Garver knows that building the next generation of water professionals is as vital as building pipelines and treatment plants. That’s why at Garver, leaders like Ikram Sayed are given opportunities to meet and overcome the challenges facing Texas water utilities. By investing in our young professionals, Garver is securing the future of water in our communities for generations to come.
One of the most prestigious awards in the water profession is the George Warren Fuller Award for distinguished service to the water supply field in "commemoration of the sound engineering skill, the brilliant diplomatic talent and the constructive leadership, which characterized the life of George Warren Fuller."
Because of our membership growth, TAWWA has two Directors on the AWWA Board. With that achievement, we also can award two Fuller awards each year if we have qualified candidates.
This year we are honored to present the George Warren Fuller Award to both Fiona Allen and Heather Cooke. TAWWA recognized them at Texas WaterTM 2023 in Houston and they will also be honored at AWWA ACE in Toronto, Canada, in June.
Allen, a registered professional engineer, has been an AWWA member for more than 35 years, serving in a variety of leadership roles in the Texas Section. She has also helped the Section and AWWA shape State and Federal policies and legislation as the chair of the Section Water Utility Council.
Cooke, the Chief Administrative Officer of Austin Water, has been an AWWA member for more than 15 years. She brings her powerful and thoughtful analytic skills reviewing hundreds of pieces of legislation over the last six legislative sessions to our membership. Cooke presents her information to Texas Section members through the award-winning Legislative Lunchbreak webcasts so Texas Section members can make informed decisions that impact their communities.
We are honored to present Fiona Allen and Heather Cooke with the distinguished George Warren Fuller Award.
American Water Works Association
P.O. Box 80150 Austin, Texas 78708 www.tawwa.org
Amy Middleton, Chair 210-510-0888
Karen Menard, Chair-Elect 817-493-1195
Marisa Vergara, Vice-Chair 210-494-8004
Drew Molly, Imm. Past Chair 361-826-1853
Mike Howe Executive Director/Secretary-Treasurer 512-238-9292 Fax: 512-238-0496 mikehowe@tawwa.org
This publication is distributed bi-monthly to the more than 3,500 members and friends of the Texas Section – American Water Works Association.
Contributing writers can contact the editor:
Elizabeth Rose GCP Association Services, LLC PO Box 676 Pflugerville, TX 78691 512-251-8101 Fax: 512-251-8152 TXh20@tawwa.org
The publication name, TexasH2O: © 1996-2023 Texas Section – American Water Works Association, Inc.
© 2023 Texas Section – American Water Works Association, Inc.
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Iwould like to thank Drew Molly for his dedication to being Chair for the past year and a half, and I will look to his leadership as Past Chair during my year of service. Drew supported two Texas Water events as a Chair, which is not an easy task!
With more than 6,700 registrations, Texas WaterTM 2023 was a success with our largest turnout to date! Thank you to the Conference Co-Chairs, Venus Price and Liz Fazio Hale, wonderful Houston volunteers, our Committees and Divisions, GCP Association Services, and the Executive Director Mike Howe that put together a great conference.
Joseph Jacangelo, president of the American Water Works Association, held an informative breakfast with an invited group that included the local Chapter Presidents in the Section and YPs to discuss the progress of the Water 2050 initiative, which is a collaborative effort led by AWWA to envision the future of water and chart a course for success and sustainability.
Congratulations to the award recipients and competition winners. It was a pleasure to attend the awards lunches and watch the Pipe Tapping, Hydrant Hysteria and Meter Challenges. I really enjoyed the Women in Water breakfast and seeing many friends in attendance. Finally, the conference would not be the success it is without the technical presentation and poster presenters and the vendors who put together a great exhibit hall!
In March, part of the Executive Board went to Washington, D.C., to participate in the 2023 Water Matters Fly-In. We met with our Senators and Representatives to advocate for the continuation and expansion of source water protection provisions in the upcoming Farm Bill and a coregulatory approach to cybersecurity. Additionally, we asked for support for restoration of the tax advantages for advanced refunding of municipal bonds and a liability exemption for water utilities from CERCLA actions in the case of PFAS contamination, which both have bills introduced to
Even after 27 years of Texas Water™ Conferences, I still react like a kid at the circus when I see everything come together as the exhibit hall is "built" and all the months of planning come together into a great conference.
I have told this story before, but it helps put the size of the conference into perspective.
My 97-year-old father-in-law once asked what I did for a living. Along with everything else that is part of leading an association of over 4,400 members, I tried to explain the true magnitude of the Texas Water™ Conference. He is a CPA, so he truly gets numbers. He also understands conferences and training, but for some reason something didn’t connect in my explanation. Finally, Donna spoke up and told her dad, "Think of it as a week-long wedding for over 5,000 people." For some reason that made sense. Maybe because it was coming from her without all the elaborate details. In any event, it worked.
If you were at Texas Water™ 2023, then you saw another record-breaking number of attendees, an
amazingly sophisticated level of technical presentations and poster sessions and a record number of exhibitor booths. This was the largest Texas Water Conference— ever.
In the weeks prior to the conference, we use the Full Registration count as our benchmark that drives many of our planning decisions. Such things as seating in the technical sessions, arrangements for the events, including how many lunches to order, and even how much coffee to have on hand throughout the conference.
Prior to the conference, I reported that we were at least 12% above our record numbers from San Antonio in 2022. As we got closer to the conference, we saw the 12% number increase and, because we always have onsite registrations, we started to plan for even higher numbers. But none of us expected an increase of nearly 17% increase in Full Registrations. And the oneday registrations were up over 40%. Now that the final numbers of everyone who was badged have been tallied, including exhibitors, volunteers, presenters, and all attendees in the building, the total was a remarkable 6,761 in attendance. That is nearly a 20% increase over 2022. If you thought there was a huge crowd at the conference, you were right. As AWWA President Joe Jacangelo said, “This feels like ACE!”
