FOUNTAIN VALLEY, Calif. – The Orange County Water District (OCWD) re-elected Philip Anthony as president of the board for the 2006 term.  Anthony, division four representative, was first elected to the OCWD board in 1981.  Jan Debay, division seven representative, was elected first vice president and has served on the OCWD board since February 2001. Kathryn Barr, division one representative, was elected second vice president and has served on the OCWD board since 1979.

“I am proud to serve as OCWD board president,” said Anthony. “There are many exciting challenges ahead and I look forward to leading this award-winning organization into the future.”

Anthony, a Westminster resident, began his work in public service with the Westminster City Council, where he served from 1962 to 1976; he was mayor from 1972 to 1976.  Anthony was on the Orange County Board of Supervisors from 1976 to 1981, as well as the boards of the Orange County Sanitation District, the Orange County Transit District, and the Orange County Local Agency Formation Commission. He has served on the Santa Ana River Flood Protection Agency since 1988 to the present. He is a real estate investor and president of Philip L. Anthony, Inc., practicing as an independent and public affairs management consultant.

Debay, a Costa Mesa resident currently serves on several other water organization boards, including the Association of California Water Agencies (ACWA), where she was elected to a two-year term (2004 to 2006) serving the Region 10 board of directors. Along with six others, she oversees Orange and San Diego counties for ACWA – a Sacramento-based water organization representing most water agencies in California. Director Debay also serves as the chairwoman of the Water Advisory Committee of Orange County (WACO) for 2006. WACO is comprised of elected officials and staff from all levels of government, as well as engineers, attorneys, consultants, residents and others who share a common interest in water issues facing Orange County. Prior to serving on OCWD’s board of directors, Debay’s career in public service covered a broad spectrum of regional service.  Debay started her public service career with a five-year term as planning commissioner for the city of Newport Beach.  From 1992 to 2000 she was elected to Newport Beach City Council and served as Mayor from 1996 to 1997. 

Barr, a resident of Garden Grove has a background of public service, including serving on the Garden Grove City Council from 1962 to 1970, and again from 1974 to 1978. She was mayor pro tem from 1962 to 1969, and appointed mayor in 1969. She has also served as a member and chairwoman of Garden Grove's Redevelopment Agency. In addition, she has served as a member of Orange County Vector Control District's Board of Trustees, and as a director of Garden Grove Community Bank. Professionally, she has been employed as a sales representative with S & S Construction, owned her own business from 1967 to 1973, and has been involved in real estate sales for the past 19 years.

OCWD’s board is composed of ten directors – seven elected from cities throughout north and central Orange County, and three appointed – representing the cities of Anaheim, Fullerton and Santa Ana. Each of the seven elected board members serve a four-year term, and the three members appointed serve a length of time to be determined by the city council they represent.

The seven other returning board members for 2006 are Wes Bannister, division six and a resident of Huntington Beach; Denis Bilodeau, division two and a resident of Orange; Steve Sheldon, division five and a resident of Newport Beach; Jose Solorio, division eight and a resident of Santa Ana; Richard Chavez, division nine and a resident of Anaheim and Shawn Nelson, division 10 and a resident of Fullerton; and Roger Yoh, division 3 and a resident of Buena Park.

Orange County Water District (OCWD) manages the large groundwater basin that underlies North-Central Orange County that provides most of the water for 2.3 million citizens. OCWD is committed to constantly improving Orange County’s groundwater quality and reliability in an environmentally friendly manner. With years of prudent planning and careful investment, OCWD has doubled the yield of the groundwater basin. Recently, the basin, larger that the largest reservoir in Southern California, sustained the County through a five-year drought. OCWD has also spent millions of dollar on studies by outside experts to ensure the quality of our groundwater. We want to be your trusted source for water quality. We will continue to plan and invest in ways to get more water into and out of the basin. OCWD is a special district, separate from the County of Orange, that supplies to residents in the cities of Anaheim, Buena Park, Cypress, Costa Mesa, Fountain Valley, Fullerton, Garden Grove, Huntington Beach, Irvine, La Palma, Los Alamitos, Newport Beach, Orange, Placentia, Santa Ana, Seal Beach, Stanton, Tustin, Villa Park, Westminster and Yorba Linda.