Nicole Van Aken, the lab manager at Fairfield-Suisun Sewer District, values education as a means to achieve excellence. She takes a proactive approach to seeking educational opportunities for both her team and herself. Her belief in education also extends to her volunteer work within the industry.  “Continued training is something I believe in,” she said....

Phuc Tran not only performs water and wastewater analysis at Vacaville, he teaches others in the art and science of analytical methods. “I enjoy teaching others,” he says. He says that new hires often join the laboratory staff based on equivalent education, not on experience and basic skills. “I try to train them in the...

Bill McManus probably didn’t realize it at the time, but a television show he watched as a boy has had a lot to do with his career. The show was called “How Things are Made” and featured the materials and assembly of various products. Now, as chief environmental compliance inspector for the City of Los...

Nicole Greenwood, an aquarium marine biologist turned Wastewater Resource Analyst, has successfully transitioned into an industry she never expected to be a part of. Despite having no prior knowledge of the water/wastewater industry laboratory positions, she has quickly gained expertise and thrives in the dynamic work environment of the City of Riverside Wastewater Treatment Plant...

Marvin Gonzalez has been nominated for and received awards in the past, but none of them predicted his future success as accurately as his most recent nomination. Last autumn, a coworker at Leucadia Wastewater District nominated Gonzalez for the CWEA Emerging Leaders program. Little did they know that Gonzalez would soon be promoted to Field...

Jacelyn Renwick is a dedicated volunteer who gives her all to various causes. She helps out at non-profits, supports her co-workers as a union president, and volunteers for her local CWEA chapter. When asked about her motivation for volunteering, she said she firmly believes that if you care about something, you should dedicate your time...

The weekend surge in skiers, hikers, and visitors at Mammoth Lakes present a challenge that Bruce Medhurst enjoys. The population goes from 8,000 to 35,000, requiring the crew at the Mammoth Community Water District (MCWD) wastewater treatment plant to adjust and optimize treatment as they produce tertiary treated water for reclaim. As laboratory supervisor for...

A history-making Los Angeles Board of Water and Power Commissioners is diligently building a sustainable future for one of the nation’s largest metropolitan areas. The City of Los Angeles set a milestone in 2020 with the appointment of its fifth female commissioner, making it the only all-female Board in the city and the first-ever for...

With no prior experience, Jennifer Rojas’ entry into the wastewater industry may have seemed a little unconventional. Today, after more than 10 years in her chosen field, she looks back on how adapting the managerial kills she already possessed and being surrounded by her knowledgeable team helped Rojas build a solid career. “I had just...

Driven by the rapidly growing demands for skilled career professionals in the water and wastewater industry, National University and Cuyamaca College will launch a new degree pathway program starting in February 2021. Developed in collaboration with regional employers, the new Bachelor of Public Administration degree with a concentration in Waterworks Management provides a seamless pathway for graduates...

Anna Bell not only knows her laboratory, she understands the treatment process and how the lab data affect plant operations.  That’s because she’s not only a certified laboratory analyst, she’s also a grade V wastewater operator, and that enables her to know exactly what the analytical data mean out there where the wastewater meets the...

Oyuna Jenkins has been working all her professional life to serve the public.  That ethic goes back to her native Mongolia, where she earned a university degree in chemical engineering. In the U.S. she says she wanted to find a job that capitalized on her education, and she worked for a small analytical laboratory for nine years...

Joey Hilliard does a little bit of everything for the Goleta West Sanitary District.  As a Utility 4 worker, sometimes he runs the Vactor unit or the CCTV truck, other times he’s maintaining lift pumps, implementing the utility’s FOG program, inspecting projects like lateral replacements, taking care of billing, and filling out permitting forms. He was named Collection...

Those familiar with Jose Rodriguez know he’d rather be out in the field than stuck in an office.   “I enjoy being out in nature,” he says, “doing Mother Nature’s job and getting my hands dirty.”  Jose is supervisor of both water and wastewater at the Sunnyvale County Water District in Hollister. He’s been in his current position for...

Thomas Johnson started in the wastewater business by answering the phone, filing customer information, taking out the trash, and shipping products for his father’s company.  And he was only 15 years old.  Today, 17 years later, he is sales manager at WECO Industries, and poised to take over the business someday. “I grew up with...

Flor Burrola is committed to environmental sustainability. As a civil engineering associate II with LA Sanitation & Environment (LASAN), she feels great about where she is and passionate about the projects she works on.    “I’m lucky to be working with the city’s Wastewater Engineering Services Division, planning and collaborating with multiple departments and agencies,” she says.   A recent example was a...

Nataly Dakak loves what she does, encourages other young women to get into water and other STEM fields, and sees potable reuse of wastewater as the practice of the future.  She’s an environmental engineering associate at the City of Los Angeles Bureau of Sanitation, and has responsibility for enforcing the Industrial Waste Control Ordinance and the USEPA wastewater pretreatment standards..  Her passion with water systems developed during her undergraduate studies...

Manuel Zapien never stops learning.  He discovered water science while studying geology at the University of California, Santa Barbara.  He took biology, chemistry, and physics classes.  Later he applied for a laboratory job at Ventura County.  He learned from those he worked with there, and he continues to study laboratory procedures in preparation for future requirements.  “I never stop learning,” he says. “There are new challenges every day.” ...