For those who attended, they saw the product of months of planning by a committed group of volunteers who took on the tasks and committed to the success of the conference as only water
CONTINUED PAGE 36 | executive director report
O U R H E ADWA T E R E NGIN EER E D SYS T EMS (HES) TE AM works wi t h
ex p er t s li k e y ou , i n d esi gn i ng pro d u c ts b ase on your job’s specific requ ir ments . D eliver in g the most efficient pumping sys t e m & serv i ce av a il a the w at e r i n dus tr y to d ay
Varenya Mehta was honored with the Young Professionals Maverick Award at Texas WaterTM 2023 in Houston.
The Maverick Award recognizes a young professional in the Texas Section who exemplifies qualities in volunteerism, community involvement, leadership and outstanding service in the science of water supply, treatment, operations and water quality.
Mehta is active in the Southeast Texas Chapter, serving as cochair of the YP Committee for the last two years. During his time in this role, he and his fellow co-chairs organized a multitude of technical, social and philanthropic YP events. He also participated in the AWWA/WEF National YP Summit in 2021 and delivered a presentation in the YP track at ACE 2022 in San Antonio.
Mehta works for KIT Professionals in Houston and is considered the "glue guy" in the office, coordinating events and outings for KIT staff.
FORWARD THINKING SINCE 1965
Texas keeps getting bigger — and we have tools that are scalable to the changing landscape. Our tools empower our communities to make resilient decisions for today and tomorrow.
Swapnil Dusane received the Water For People
Kenneth J. Miller Founder's Award at Texas WaterTM 2023. This award honors outstanding volunteer service to the international humanitarian effort to ensure safe drinking water in developing counties.
Dusane has been involved with Water For People for several years, serving in key roles in the San Antonio Chapter and as State Chair for TAWWA. He recognizes the importance of not only raising funds but growing awareness. He is active in the San Antonio Bingo For Bags fundraiser and Sweat For A Cause golf tournament, as well as the silent auction held at Texas Water.
Growing up in India, Dusane knows first-hand the challenges of delivering clean water and sanitation services in the developing world. In his short time in Water For People, he has made a huge difference by doing the work that falls through the cracks and
Direct potable reuse uses proven technologies to produce water that exceeds drinking water regulations, but presents new challenges to facility operators.
Working with the only operating DPR facilities in the country, we've gained unique insight into how to put operators in a position to succeed and protect the health of our community.
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The AWWA Water Industry Hall of Fame is one of the most significant awards in the water community and perpetuates the memory of those living and deceased who have made the most significant contributions to the field of public water supply.
This year, AWWA honored Charles Maddox for his long career as an innovator, regulator, utility manager, and engaged AWWA member. His contributions have supported utility staff so they always had the best chance of success in water system operation and public health protection while at the same time achieving compliance with rules. Maddox’s work experience and AWWA involvement have allowed him to achieve one of the main goals of his work, which was to bring operations and compliance to a practical and realistic level so operators and utility staff had the best chance of success in water system operation and public health protection while at the same time achieving compliance with rules.
Maddox’s career in the drinking water and public health field has spanned forty-nine years, with a beginning in the Texas Department of Health. He moved up in leadership responsibilities and led many efforts in revising the state water system design regulations and the drinking water standards, many of which were the result of the Safe Drinking Water Act and the revisions to that Act. Many of the changes he championed remain in the regulations to this day.
In 1973, he joined AWWA and has attained Life Member status by continuing that membership. He organized the first, and many subsequent, seminars on the 1986 Safe Drinking Water Act amendments to educate operators, managers, and engineers on the treatment and water quality requirements they had to meet within their water systems.
After 29 years of experience in drinking water and public health programs, he retired from state service in 2001 and began a career at Austin Water Utility, where
he worked as Water Regulatory Manager for 18 years before retiring in February 2020. He still remains on staff as a part-time consultant to Austin Water Utility.
While employed at Austin Water Utility, he continued and enhanced his AWWA involvement. He served in the officer roles and then became Director of the Texas Section on the AWWA Board of Directors. After those positions, he was selected for a position on the AWWA Water Utility Council, where he served two three-year terms. Over this time, he organized the Texas Section participation in and attended 20 successive AWWA Fly-Ins in Washington, D.C. These Fly-Ins cover two days of visits to congressional offices to promote water utility issues of concern.
Maddox has also participated in many Texas Section educational teleconferences and webinars on technical and regulatory topics. He is a Fuller Award winner and most recently a recipient of the Dr. John L. Leal Award.
Mary Gugliuzza was recognized with the Outstanding Service to AWWA Award at Texas WaterTM 2023, which honors a member of AWWA who has demonstrated outstanding service to the Association through leadership and active participation in AWWA programs.
Gugliuzza is a stellar AWWA and Fort Worth utility representative. She has served the Texas Section and AWWA by teaching and mentoring other public information specialists. She is known for being a "go to" volunteer, someone AWWA and Texas can always depend on for whatever needs doing.
Gugliuzza has dedicated her professional career of writing and communications over the last 27 years to the water sector. Her focus has been with the City of Fort Worth water system and volunteer engagement through AWWA.
She serves on the Fort Worth Water’s executive team, providing the important and often overlooked utility need for media relations, crisis communications, public speaking and website development. She plays a vital role in the utility’s emergency response and maintains partnerships with stakeholders, such as wholesale customers, county public health
departments and school districts.
