CWEA Recognizes Coachella Water with Seven Awards; Seeks Nominations for Emerging Leaders

California Water Environment Association (CWEA) sponsors a number of award competitions throughout the year and 2018 was a noteworthy year for Riverside County’s Coachella Valley Water District (CVWD). CVWD earned seven awards from the Colorado River Basin Section (CORBS) of CWEA in 2018.

These awards for work conducted in 2018 include:

• Allan Besse — Mechanical Technician of the Year
• Jose Bon — Collections Person of the Year Award
• Leonard Corral (CVWD retiree) — Distinguished Service Award
• Juan Martinez — Supervisor of the Year Award
• Collections System of the Year Award (Large System)
• Wastewater Reclamation Plant 7 — Engineering & Research Award

The seventh award earned by CVWD was a first-year category for CWEA — the “Gimmicks or Gadget Award” award category. CVWD’s Garrett Galindo, Armando Pecheco and Abel Zabalza received the new award for heating and bending a shovel by 90 degrees to allow it to reach into a chemical odor scrubber vessel to clean it.

“These awards are a testament to the dedication of CVWD employees who work in wastewater reclamation every day,” said Dan Farris, CVWD’s director of Operations.

The awards were presented at a recent awards dinner at Spotlight 29 Casino in Coachella. The winners at the section level are eligible to compete at the statewide level.

CWEA is now seeking nominations for accomplished water professionals who are making a significant, positive impact on California’s water but have not yet been recognized for that effort. Individuals selected by CWEA as Emerging Leaders will be featured in a story to appear in the Summer 2019 edition of Clean Water.

CWEA describes an Emerging Leaders as people who:

• Have demonstrated the potential to assume a leadership role in an organization.
• Are strong performers who have the potential, ability, and aspiration for continuing their impact on the profession in a leadership role.
• Show commitment to the organization, exert influence, and demonstrate a willingness to step up and take on more responsibility.
• Have desire to grow both personally and professionally through networking with like-minded professionals and volunteer work in our profession, and whose
• Impact will last for a couple of years or more.

Emerging Leaders will be chosen by a panel of seasoned industry leaders. The finalists will be interviewed and profiled in a Clean Water article.

Whereas nominees do not have to be CWEA members they should be involved with California water and should reside in California. Nominators must be CWEA members. Self nominations are eligible; if you meet the above criteria complete the nomination process and you might be chosen.

Nominations are due Monday, April 1, 2019. The application can be found at: https://cweaawards.secure-platform.com/a/page/el.