Out in the Community
As part of its standard to forge and maintain long-term, positive and proactive relationships with members of the local community and greater water industry and to be transparent about its operations and programs, OCWD board members and staff speak regularly before groups and at events. We recently participated in the following:
- Directors Vicente Sarmiento and Denis Bilodeau, General Manager Mike Markus and OCWD’s federal legislative consultants met with members of Congress and staff from pertinent committees and federal agencies in Washington, D.C. to advocate for District priorities.
- Director Cathy Green and Executive Director of Engineering John Kennedy presented to the Delta Stewardship Council about OCWD.
- Director Steve Sheldon and John Kennedy provided a presentation to Newport Beach Council Member Joy Brenner, City Manager Grace Leung and Utilities Director Mark Vukojevic.
- John Kennedy provided a presentation about OCWD to the Probus Club in Placentia.
- Laboratory Director Lee Yoo participated in the 7th Busan Global Water Forum and spoke about water quality monitoring and future water reuse requirements.
- The September WACO meeting featured Executive Director of Water Quality & Technical Resources Jason Dadakis who provided an overview about PFAS.
- Jason also presented about PFAS at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine PFAS workshop.
- Jason Dadakis and Director of Water Quality Patrick Versluis provided a GWRS and laboratory overview and facilities tour to staff from the Orange County district office for the state Division of Drinking Water (DDW).
- During the 34th Annual WateReuse Symposium in San Diego, the following staff participated:
♦ Jason Dadakis moderated a panel about “Effective Technologies for Potable Reuse.”
♦ GWRS Project Manager Sandy Scott-Roberts presented about “Evaluating PVDF Membranes for Orange County Water District’s GWRS Final Expansion Project Design.”
♦ Principal Scientist Jana Safarik presented about “Naturally Occurring Ions to Monitor RO Performance and Integrity in Reuse Applications.
♦ Executive Director of Operations/GWRS Mehul Patel served on a panel about “Increasing Innovation in Water Reuse with The Water Research Foundation’s LIFT Program.”
- Mehul Patel and Operations Manager Tyson Neely met with staff from the city of Escondido to share operations related information about the GWRS.
- Chief Hydrogeologist Roy Herndon and Principal Engineer Tim Sovich met with representatives of the Department of Navy and Irvine Ranch Water District to provide comments on the Navy’s ongoing refinements of a groundwater flow model of the Irvine area. The model is used to estimate the capture zone of extraction wells which remove TCE-impacted groundwater from the former MCAS El Toro.
Director of Public Affairs Eleanor Torres served on the planning committee and led the awards presentation for the Filipino American Chamber of Commerce Orange County’s 11th Green and Health Expo. Senior Communications Specialist Diane Pinnick served on a panel about how agencies/companies are addressing climate change issues. Intern Callan Keeter helped staff an OCWD table and distributed information about the District and the GWRS. OCWD was an event sponsor.- Recharge Planning Manager Adam Hutchinson participated in a panel discussion at UC Berkeley hosted by the Center for Law, Energy & the Environment (CLEE) on Incentivizing Groundwater Recharge.
- Adam Hutchinson also moderated a panel discussion at the Groundwater Resources Association’s Western Groundwater Congress. The panel topic was One Water and Non-Traditional Water Supplies.
- Principal Hydrogeologist Dave Mark and Hydrogeologist Gary Yoshiba briefed city of Seal Beach councilmember Mike Varipapa and staff regarding a proposed OCWD seawater intrusion monitoring well being planned at a parking lot along Seal Beach Boulevard.
- Dave Mark also gave a presentation and demonstration on groundwater and wells to all of the 7th grade science classes at South Lake Middle School in Irvine where his wife teaches science.
Engineer Ben Smith gave a presentation to the Fountain Valley Homeowners Association regarding OCWD’s Green Acres Project.