Gugliuzza displays initiative and innovation in her approach to promoting the water industry and AWWA. When she first stepped into the water sector, she admitted to knowing nothing about water; she now considers herself a "water nerd."
She is the busiest during Texas Section conferences, serving on conference committees, developing conference brochures and award booklets, managing awards ceremonies and organizing water tasting contests. All of these activities promote AWWA and water professionals and improve our customers’ knowledge of and appreciation for the work we do.
She received the Texas Water Distinguished Service Award in 2007 from TAWWA and WEAT "for her many years of selfless commitment to the success of the Texas Water Conferences." She has also been recognized numerous times for AWWA membership recruiting.
Gugliuzza has been a tireless AWWA volunteer and has established herself as a leader among her AWWA peers. She continues to demonstrate that leadership at the Section and the AWWA international level through her committee and council participation. She has served as AWWA Director at Large and was recently elected as an AWWA Vice-President.
Gugliuzza served on the AWWA Public Affairs Council 2006-2012 and 2013-2021, serving as chair from 2018 thru 2021. She was instrumental in the development of the "Trending In An Instant" risk communications guide for utility leaders and public communications specialists. She has promoted the need for truthful and complete information to customers.
Gugliuzza is a George Warren Fuller Awardee and, in the spirit of the award, she displays brilliant diplomatic talent and brings confidence to the table when she is called on to communicate emergency circumstances and water utility announcements to the media and the public.
Daniel Nix, with the City of Wichita Falls, received the Honorary Member Award at Texas WaterTM 2023, which recognizes an individual whose knowledge and accomplishments in the field of water supply entitle them to special recognition.
Nix’s career in the drinking water field has spanned 36 years, beginning in the distribution field and advancing through laboratory, operations, supervisory and administrative components within the water sector. In the early years of his career, he oversaw the implementation of the first major revisions of the Safe Drinking Water Act since its inception in 1974.
Given Nix’s experience with direct potable reuse, he was instrumental in the creation of AWWA's G485Potable Reuse Program Operation and Management Standard, first participating on the Direct Potable Reuse Standards Committee and then on the Indirect Potable Reuse Standards Committee. He continues to support Standards development by serving on the Reuse Standards Committee and the AWWA Water Reuse Committee.
Nix has worked with the US Environmental Protection Agency on several initiatives, including the EPA 2017 Potable Reuse Compendium, 2020 Reuse Action Plan and the 2015 Framework for Direct Potable Reuse. In 2021, he collaborated with the General Dynamics and the EPA on developing a case study for the EPAs Climate Resilience Evaluation and Awareness Tool (CREAT) Risk Assessment Application for Water Utilities.
At the state government level, he was instrumental in working with the 87th Texas Legislator in passing legislation directing the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to develop Regulatory Guidance for Implementing Direct Potable Reuse for water utilities and engineering firms.
Nix has worked with the AWWA DC Office since 2017 on the implementation of the Farm Bill in Texas. His efforts got TAWWA a seat on the TNRCS State Technical Advisory Committee, re-established the watershed
sub-committee within the STAC and got TAWWA a seat within that sub-committee. He participated in creating a ranking rubric and ranking over 8000 Hydrologic Unit Code 12s within Texas and identifying 831 high priority HUC12s for the TNRCS to focus Farm Bill within, and created and hosted a Farm Bill webinar between TAWWA and TNRCS.
Nix served through the Texas Section officers and is now one of two Texas directors on the AWWA Board of Directors. He currently serves as the chair of the Source Water Protection Technical Advisory Group in the AWWA DC Office. He was recently asked to participate in the Water 2050 initiative as a representative on the Sustainability Think Tank to help guide the project.
Nix continues his commitment to water education and is instrumental in developing a new training project called SETH (Science, Engineering, Technology and Health) to train high school students across Texas in entry level water operations and help them successfully test for an entry level water license from the State of Texas. This innovative 20-hour course will be delivered via the Internet by TAWWA to vocational programs across the state for free.
At Texas WaterTM 2023, the Texas Section honored water professionals for longtime membership in AWWA and service to the industry.
LIFE MEMBERSHIP AWARDS Receiving Life Membership Awards, recognizing members who previously achieved Silver Water Drop Award status and are now at least 65 years old, were Hermon Alame, Bruce Alexander, Larry Bittle, David Chardavoyne, Craig Cummings, Sam Dungan, George Freitag, John Gardner, Chuck Hewell, Michael Holloway, Bahman Kaboudvand, David Luedecke, Showri Nandagiri, Stephen Rachac, Randy Rogers, John Sutton, Edward Tadlock, Samuel Terry and Darryl Waldock.
GOLD WATER DROP AWARDS Recognizing members who have achieved 50 years of service to the water community and AWWA: Dorian French, Alan Lindskog, and Charles Maddox.
SILVER WATER DROP AWARDS Recognizing members who have achieved 25 years of service to the water community and AWWA: John Carlton, D. Bryant Caswell, Steve Clouse, Aaron Collins, Rick Coronado, Todd Darden, Frank Ferris, Barry Hand, Michael Helfrich, Janice Holland, Donna Howe, Andrea Huizar Beymer, Mary Jo Kirisits, Tracey Long, Paul Aaron Lopez, Randy Luensmann, Michael Pifer, Wilfredo Rivera, Martin Rumbaugh, Caroline Russell, Robert Saenz, Thomas Snyder, Gregory Swoboda, Rick Wanner and E. Duwain Whitis.
This year, AWWA honored the Texas Natural Resources Conservation Service (TNRCS) with the Award of Merit for tirelessly promoting Farm Bill initiatives through NRCS programs to protect and improve water quality and quantity that is available for the citizens and industries across Texas. The award is given to those outside the water profession who have demonstrated outstanding service in support of the principles of AWWA in providing better water for people.
