WateReuse Association honors 11 water leaders at 32nd Annual WateReuse Symposium

The WateReuse Association honored 11 water leaders for their extraordinary leadership in advancing sustainable, locally controlled water supplies during the Annual WateReuse Awards Luncheon as part of the Sept. 12 32nd Annual WateReuse Symposium. The honorees include businesses, utilities and individuals dedicated to water reuse.

WateReuse Executive Director Patricia Sinicropi commented that, “As more and more communities turn toward water reuse to manage their water resources, these awardees are creating solutions that others can use.”

Three California water entities – a business, water district and an association — were part of the 11 awardees. These included:

Industrial Project of the Year: Evoqua Water Technologies & Air Products – Brine Recovery Reverse Osmosis Project – Evoqua Water Technologies and Air Products, a Los Angeles based hydrogen production facility, installed a brine recovery reverse osmosis technology to reduce water and wastewater impact by up to 75 million gallons a year.

Public Education Program of the Year: Orange County Water District – This past year, the Orange County Water District (OCWD) in Fountain Valley, CA embarked on new outreach initiatives including the bottling of advanced purified water, opening its H2O Learning Center, and translating technical brochures into four languages.

WateReuse Customer of the Year: Lake Mission Viejo Association (LMVA) – Lake Mission Viejo is a man-made lake first filled with potable water in 1978. Today, the lake is the first swimming and recreational lake in California to use recycled water for supplemental lake refill. LMVA also uses recycled water for irrigation.

Other honorees included:

• Project of the Year, Large — Liberty Aquifer Replenishment Facility, Goodyear, AZ
• Project of the Year, Small — Vadose Injection Project/City of Goodyear, AZ
• Agriculture Project of the Year: Farming Reimagined: Advancing Urban Agriculture with Water Reuse Technology (Pentair and Urban Organics), St. Paul, MN
• Institution of the Year: Water & Energy Sustainable Technology Center (WEST), The University of Arizona
• Innovative Project of the Year: pureALTA – An Innovative Potable Reuse Demonstration Pilot without RO, Altamonte Springs, FL
• Public Education Program of the Year: Water Citizen Academy/Scottsdale (AZ) Water
• WateReuse Person of the Year: Jeffrey J. Mosher, Chief Research Officer, Water Environment & Reuse Foundation, Alexandria, VA
• WateReuse Young Professional of the Year: Germano Salazar-Benites, SWIFT Project Manager, Hampton Roads Sanitation District, Virginia Beach, VA

“This year’s winners have demonstrated innovation and creativity in using water reuse to ensure a safe and reliable water supply for their communities,” said WateReuse President Guy Carpenter of Carollo Engineers.