“Professional approach with all assignments.  Excellent communication skills. Participation and excellence in leading edge and special assignments.  Creative thinker. Thorough and very high quality work.”  These are words his nominators used to describe Ibrahim Hafeez.   “He uses technical knowledge and sound engineering to resolve complex issues,” says Mike Sarullo, principal civil/division engineer with the city’s Bureau of Engineering.  “Of the...

 Lucia Diaz used to hang around her dad’s construction firm, an experience she says taught her well about contractors, construction drawings, plans and specs, and big projects.  She’s put that background to good use as Facilities Program Supervisor for the Inland Empire Utilities Agency. She’s been working for IEUA for 13 years, and now supervises a staff of seven.  She admits that...

There’s hardly anything in wastewater treatment that Chris Christean hasn’t done.  “I started as a college student cleaning sludge beds as a part-time job,” he says. “The operators in Turlock convinced me to get into the industry. I picked up a couple of books and studied the profession, then joined the staff at Patterson as an operator-in-training.”  Later, he...

Pump stations, lift stations, and piping layouts were nothing new to Bob Stiles when he took a collections system job at the Novato Sanitary District six years ago. He’d worked with his dad on construction projects involving these kinds of jobs since he was a teenager. But he says he still had a lot to...

Amy Hwang wanted to be where the action was. Water. Wastewater. Water reuse.  So after receiving her engineering degree from the University of Texas, she came to California, and got her master’s degree from the University of California at Berkeley. After working a bit as consultant, she joined the engineering staff at Central Marin Sanitation Agency.  “I decided to...

CWEA is gathering nominations for an Emerging Leaders story to appear in the Summer 2019 Clean Water. We are looking for accomplished water professionals who are making a significant, positive impact on California’s water and they have not yet been recognized for that effort. CWEA Definition of Emerging Leader Emerging leader describes an individual who: Has...

If you selected a 2018 all-star team among clean water professionals in California, this year’s Emerging Leaders would be good choices to fill the positions. The seven selected for this year’s Emerging Leaders honors cover the field from collections to treatment, from compliance to environmental services, from laboratory analysis to engineering and project management. And...

Robert Wilson is an environmental professional who embodies the concept of multi-tasking. As the environmental services supervisor for the City of Petaluma, he is responsible for regulatory compliance of wastewater discharges, storm water, air quality and biosolids, water conservation, as well as pollution prevention, recycled wastewater, and pretreatment. And away from the office he’s taken...

Shannon Simmers has covered a lot of ground in the last seven and a half years…from earning a college degree, to volunteering and then working at the Riverside Water Quality Control Plant and now for Redlands Municipal Utilities, and chairing the CWEA’s P3S committee. That takes determination and persistence, and she has it. “When she...

Mark Koekemoer finds laboratory work very fulfilling. “It’s not just a day job where you collect a paycheck. It is an opportunity where you can go home to your family and feel good about what you have accomplished,” he says. “We are supporting the greater industry, providing data for operators to use, identifying trouble spots,...

Helping others was nothing new for Felipe Carrillo when he joined the Santa Clara Water and Sewer Department five years ago. He had spent the past 11 years working at an at-risk youth center, teaching students construction and general trade skills. So it’s little surprise that in his relatively short tenure at Santa Clara he’s...

Projects at the Fairfield-Suisun Sewer District are hallmarked by transparency, open communications, and disappearance of the traditional silos that often plague the clean water profession. That’s in great part due to the efforts of Jordan Damerel, Director of Engineering. “Jordan manages the District’s Capital Improvement and Asset Management programs, and he’s constantly working towards more...

Theodore Higgins has moved steadily taking on roles of greater responsibility in his 16 years at the Industrial Waste Management Division at the city of Los Angeles Bureau of Sanitation. Now he’s helping create advancement opportunities for his inspections colleagues through the creation of the Professional Development and Work Exposure Program. The program encourages the...

In a profession dominated by men, Dorien McElroy stands out. She manages the sewer Collections System for the Irvine Ranch Water District. “One usually doesn’t associate collections system management with a woman,” says Judith Marquez, Environmental Analyst/Consultant of Innovare Environmental who nominated her. “But she is passionate about her job in a way that makes...

CWEA is gathering nominations for an Emerging Leaders story to appear in the Summer 2018 Clean Water. We are looking for accomplished water professionals who are making a significant, positive impact on California’s water and they have not yet been recognized for that effort. CWEA Definition of Emerging Leader Emerging leader describes an individual who: Has...

Mark McGrath, Collections System Supervisor in Hayward, California, knows what it’s like to be part of the collections crew, because he’s been one of them. “I know their needs, because I’ve been there,” he says. “I understand the adverse conditions, the outdoor elements. I acknowledge their efforts when they’ve done well. I treat them as...

“You need to be able to handle it in the dark with your eyes closed.” That’s the way Emerging Leader Joe Gregory views safety training. “When we come on the scene, people need to know what to do,” he says. “You should be able to handle the situation in your sleep.” Now thefor the Carmel...

Marc Oliver Quijano moved from lizards to water, and the results have been very impressive. “I studied Biology in college,” he says, “and conducted research on lizard population genetics, determining how human overpopulation affects the environment. An internship at West Basin Municipal Water District’s water recycling facilities and good mentors sparked a new career. I...

When the “One Water” plant of the future finally arrives, Amanda Bird will feel right at home. A Grade V Operator at the Santa Cruz wastewater treatment plant, she’s excited about the future of the profession. She foresees the day when wastewater, drinking water, water recycle, biosolids management and energy generation will be combined into a single, efficient public...