The Texas NRCS has partnered with TAWWA for technical guidance in source water protection and developed evaluation methodologies and communication paths, and has worked diligently over
the decades to implement programs and provide technical expertise and funding for projects that help improve water quality and quantity throughout the State of Texas.
Their recent work on implementing the 2018 Farm Bill has been a model for other State NRCS offices. The NRCS in Texas reacted immediately to the availability of this new funding initiative by inviting representatives of TAWWA to be members of the State Technical Advisory Committee (STAC) and, during the first meeting with TAWWA representation, created a Watershed/Source Water sub-committee to guide the STAC on issues
CONTINUED PAGE 37 | award of merit
Texas Section AWWA and WEAT honored members for their efforts to communicate with the public. At Texas WaterTM 2023, the winners of the annual Watermark Awards were recognized.
CATEGORY I Communications Programs: internal campaigns, external campaigns, crisis communications. Small Utility » Wells Branch Municipal Utility District: Water Conservation Campaign. Large Utility » City of Sugar Land: Sugar Land Rain Barrel Program. River Authorities or Districts » North Fort Bend Water Authority: Sub-sigh-who? OH! Sub-sid-ence! Honorable Mention » San Antonio Water System: SAWS Pipes Don’t Lie.
CATEGORY II Publications: annual reports, water quality reports, brochures, postcards, etc.
Small Utility » City of Richmond: Consumer Confidence Report.
CATEGORY III Digital Content: websites, social media, infographics, logos, etc.
Large Utility » San Antonio Water System: SAWS Be Ready for the Unexpected. River Authorities or Districts » San Jacinto River Authority: SJRA Website. Non-Utility » Texas Water Development Board: “Deep in the Heart” Texas Water Photo Campaign.
CONTINUED PAGE 29 | watermark awards
Texas AWWA recognized it's local chapters for their achievements and valuable contributions at Texas WaterTM 2023. There are five award categories: Communications, Community Service and Public Outreach, Educational Offerings, Fundraising, and Membership Recruitment and Retention.
Chapter Communications: Capital Area Chapter
The Capital Area Chapter communicated with their members through six, bi-monthly newsletters that reached over 1,000 individuals. The chapter used other tools such as LinkedIn to extend its outreach, posting monthly to advertise events, meetings, newsletters, and sponsors. In 2022, its LinkedIn following grew by 85 people and had over 8,000 organic impressions. The Capital Area Chapter also used a young professionals homepage to introduce members to the YP group and as an avenue to get involved in events. In an effort to engage its members, the Capital Area Chapter sent a survey to members requesting feedback on communication preferences and event types, locations, and timing. The survey received 57 responses and provided valuable input that the chapter plans to use for future communication and event planning.
The North Central Texas Chapter continued participation in the Conference for the Advancement of Science Teaching (CAST) and established a new initiative of interactive water trivia at local businesses. North Central Texas Chapter’s Education and Outreach activities included supporting the 2022 Science Teacher’s Association of Texas annual CAST Conference in Dallas. In partnership with local water conservation educators, the chapter used interactive trivia at small businesses to share the value of water at nontraditional venues where water is essential. The chapter provided “No Water No Beer” branded items, promotional
support, and sponsorship. The Education and Outreach Committee hosted two water trivia nights that included over 120 players. A step-by-step planning guide was shared with the TAWWA Education Division so this model can be replicated by others. So far, the water trivia template has been downloaded and used by five other organizations.
The Southeast Chapter conducted or sponsored a variety of events to provide the local water community a range of options for engagement and learning. One of their biggest events is the Half-Day Seminar, an annual symposium co-sponsored by the Southeast TAWWA Chapter and the local chapter of WEAT. This event brings together the region’s water and wastewater communities, and provides a forum for networking and interaction, while also providing informative technical content. The seminar offered four continuing education credits to over 200 attendees. The chapter also held an in-person and virtual Open House to introduce the chapter and its committees to a wider community and expand membership. The goal of this event was to educate interested individuals from the water community about what the chapter does and ways to get involved through chapter committees. The Young Professionals Committee organized several
events, including a tour of the Houston Alfa Laval factory, a tour of the City of Houston’s Northeast Water Purification and a YP Seminar that offered two continuing education credits.
The North Central Texas Chapter organized several successful fundraising events, including their Annual Holiday Dinner, the Drinking Water Seminar, and the Young Professional Ugly Sweater Party. These fundraising events donated 100% of their proceeds to student scholarships or water-related charities, such as TXWARN and Water Equation. In total, the North Central Texas Chapter raised $5,000 for state scholarships, $13,000 for local scholarships, and $12,520 each for both TXWARN and Water Equation.
The Southeast Chapter held an in-person and virtual Open House to introduce the chapter and its committees to a wider community and expand membership. This event directly resulted in several new memberships and expansion of several chapter committees, most notably the Young Professionals Committee. A second new effort by the chapter to aid in recruitment and retention was the development of an informational flyer about the chapter to share with new and prospective members. The Southeast Chapter president noted that the strongest recruitment and retention tool that the Chapter offers is likely the quantity and quality of the events it organizes. Through these efforts, the Southeast Chapter increased
Best Tasting Drinking Water: City of Houston, East Water Purification Plant
Hydrant Hysteria: City of Seguin: Josh Trent (Coach), Brad Compton and Joshua Moreno (Men’s Team)Time of 1’20”12
City of Corpus Christi: Ignacio Araujo (Coach), Jessica Perez and Amy Tuley (Women’s Team) - Time of 2’02”15
For the first time in Hydrant Hysteria history (both State and National), we had a tie going into the final round of the Men’s competition. Normally, the top three teams go into the final round to face off against each other. This year, because of a tie at third place, we had four teams enter into the final round.
