FOUNTAIN VALLEY, Calif. – The Orange County Water District (OCWD) was named 2006 Client of the Year by the Orange County Chapter of the Consulting Engineers and Land Surveyors of California (CELSOC) at its first  Lifetime Achievement and Client of the Year Awards ceremony held recently.  The awards dinner attracted approximately 150 persons representing consultants, public officials and water industry leaders. 

 “Consideration for the Client of the Year Award was given to entities that have shown significant and long lasting contributions to the Orange County engineering community,” said Bart Patton, national director of CELSOC, a statewide organization representing 1,200 private consulting engineering and land surveying firms. “The Orange County Water District exemplifies leadership, innovation and resourcefulness with a valid interest in improving the local community.”

The District was recognized for its leadership and innovation managing the Orange County groundwater basin, its unwavering commitment to constantly improving water quality and reliability, and its use of consultants in the delivery of engineering projects. OCWD groundwater is approximately half the cost of imported water. Over the past 30 years, OCWD has doubled the annual yield from the basin resulting in millions of dollars in annual savings to residents within OCWD by mitigating future rate increases.

“OCWD has the motto ‘A Tradition of Innovation.’  From our ability to manage the basin to provide reliability during local reoccurring droughts to our proactive philosophy on water quality and safety, OCWD is one of the world’s most respected groundwater management agencies.  We thank CELSOC for recognizing the many years of water leadership and innovation and for selecting us to receive this first ever award,” said Phil Anthony, president of the OCWD Board of Directors.

In addition, OCWD is constructing the largest indirect potable reuse water project in the world. The internationally recognized Groundwater Replenishment (GWR) System is a joint project of the Orange County Water District and Orange County Sanitation District, and will provide a new, near-distilled quality water supply that will meet the needs of 144,000 families yearly beginning in 2007. The GWR System takes highly treated sewer water and purifies it for an expanded seawater barrier and to refill Orange County’s groundwater basin.

As an environmentally responsible organization, OCWD’s environmental mitigation program to support storing water behind Prado Dam has resulted in an increase of breeding pairs of the endangered California song bird, the Least Bells vireo, from 18 pairs in the early 1980’s to over 500 breeding pairs today.

For more information about the Orange County Water District, go to www.ocwd.com or for the Groundwater Replenishment System, go to www.gwrsystem.com. For information about CELSOC, go to www.celsoc.org.

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.

About CELSOC
CELSOC is a 52-year-old, nonprofit association representing 1,200 private consulting engineering and land surveying firms that average 20 employees each. As a statewide organization, we are dedicated to enhancing the consulting engineering and land surveying professions, protecting the general public and promoting the use of the private sector in the growth and development of our state.  CELSOC members provide services for all phases of planning, designing and constructing projects. Member services include civil, structural, geotechnical, electrical and mechanical engineering and land surveying for all types of public works, residential, commercial and industrial projects.  The CELSOC family includes 24 local chapters covering the state, a 64 member Board of Directors (elected by the chapters), 24 Committees, two Academies and five Affiliated Organizations. CELSOC is the nation’s largest Member organization in the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC).