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Water industry leaders gathered at Friday’s 10th Annual San Bernardino County (SBC) Water Conference acknowledged that when they convened their first county-wide water conference in 2007 they could not have begun to image the changes in the industry in the ensuing ten years. SBC Supervisor and Chairman of the Board James Ramos, who provided opening comments to the water conference, spoke to the situation by praising those in attendance for working toward, “…regional solutions to maintain our water supplies…to ensure good stewardship of water in San Bernardino County…and work toward a sustainable water supply.”
A retrospective look at the situation 10 years ago was summed up by Kirby Brill, general manager of Mojave Water Agency, when he said, “Ten years ago we had developed a silo mentality, but not today.” His comments were echoed by Kathy Tiegs, director for Cucamonga Valley Water Agency and president of the Association of California Water Agencies (ACWA), who said, “I agree with Kirby, we can’t do this in a silo. We have reinvented how we use water supplies…through sophisticated outreach and education opportunities.”
Joe Grindstaff, general manager for the Inland Empire Utilities Agency, was equally succinct in his comments saying, “We must come together as a region to be successful. We’ve made significant progress.”
Conference attendees examined a number of pressing issues in the industry including preparing a new generation for water careers, unintended consequences of conservation and strategies in communicating water messages.
The demands of California’s on-going drought, increasing temperatures due to global warming, an aging infrastructure and a myriad of other water issues have driven the need for a new generation of students pursuing water careers. Focusing on whether to train internally or look elsewhere, a three-person panel moderated by Diane Pittman, human resources group manager with Metropolitan Water District, suggested both options be pursued. The panel suggested that looking to the region’s colleges, both the community colleges and the four-year universities — supplemented by internships for students, mentoring programs for teachers (teach the teachers) and job shadowing veteran water employees by new hires – were all viable options in preparing for a dynamic and growing water career.
Roberta Perez, human resources manager with Cucamonga Valley Water District, shared that, “Students are used to seeing the water employees in the field but we need to open up to the next generation…” and asked that water agencies help show students that careers in finance, customer service, management and other fields are all part of water management. “We share these same needs and kids don’t necessarily know these jobs exist.”
The panel also encouraged getting in front of elementary and junior high school youth to begin sharing not only the need for conservation but also for an early exposure to the existence of careers in the water industry.
Attending the panel discussion was Peggy Weber, student services technician II at San Bernardino Valley College, who appreciated the panel’s approach to finding the next generation of water industry employees. She cited the value of what is provided in the classroom combined with internships so students can both learn and see, “Why they are using three to five different processes to make water clean and why they need to so carefully separate clean vs. dirty water.”
The unintended consequences of water conservation was the focus of two differing panel discussions. The first dealt with the unique dichotomy facing many water agencies. Most everyone in the state is on the water conservation bandwagon so water districts are ordering less water. But with fixed (or even increasing) water operating costs many districts are faced with (or will be facing) raising water rates.
Mark Norton, water resources and planning manager with the Santa Ana Watershed Project Authority, pointed out, “We’re in a new normal. Everyone has to adjust.”
Additionally, unintended consequences of water conservation also focused on the affects in building industry. Jonathon Weldy, president of Meridian Land Development, provided the insight that, “Unintended consequences are the results of progress. We have to learn new skills – driven by both demand and legislation.
Changes in codes drive the prices up in new houses but the buyer doesn’t know or understand them. We need to get to better messaging,” said Weldy. “How do we educate them? What is our message? It’s a cultural and messaging change. We need to be the next PokemonGo!”
Messaging was the focus in a three -person panel, moderated by Jennifer Perskie, deputy executive director at ACWA. Perskie pointed out that the industry is in a pivot. “The state is watching all water-related news. We used to have days of not having to engage people in conservation but we need to change this.”
Lou Desmond, president of Desmond & Louis Inc., a Redlands-based public relations firm, told the audience, “You are all in a water crisis.” Citing the outcry from customers state-wide who say, ’We use less water ad you want to raise my water rates?’ Desmond told the audience they need to explain why water fees are increasing. “They will keep asking ‘why.’ You need to communicate in a way that’s not boring. You have to treat it like it’s the crisis it is. Engage the public and explain to them why.”
Norton, of the Santa Ana Watershed, echoed Desmond saying, “If you’re not in a crisis now, you will be. And you need to plan for it.”
Karen Snyder, senior director, Katz & Associates, noted, “We plan for staffing. We have five-year plans for growth and finances, etc., but we don’t always plan for our communications needs and crises. Plan for communications like you plan for everything else.” All three panelists agreed this was a critical need for the foreseeable present and future.
The clear take-away from the conference was the need to take stock of the present and plan ahead. Whereas the water industry has done a yeoman’s job in stepping up to the drought and planning for the next three years should the drought continue, the conference pointed attendees to the next steps in planning.
A need for a new generation of well-trained water employees, the unintended consequences of stepping up to manage the drought thus far and the critical need for better messaging are all issues to plan for now and in the immediate future clearly resonated with the 300-plusconference attendees.