Meter Challenge: Samuel Murguia, City of Georgetown
Pipe Tapping: San Antonio Water System: Alamo Drillerz : Guadalupe Paredes (Coach), Andrew Bratton, Eugene Mora and Eric Lucio (Men’s Team)
Fort Worth Water: Lady Bandits: Timothy Jackson (Coach), Dalila Rodriguez, Amanda Fabela and Melissa Fabela (Women’s Team)
Top Ops: Houston Water: Julius Guidry, Hector Montanez-Rivera and Daryl Pope.
The Texas Section AWWA recognizes members for their outstanding recruitment efforts that help maintain the Texas Section’s leadership as the largest single state section of AWWA’s forty-three sections with over 4,300 members. Even during the Pandemic, the section’s continued growth is a testimony to our meeting the needs of water professionals statewide. And, our volunteers who recruit new members are the reason the Texas Section AWWA remains the most influential water organization
in the state. This year we recognize the following for their outstanding recruitment efforts this past year.
Melissa Bryant - 2 members
Stephen Smith - 3 members
Texas State Chapter - 15 members
Texas A&M Chapter - 19 members
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 21 |
CATEGORY IV Community Outreach and Education Programs: events, curriculums, programs.
Large Utility » City of Frisco: Weekly WaterWise
E-Newsletter. River Authorities or Districts » North
Texas Municipal Water District: Water Conservation
STEM Clinics. Honorable Mentions » City of
Georgetown: Painted Rain Barrel Project. McAllen Public Utility: Water Education Camps. North Texas Municipal Water District: No Water Trivia.
CATEGORY V OpEds and Features: guest editorials or columns, feature stories or series.
Small Utility » City of College Station Water Services: Waterful Wednesday radio spots.
CATEGORY VI Multimedia: video and photography.
Large Utility » City of Plano: “Wipe-Out” Animated Wipes
Abatement Video. River Authorities or Districts »
Upper Trinity Regional Water District: Lake Ralph Hall
One Year Later Video Honorable Mention » Texas
Water Development Board: SWIFT program: No Texas miracle without Texas water.
THE CONSISTENT SOLUTION IN A CHANGING INDUSTRY. You only have to look back a few decades, and plenty of things were different – with one notable exception. AMERICAN remains the standard for water transmission delivering innovation, sustainability, greater life cycle, and enduring quality with every project. Materials come and materials go. Yet AMERICAN remains the pipe of choice. Job after job, decade after decade.
TAWWA nominated several members for national awards and we'd like to recognize these SectionLevel awardees.
Diversity and Inclusion Award: Recognizes an individual, group or organization that has created, promoted and maintained diversity and inclusion by establishing an environment that recognizes, encourages and effectively utilizes each individual’s talents.
Stephanie Corso and Rogue Water boldly demonstrate how curiosity, authenticity and empathy can create diverse and inclusive connections to share the universal stories of water, build relationships and grow the water community for all. Corso and Rogue Water have created a fresh landscape for water communications. Their focus on human-centric solutions works to rebuild the trust, support and buy-in necessary for a resilient water future. Corso respects and promotes diversity both personally and professionally and demonstrates and promotes how different backgrounds and experiences can blend together for better solutions and decision making.
The City of Sugar Land’s initiatives around diversity, equity and inclusion are a testament to the community, leadership and their employees. The Diversity, Equity and Inclusion program was created to develop and manage the city’s DEI initiatives and serve as both a resource and advocate for the values of diversity, equity and inclusion for all city employees. The program promotes and supports the organizationalwide understanding of diversity, equity and inclusion as a strategy for employee empowerment, development and success. Additionally, a critical component of DEI is to establish a long-term cultural shift to recognize and celebrate staff diversity and ensure that equity and inclusion principles lead daily operations and foster an open dialogue.
Dr. John Leal Award Nominee: Recognizes an individual for distinguished service to the water profession in commemoration of the sound medical/ public health expertise and the courageous leadership advancing public health that characterized the life of Dr. John L. Leal.
Stacy Walters, with the City of Fort Worth, has continued to strive to increase the awareness of public health through the advancements of water innovations made by trailblazers like Dr. Leal. While working with Fort Worth Water, Walters has worked as a chemist, quality supervisor, water quality manager, and currently as regulatory and environmental administrator. Her various roles have played an integral part in the maintenance and support of public health for the utility.
John Lechner Award of Excellence: Recognizes a Section Service Provider Member who has demonstrated exemplary service to the drinking water community and to AWWA’s mission and goals.
Cliff Avery is recently retired from GCP Association Services, LLC, the successful enterprise he founded in 1990. The company continues to provide service — conference planning and support, newsletter publishing, electronic media curating, back-office operations, and day-to-day management — to several statewide associations in Texas, including the Texas Section of the American Water Works Association.
Five Under Five Nominees: Recognizes and honors young professional members of AWWA who have demonstrated outstanding service to their Section or Association through leadership and active participation in AWWA YP programs.
Andrew Swirsky has been a strong contributor to the water industry and AWWA since joining in 2017. He
was initially involved in the young professionals group, including fundraisers and giving technical sessions for other young professionals. He supported the Texas Water conference as the finance chair in 2019 when it was hosted in Houston. He is regularly involved in current local AWWA events including leading the annual Larry Kelm fundraising golf tournament to support Southeast Texas AWWA activities all year round. At the association level, he is on the AWWA Digital Twins committee to advance his passions of merging data and water for helping utilities around the county.
