Eastern Municipal Water District (EMWD) is a leading provider of water, recycled water, and wastewater services over a 555‑square-mile area surrounding its headquarters in Perris, California. Roxanne Rountree, EMWD’s senior public affairs program manager, and Alfred Javier, its director of environmental and regulatory compliance, are on the front lines of the company’s efforts to prevent pharmaceuticals from entering their region’s water supply. In this interview, they tell Municipal Water Leader about EMWD's Sewer Smart Program, a comprehensive public information campaign that combines media outreach, classroom instruction, and the provision of alternative disposal methods for pharmaceuticals and other waste products. 

Orange County Water District (OCWD) is the groundwater basin manager for north and central Orange County, California, providing 77 percent of the water supply for the 2.5 million residents of the area. OCWD is a world leader in water recycling, and its Groundwater Replenishment System (GWRS) is the largest advanced water purification system for potable reuse in the world. OCWD’s focus on water reuse means that it has developed sophisticated protocols for ensuring that the water it provides is clean, safe, and free of any harmful contamination, including contamination by pharmaceuticals and other constituents of emerging concern (CECs). In this interview, Jason Dadakis, OCWD’s executive director of water quality technical…

The Southern Nevada Water Authority (SNWA), which provides wholesale water to more than 2 million people in southern Nevada, is highly proactive when it comes to water purity and safety. Beginning around 2000, it has done significant research into detecting and removing pharmaceutical contaminants and other contaminants of emerging concern from the water supplies it delivers. David Rexing, the SNWA’s water quality research and development manager, has worked for Las Vegas’s not-for-profit water agencies since 1975. In this interview, he tells Municipal Water Leader about the development of the agency’s compliance laboratory and its research activities today. 

Chance Lauderdale, PhD, PE, is an expert in the field of water treatment specializing in biofiltration who today leads engineering firm HDR’s global drinking water program. Dr. Lauderdale’s reference publications and novel biofilter enhancement and monitoring strategies are used by utilities throughout the United States. In this interview, Dr. Lauderdale tells Municipal Water Leader about HDR’s global drinking water program—one of the largest in the world—and the services it provides to help its clients mitigate problems like pharmaceutical contamination in water reuse projects and successfully communicate their achievements to their customers. 

Eastern Municipal Water District (EMWD) provides water, wastewater, and recycled water services to nearly 900,000 residents of a rapidly growing area in Riverside County, California. Its significant size and wide variety of activities mean that its more than 600 employees are exposed to a number of on-the-job hazards, from heat to high-voltage electricity to work in confined spaces. To address this, EMWD has a well-developed safety, risk, and emergency management system that includes training, risk reporting, and the identification of all risks associated with its equipment.  In this interview, EMWD General Manager Paul Jones and Director of Safety, Risk and Emergency Management Doug Hefley tell Municipal Water Leader about the…

A native of the Texas Panhandle, Kent Satterwhite is only the second general manager in the more-than- 50‑year history of the Canadian River Municipal Water Authority (CRMWA). The CRMWA is situated in the Texas Panhandle and meets most of the raw water needs of its 11 member cities, which in turn serve nearly 600,000 people. In addition to providing surface water from its Lake Meredith Reservoir, CRMWA has perhaps the largest groundwater rights holdings in the nation, ensuring its viability far into the future.  In this interview, CRMWA General Manager Kent Satterwhite tells Municipal Water Leader about the authority’s history and services. 

The San Antonio Water System (SAWS) was formed in 1992 to take over the functions of a number of water, wastewater, and water reuse entities in the San Antonio city government. Today, it provides services to 1.86 million people across a 933-square-mile area. Over the last few decades, SAWS has worked to diversify San Antonio’s water supply, which used to rely solely on the local aquifer, so that it includes recycled water, aquifer storage and recharge (ASR), brackish groundwater desalination, and nonlocal groundwater piped in via a 142-mile pipeline.  In this interview, Donovan Burton, SAWS’s water resources and intergovernmental relations vice president, tells Municipal Water Leader about the agency’s work…

Tom Kula recently retired as the executive director of the North Texas Municipal Water District (NTMWD). After serving 32 years in the U.S. Army, Mr. Kula went on to serve people in a different way by spending 6 years at NTMWD, helping to ensure the 1.8 million people it serves had access to the vital water resources they require. In this second phase of his professional life, Mr. Kula tackled many challenges confronting NTMWD in its ongoing quest for new opportunities to fully serve the region. 

The North Texas Municipal Water District (NTMWD) provides treated water to 13 member cities and other customers across a rapidly growing region with a population of 1.8 million. It is currently working on the first major Texas reservoir in 30 years, Bois D’Arc Lake. In light of the population growth in its area, NTMWD is also looking into developing new wastewater treatment facilities.  In this interview, NTMWD Interim Executive Director and General Manager Rodney Rhoades tells Municipal Water Leader about the district’s history, current services, and plans for the future. 

The Sabine River Authority (SRA) was created by the Texas Legislature in 1949 to store, control, preserve, and distribute water. With 115 employees and a service area of over 7,400 square miles, the SRA helps conserve water and distribute it to large Texas cities, such as Dallas and Longview, and industrial customers near the Gulf of Mexico.  David Montagne is the executive vice president and general manager of the SRA and has worked for the authority for 34 years. In this interview, he tells Municipal Water Leader about the SRA’s current projects and its plans for the future.