Member Spotlight

Capital Region Water (CRW) in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and two upstream neighboring municipalities, Lower Paxton Township (LPT) and Susquehanna Township (ST), joined forces as the Paxton Creek Cooperative, committed to working together on a Joint Pollutant Reduction Plan (PRP) to reduce sediment from stormwater discharges and stream bank erosion and improve the health of Paxton Creek, Beaver Creek, Spring Creek, and the Chesapeake Bay.

In 2013, Alexandria Renew Enterprises (AlexRenew), the wastewater treatment provider in Alexandria, Virginia, established a partnership with Urban Alliance (UA), a national nonprofit dedicated to supporting underserved youth through paid, professional internships, workplace readiness training, and mentorship. Building on its role as a resource to the community it serves, AlexRenew saw this partnership as an opportunity to bridge the gap of workforce development needs, while preparing Alexandria’s most vulnerable young people for professional success.

As a public agency, the Hampton Roads Sanitation District (HRSD) is challenged to compete for talent. One of the most challenging areas is for business talent with advanced degrees. As a business with over $350 million in annual revenue and a ten-year capital investment plan in excess of $2.75 billion, business acumen is a necessary skill set for HRSD’s success. Recognizing this need, HRSD has been investing in growing an internal cadre of MBA-educated and credentialed talent.

The Central Contra Costa Sanitary District (Central San) provides wastewater collection and cleaning, recycled water production and distribution, and household hazardous waste collection for nearly 500,000 residents and over 3,000 businesses in central Contra Costa County, California. Central San designed the Pipe Protectors Program to fill a void in wastewater education, as Kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd-grade programming simply didn’t exist. As more and more schools fully transition to the California Next Generation Science Standards, the need for high-quality science and engineering activities that engage all age groups would become critical.

For this valuable program, the Great Lakes Water Authority was recognized with a National Environmental Achievement Award in the Workforce Development category during NACWA's Winter Conference in February 2020. Congratulations to GLWA and everyone involved!

The Upper Trinity Regional Water District (UTWRD) owns and operates the Riverbend Water Reclamation Plant (WRP) in Aubrey, Texas. The plant was originally constructed with a sequencing batch reactor (SBR) process for activated sludge. In January of 2016, UTRWD initiated a project to improve operational reliability and increase flow capacity. Though the goals of the project were challenging, the plan was successfully implemented with both an innovative treatment technology and project delivery method.

Industry trends indicate that an increasing number of tenured treatment plant operators are reaching retirement age, so developing a new generation of water and wastewater treatment plant operators has become an urgent need. The Knoxville Utilities Board’s (KUB) Operator Qualification Program was established to meet this need. The program ensures a consistent knowledge base for all operators, reduces the probability and potential of incidents caused by human error, and improves plant and operator efficiency.

For three consecutive years, the East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD) has hosted a cleanup event at the Martin Luther King Jr. Shoreline Regional Park in Oakland, California. The shoreline park is a restored wetland and a public recreation space set amidst a densely populated urban area. Trash from littering and from the tides builds up along the shoreline, adversely impacting the park’s beauty and its function as habitat for local wildlife.

In 2019, the Sanitation Districts of Los Angeles County began construction on the Clearwater Project, consisting of a 7-mile, 18-foot diameter, almost entirely underground tunnel and outfall system that conveys clean water from its largest wastewater treatment facility to the ocean. The project will ensure the main sewer system's reliability and future capacity needs with serving over 5 million people in Los Angeles County.

The City of Richmond's Stormwater Utility, in collaboration with Richmond Public Elementary Schools, brought the community outreach RVAH2O Rain Barrel Painting Program to life. The program, designed to engage Richmond's population and educate citizens about water quantity and quality, has proven to be practical and has added to the unique beauty of the City. Through the program, elementary school students display their creativity and better the community by painting rain barrels that are distributed free-of-charge to Richmond's citizens. The simple installation of rain barrels helps reduce the amount of runoff experienced with each wet weather occurrence and helps to prevent Richmond's stormwater infrastructure from being overwhelmed. For its efforts, the City of Richmond Stormwater Utility was recognized with a National Environmental Achievement Award in the Public Information & Education Educational Program category during NACWA's Winter Conference in February 2020. Congratulations to the City of Richmond Stormwater Utility and everyone involved!