Stefanie Massey has been volunteering with AWWA since the beginning of her career in the water industry. She has made numerous contributions in the Texas Section and North Central Texas (NCT) Chapter and is dedicated toward benefiting the YPs through AWWA YP programs. She has been very active in the NCT Chapter of TAWWA for over ten years. She has served as the communications, arrangements and programs committee chairs prior to serving as secretary, vice
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president, president, past president and now, competitions committee co-chair. Currently, she serves as the regional activities chair at the Texas Section level assisting the growing number of chapters in the section. Massey has also been active in planning the annual NCT TAWWA Pipe Tapping Invitational since its inception in 2017, currently serves on the NCT Drinking Water Seminar committee and supports the NCT Scholarship Committee chair in reviewing Texas Section scholarship applications.
Most see a peaceful stream. We see healthy ecosystems.
BY MARTHA KOESTER lead public affairs coordinator,
Serving as host for two recent industry conferences provided El Paso Water with the opportunity to showcase the utility’s world-renowned innovation. The Water and Wastewater CFO Forum gathered at EPWater’s TecH2O Learning Center on April 3-5. The CFO Forum focuses on financial leadership challenges and is targeted toward leaders of innovative, large-sized entities.
About 60 members participated in roundtables and listened to a variety of topics such as base charges and affordability, cyber threats to the water sector and procurement strategies. Members also toured the TecH2O and the nearby Kay Bailey Hutchison Desalination Plant.
Marcela Navarrete, Vice President of Strategic Financial and Management Services, volunteered EPWater as a conference site.
"After attending a CFO Forum several years ago at an L.A. education center, I mentioned to the organizers that El Paso Water had an education center, too, and it
was much larger than L.A.’s," said Navarrete who will be retiring from the utility in May.
The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, Navarrete said.
"I really wanted others across the country to see all the innovative things that EPWater has done, especially CFOs who are not in the engineering or technical world," she said.
Gilbert Trejo, Vice President of Operations and Technical Services, also gave a presentation on EPWater’s future, offering an overview of the utility’s resourceful projects and practices that led to a diverse and sustainable water supply in the middle of the Chihuahuan Desert.
"In El Paso, drought is a way of life," Trejo said. "Where we live breeds a lot of innovation, too, because every drop of water is precious. Technology allows more recovery of the water we use."
Since 1985, EPWater’s Fred Hervey Water Reclamation Plant has been reclaiming and treating wastewater to recharge the Hueco Bolson aquifer. The future Aquifer Storage and Recharge Program will take treated Rio Grande water during plentiful years and use it to recharge the Hueco Bolson, with the Enhanced Arroyo Project. The future Advanced Water Purification
Facility will take reuse one step further.
"We are going to be the first utility in the world to take treated wastewater, treat it to drinking water standards and put it directly into the distribution system," Trejo said.
Aside from conservation, Trejo also touched on projects such as water importation, a desalination expansion and a rebate program aimed to incentivize businesses to reduce their water use.
Positive feedback poured in afterward, Navarrete said.
"They were especially impressed with Trejo’s presentation about our water supply portfolio," she said. "I think they all left very impressed with this city we call home."
Earlier this year, EPWater hosted the Association of Regional Water Organization’s ARWO ’23 conference at the TecH2O Center. ARWO mostly serves regional water and wastewater systems of populations under 100,000.
About 40 peers from around the country connected over topics such as legislative efforts, rate-setting and customer service.
EPWater is part of ARWO because of its interests in serving the colonias—unincorporated settlements lacking proper water and wastewater services, said Hector Gonzalez, Government Affairs Manager for EPWater and current president of ARWO.
"The organization is an advocate for small communities," Gonzalez said. "The conference provides an opportunity for members to share insights and ideas around key topics; one member may have a connection or a resource that could benefit others."
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 22 | conservation & reuse
The pilot project was successful in helping staff better understand the continued water loss control needs of the areas analyzed.
The City of Frisco’s Public Works Department distributes approximately 12.2 billion gallons of water annually to more than 64,000 connections. As of 2022, Frisco’s meter team finished upgrading the city’s systems to AMI smart meters. Using the new smart meter systems, Frisco could accurately track where the 12.2 billion gallons of water were going and identify where it was being lost. Of the 64,000 connections in the city, it was discovered that the system was flagging nearly 2,800 as showing signs of continuous flow. If even a fraction of those 2,800 reports represented leaks, millions of gallons of water were being lost each month. During September-December 2022 the City of Frisco WaterWise team piloted a new educational
program focused on leaks. It identified 50 commercial and 50 residential sites showing continuous flow on their meters. Using varying contact methods, the team reached out to the owners of all 100 sites. Through a series of educational correspondences over the phone, via e-mail, and in-person visits, 39 property owners located and repaired leaks on their property. These fixed leaks resulted in a net savings of approximately 5.3 million gallons per month.
Large Utility Indirect: Arlington Water Utilities: Lake Arlington Native Plant and Pollinator Garden
Arlington Water Utilities and Tarrant Regional Water District broke ground in early 2022 on the Lake Arlington Native Plant and Pollinator Garden. It is located on 3 acres of city-owned land near the Lake Arlington Dam. The garden includes 20,000 square feet of uniquely designed beds with native plants suitable for home landscapes and a large area for group events. Each bed has its own theme to demonstrate the diversity of drought-resistant plant options –a pollinator-friendly garden, a cottage garden, a
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traditional garden, a rain garden, and a xeriscape garden. Three acres of the surrounding meadow is also being converted from non-native, invasive grasses to native grasses and wildflowers. Plans are being made for the construction of a 500 linear feet of 8 ft. wide trail that provides an immersive experience for residents visiting the Native Plant and Pollinator Garden. With more than 100 volunteers already working at the site in 2022 and twice-monthly events throughout the year, the Lake Arlington Native Plant and Pollinator Garden is well on its way to becoming a valuable asset to the city’s water conservation education efforts.
