us with hopes of conserving it for generations to come.
  • Discovering the wealth of diverse and beautiful ocean creatures and habitats, how our daily actions affect them, and how we are all interconnected.
  • Changing our ways by taking care of our community and involving our family, friends and community to greatly benefit our blue planet.
  • Celebrating how the ocean affects us, how we affect the ocean, and organizing activities that celebrate our ocean.

To learn more, please visit the World Oceans Day website.