OCWD RECEIVES SIGNATURE AWARD FROM PROFIT SHARING COUNCIL OF AMERICA

FOUNTAIN VALLEY, Calif. -- The Orange County Water District (OCWD) announced today that it has been awarded the Signature Award from the Profit Sharing/401(k) Council of America for its retirement program. The District joins other prestigious Signature Award winners like K-Mart, Costco and the state of Oklahoma.

The award was given to the District for providing a successful education campaign regarding its retirement plan, which is administered by Union Bank of California. OCWD employees attend educational seminars (held by Union Bank) about how to invest, the importance of saving for retirement and other topics. As a result, the District has generated higher plan participation; higher plan deferrals and better attention to asset allocation.

"It is the District’s objective to empower our employees by providing them with helpful, easy-to-understand retirement information," said William R. Mills Jr., general manager for the District. "This award is very important to us because it recognizes that we are among the leaders in financial education in the workplace."

The Signature Awards are designed to encourage quality retirement education plans by identifying successful practices and sharing them with others in the plan community. The objectives of the awards include rewarding excellence in retirement plan communication; encouraging the sharing of communication ideas and providing a means of outside, objective recognition of companies’ efforts.

The Profit Sharing/401(k) Council of America (PSCA) is a national plan sponsor association that for more than 50 years has identified and shared best practices with its members, represented their interests in Washington and analyzed and reported the latest regulatory changes.

The Orange County Water District is a special water agency created by the California Legislature in l933 to maintain and manage the huge groundwater basin under northern Orange County. The groundwater basin managed by OCWD supplies 75% of the water needs to more than 2 million residents in the cities of Anaheim, Buena Park, Cypress, Costa Mesa, Fountain Valley, Fullerton, Garden Grove, Huntington and Newport Beach, Irvine, La Palma, Los Alamitos, Orange, Placentia, Santa Ana, Seal Beach, Stanton, Tustin, Villa Park, Westminster and Yorba Linda.

For further information contact:
Jenny Glasser, OCWD (714) 378-3228
Ron Wildermuth, OCWD (714) 378-3351