Non-Utility Indirect: Tarrant Regional Water District: Save Tarrant Water Landscape Consultation Program
Tarrant Regional Water District is a raw water supplier to municipalities in Tarrant County. TRWD’s water conservation programs support its customer cities’ conservation efforts, raise public awareness and educate on efficient practices. In 2022, a new program was implemented with the goal of educating participants on outdoor water conservation methods and reducing outdoor water use for participants. The Save Tarrant Water Landscape Consultation Program was developed to provide a landscape expert to visit participants’ home landscapes to offer specialized advice and influence them to use less water by educating them on water conservation practices. During the first year, 126 free landscape consultations were provided to Tarrant County residents and program outcomes were gauged by surveying the participants before and after their consultations. Survey responses indicated that the overall objectives of educating on conservation landscaping practices and reducing outdoor water consumption were achieved for majority of participants.
Bob Derrington Reclamation Award: City of Weatherford: Indirect Potable Reclaimed Water System
After a decade of planning, permitting, design and construction, the City of Weatherford established a 4.5-million gallons per day indirect potable reclaimed water system to the Lake Weatherford water supply, providing an additional sustainable water source
for Weatherford. To bring reclaimed water to the city, improvements at the Water Reclamation Facility (WRF) were required to meet a 0.5 mg/L phosphorus limit and dissolved oxygen of 6.0 mg/L at the new outfall. The city’s WRF is currently permitted for a 4.5 MGD annual average daily flow and a 12.2 MGD peak 2-hour flow with effluent limits of 5/15/2 for BOD5/ TSS/NH3-N. The more stringent effluent limits were achieved through biological and chemical phosphorus removal and biosolids treatment improvements. The project includes a 5.0 MGD pump station, a 6¼-mile transmission main, and an outfall structure at Lake Weatherford. The pump station is designed to capture most of the effluent from the WRF while maintaining the downstream flow requirements. The pump station uses variable frequency drives which allow the pumps to pace flow output to match the diurnal effluent flow conditions of the WRF. The city was a key leader in project execution, challenging the team to find costeffective and innovative solutions while meeting the project objectives.
professionals can do. I have said this before, but it is worth repeating. There are water conferences held all over the country but none larger than Texas Water except for ACE and WEFTEC. What makes Texas Water unique from other similar sized events is that Texas Water is planned and executed by volunteers.
Sure, we help guide the planning committee, and of course we make arrangements for the exhibit hall and convention center. And we have our longtime and extraordinary registration team of Clay, Liz, Lisa and Tracy from GCP managing the registration process. But everything else from the abstract intake and review process, to the development of the technical sessions, to the planning of the lunches and conference dinner, the Golf Tournament, the Fun Run, the Environmental Event, the Young Professionals Reception and even the
detail of making sure signage is planned and placed to help guide attendees is all done by volunteers.
When you tell conference planners, exhibitors and others who know something about the complexities of presenting such a large conference that so much of Texas Water is crafted by volunteers, they are always surprised and amazed. And, after 27 years, the reputation of Texas Water has become so respected that no matter where you are, even in Europe, when talk turns to how to connect with water professionals in Texas, then Texas Water™ is the only place to be. It is the passion and commitment of water professionals for what they do every day in their work applied to planning and delivering an outstanding conference.
So, in the simplest and most sincere way I know, and on behalf of the Texas AWWA Board and myself, thanks to our co-chairs Venus Price and Liz Fazio Hale and our entire planning committee in Houston for, as always, a great job — you made it look so easy.
related to protecting the source waters of Texas.
Within a 12 month period from their creation, the STAC Watershed/Source Water sub-committee created a ranking rubric to utilize in determining a priority list of HUC 12s for focusing Farm Bill funding. The rubric took into consideration multiple factors, including; percentage of Source Water Protection Area and Wellhead Protection Area coverage within the HUC12, % of Urban versus Agriculture, Sole Source Supply, and Populations Served. The sub-committee evaluated all HUC 12 watersheds in Texas (6,000+) with the rubric, and ultimately recommended 823 HUC12s for the TNRCS to focus upon. Those 823 HUC12s represented 23 million acres of agricultural/forested land, covered approximately 13 % of the total State of Texas acreage.
Utilizing the prioritized list, the Texas NRCS has funded thousands of projects and hundreds of millions of dollars. During FY 2022 alone, the Texas NRCS was able to fund a total of $123,202,053 of Farm Bill money on 3,313 different contracts under their various qualifying programs, such as; Conservation Stewardship Program, Environmental Quality Incentives Program, Regional Conservation Partnership Program, Watersheds Program and the Agriculture Conservation Easement Program.
The methodology that the Texas NRCS developed has proven to be effective and has been provided to several other state NRCS offices for their consideration and use in implementing the 2018 Farm Bill.
The Texas NRCS has also collaborated with the TAWWA in conducting a webinar that was dedicated to the 2018 Farm Bill and all of the available programs
through the NRCS. The webinar was broadcast to AWWA members and NRCS producers and staff.
Current activities involve continued communications and outreach from the Texas NRCS to water suppliers and agriculture producers. In an effort to reach the water suppliers and engineering firms across Texas, TAWWA is once again collaborating with the Texas NRCS staff to dedicate an entire edition of the Texas Section's newsletter to the Farm Bill, Source Water Protection and NRCS programs that can be utilized to protect source waters across the State.
The Texas NRCS has cultivated a relationship with TAWWA and each are using the programs that the other brings to the table to help promote and fund a strong, resilient program of protecting and improving the quality and quantity of the source waters in Texas.
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Javier Acosta El Paso, TX
Andrew Adams San Marcos, TX
Maria Aguilar Live Oak, TX
Adriana Arnold San Marcos, TX
Luliia Avetisian Houston, TX
Jose Avila Dallas, TX
Daniel Ayejoto Fort Worth, TX
David Bolton Houston, TX
David Brown Denton, TX
Kevin Burks Northlake, TX
Mason Burrough El Paso, TX
Daniel Camehl Scurry, TX
Bo Cao Katy, TX
Juan Carreon Lindale, TX
Karina Castillo Mission, TX
Carlos Chavez San Antonio, TX
Isaac Cisneros Kyle, TX
Olatunde Clement Richmond, TX
Dana Collier Joshua, TX
Jake Coward Houston, TX
Clint Crawford New Braunfels, TX
Logan Crouch Tyler, TX
Jacob Cruz Sugar Land, TX
Tom Davies Arlington, TX
Makenzie Davis San Antonio, TX
Mario De Leon Alice, TX
Amey Dhaygude McKinney, TX
Kirstiana Dittman San Marcos, TX
Jeffrey Dowdle Tyler, TX
Dakota Doyle Weir, TX
Hannah Duncan Roseburg, OR
Rick Elliott Plano, TX
Elisabeth English Pflugerville, TX
Veronica Enriquez Fort Worth, TX
David Esquivel Tomball, TX
Travis Farris New Braunfels, TX
Nicholas Ferris Schertz, TX
Moses Flores Schertz, TX
Cassidy Ford San Marcos, TX
Cody Fowlkes New Braunfels, TX
Alexis Fritsch Austin, TX
Filemon Garza Kingsland, TX
Anthony Gerdes Royse City, TX
James Gideon Denton, TX
Marilyn Gilbert Brownsville, TX
Tim Gipson Rockwall, TX
Mark Glaser Galveston, TX
Maureen Gonzalez Houston, TX
Shelby Granger Pflugerville, TX
Mya Hannan San Marcos, TX
Brandon Hardiman College Station, TX
Nathan Harris Tyler, TX
Avery Helms San Marcos, TX
Rob Herchek Pflugerville, TX
Erika Hernandez Mercedes, TX
Noreen Housewright Grand Prairie, TX
Chuqi Huang Houston, TX
Stacey Hyatt Corsicana, TX
Nichol Ingram Tyler, TX
Sabin Jacob Houston, TX
Matt Johns Pflugerville, TX
Jere Jones Rockwall, TX
Sai Kapalayam Bryan, TX
John Kaufman New Braunfels, TX
Royce Keller Mont Belvieu, TX
Lander Kennedy Houston, TX
Burhanuddin Khuzema Zaveri Arlington, TX
Travis Kruger Dallas, TX
Charles Lang The Woodlands, TX
Carlos Lima Mission, TX
Michael Logan San Antonio, TX
Melissa Looney Odessa, TX
Elisenda Lopez San Antonio, TX
Tyler Lyles Joshua, TX
Randall Macchi Houston, TX
Blanca Madriz Austin, TX
Rueben Maldonado San Antonio, TX
Alejandro Martinez San Antonio, TX
Emilio Martinez Denis New Caney, TX
Cameron McDonald Seabrook, TX
Lewis McLain McKinney, TX
ME2C Environmental Corsicana, TX
Ben Miller Houston, TX
Norma Morales Miranda San Marcos, TX
Elijio Myers El Paso, TX
Christopher Nettles Boerne, TX
Sinclaire Newby Joshua, TX
Doryne Nyataguza Houston, TX
Jaime Ordonez Dallas, TX
David Ortiz Deer Park, TX
Ismael Pardo Schertz, TX
Kent Patteson Houston, TX
Erich Peterson The Woodlands, TX
Arturo Pina San Antonio, TX
Jesse Reyes San Antonio, TX
Alexandra Riccillo El Paso, TX
Andrew Rios Odessa, TX
Sarah Robinson Colorado Springs, CO
Joe Russell Waco, TX
Deneane Santillano Bedford, TX
Lauren Savior Austin, TX
Efrain Sierra Sugar Land, TX
Shelly Sipes Dallas, TX
Ryan Sklar Fort Worth, TX
Jawana Smith Sugar Land, TX
Richard Smith Lake Jackson, TX
Sam Smith Rockwall, TX
Sophia Snapp Austin, TX
Jason Snyder Dallas, TX
Nicole Solis
The application process is now open for TAWWA's annual scholarships: The Texas Section AWWA Scholarship, the Plummer/TAWWA Environmental Scholarship and the One AWWA Operator Scholarship
The deadline for all is July 10, 2023 and the application process is all online.
Please note that there are separate applications for each scholarship. The qualifications for each one are different and applicants will need to fill out each form and submit materials separately.
For more info and to apply: www.tawwa.org/page/scholarships
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4 | letter from the texas section chair
Congress supporting our positions. The Fly-Ins have been successful in advancing policy that impacts our industry, and we are looking forward to more success this year with the initiatives. Many exciting events are happening over the summer, including ACE23 in Toronto and the AWWA Summer Workshop 360°—TAWWA leadership will attend both events. I wish you a safe and enjoyable summer!
c/o GCP Association Services, LLC
PO Box 676 | Pflugerville, TX 78691
512-251-8101 | (f) 512-251-8152
txh20@tawwa.org | www.tawwa.org
