Volume 6, Issue 1
CHAIRWOMAN GLORIA GRAY LEADERSHIP FOR CALIFORNIA’S WATER FUTURE
January 2019
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Municipal Water Leader is published 10 times a year with combined issues for July/August and November/December by
STAFF: Kris Polly, Editor-in-Chief Joshua Dill, Managing Editor Tyler Young, Writer Nicole E. Venable, Graphic Designer SUBMISSIONS: Municipal Water Leader welcomes manuscript, photography, and art submissions. However, the right to edit or deny publishing submissions is reserved. Submissions are returned only upon request. For more information, please contact our office at (202) 698-0690 or Municipal.Water.Leader@waterstrategies.com.
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Chairwoman Gloria Gray: Leadership for California’s Water Future
Contents
January 2019 Volume 6, Issue 1 24 Managing Storm Water in Los Angeles County
8 Chairwoman Gloria Gray: Leadership for California’s Water Future
30 How Wellntel Is Providing Real-Time Groundwater Supply Information
14 Cheryl Zittle of the Salt River Project
36 Joining the Northwest Pipe Family: An Interview With Erin Cornwell
18 Forecasting Fort Worth’s Water Resources Needs
CIRCULATION: Municipal Water Leader is distributed to irrigation district managers and boards of directors in the 17 western states, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation officials, members of Congress and committee staff, and advertising sponsors. Please send address corrections or additions to Municipal.Water.Leader@waterstrategies.com. Copyright © 2018 Water Strategies LLC. Municipal Water Leader relies on the excellent contributions of a variety of natural resources professionals who provide content for the magazine. However, the views and opinions expressed by these contributors are solely those of the original contributor and do not necessarily represent or reflect the policies or positions of Municipal Water Leader magazine, its editors, or Water Strategies LLC. The acceptance and use of advertisements in Municipal Water Leader do not constitute a representation or warranty by Water Strategies LLC or Municipal Water Leader magazine regarding the products, services, claims, or companies advertised. MuniWaterLeader
COVER PHOTO:
Gloria Gray, chairwoman of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California board of directors. Photo courtesy of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.
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PHOTO COURTESY OF THE METROPOLITAN WATER DISTRICT OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.
5 Women in Water By Kris Polly
ADVERTISING: Municipal Water Leader accepts one-quarter, half-page, and full-page ads. For more information on rates and placement, please contact Kris Polly at (703) 517-3962 or Municipal.Water.Leader@waterstrategies.com.
Women in Water
A
By Kris Polly
cross society, women are increasingly prominent in scientific and technical fields and in management. This is also true in the water industry. Our field boasts a growing number of female managers, engineers, and entrepreneurs. In this issue of Municipal Water Leader, we focus on their accomplishments and experiences. Our cover story features Gloria Gray, the first woman to be elected chair of the board of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, the vast cooperative public agency that serves 19 million people across the Los Angeles metro region. In our interview, Chairwoman Gray discusses her background, her aims for her tenure as chairwoman, and her message to policymakers. Next, we speak with Cheryl Zittle, the senior director of water services for the Salt River Project, a major water and power supplier for the Phoenix, Arizona, metro region. Ms. Zittle discusses the importance of mentorship and seizing opportunities. Rachel Ickert is the water resources engineering director at another major municipal water supplier, Fort Worth’s Tarrant Regional Water District. She is responsible for leading flood monitoring and water supply operations planning. Kristen Ruffell is a division engineer at the Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts, where she is helping to provide storm water management to the county’s municipalities. We also speak with Marian Singer, the cofounder and chief executive officer of Wellntel, a tech company that has created
a cloud-based platform that uses a network of sensors installed on private wells to provide real-time groundwater-supply information to its clients. Finally, we speak with Erin Cornwell, the engineering manager at Northwest Pipe’s Tracy, California, plant, about her projects and her experience during Northwest Pipe’s acquisition of her former employer, Ameron. Each of these women, and many more across the United States, are making meaningful and continuous contributions to our industry: providing visionary, future-oriented leadership to its large municipal water suppliers; raising the bar for the quality of water districts’ essential, life-sustaining day-today operations; and bringing a new level of technological sophistication to water management tools. We hope that you enjoy reading about these impressive professionals and that you gain a new appreciation for the level of skill women in the water industry bring to the table. M Kris Polly is editor-in-chief of Municipal Water Leader magazine and president of Water Strategies LLC, a government relations firm he began in February 2009 for the purpose of representing and guiding water, power, and agricultural entities in their dealings with Congress, the Bureau of Reclamation, and other federal government agencies. He may be contacted at Kris.Polly@waterstrategies.com.
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“
I would like to focus on keeping Metropolitan strong for the next generation. — Gloria Gray
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CHAIRWOMAN GLORIA GRAY LEADERSHIP FOR CALIFORNIA’S WATER FUTURE
T
he Metropolitan Water District of Southern California is a cooperative public agency composed of 14 cities, 11 municipal water districts, and 1 county water authority that, combined, provide water to about 19 million people across a densely populated 5,200-square-mile service area. The district was founded in 1928 and is headquartered in Los Angeles. In October 2018, Metropolitan’s board of directors elected Gloria Gray to be the district’s next chair. In this interview with Municipal Water Leader Editor-in-Chief Kris Polly, Chairwoman Gray discusses her background in water policy leadership and her top priorities for Metropolitan.
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE METROPOLITAN WATER DISTRICT OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.
Kris Polly: Would you please tell us about your background? Gloria Gray: I was born in Houston, Texas. My family came to Los Angeles when I was 9 years old, so I grew up in Los Angeles. I graduated from the University of Redlands, and my professional career began with the L.A. County Department of Health Services and spanned more than 30 years. I started as a secretary and worked my way up to the top executive secretary. Eventually, I entered and completed a management training program. I recently retired as a healthcare administrator. I have two daughters, five grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren. I have a very supportive significant other and family, extended family, friends, and colleagues who are also very supportive. My first public policy role was winning a seat on the school board in the city where I live, Inglewood, California. I served on the school board for two
4-year terms and then left politics for a couple of years. I reentered public service because I was encouraged by a friend and West Basin Municipal Water District board member to consider running for a seat on that board. I was elected in 2006. I represent Division 2, which encompasses Inglewood and areas of Athens, Howard, Lennox, Ross-Sexton, and South Ladera Heights. In 2009, I was selected to be one of West Basin’s two representatives on the board of directors of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. I have served as vice chair of the board for approximately 7 years and as a member of the executive committee. During my time as a director, I have had the opportunity to work with two great chairmen: Jack Foley and Randy Record, both of whom successfully led the board through significant challenges. I also serve on the board of directors of the Association of California Water Agencies, a major professional water policy organization in California. In 2010, I was appointed by then-speaker of the California Assembly Karen Bass to the Delta Stewardship Council, which was created by the state to implement the Delta Plan, a comprehensive, long-term management plan for the Sacramento-San Joaquin delta. The Delta Plan’s coequal goals are providing a more reliable water supply and restoring the region’s ecosystem. I was the first woman and the first person of color on that council, the first African-American woman to serve as vice chair on the Metropolitan board, and the first African-American woman on West Basin’s board. I’ve really been blessed with the opportunity to learn and engage in water policy from a local, regional, and state perspective. MUNICIPALWATERLEADER.COM
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Gloria Gray with Inglewood Mayor James Butts (left) and Metropolitan’s former director, Randy Record (right).
Kris Polly: When you ran for that position on the West Basin board, what was your top issue or top concern?
Kris Polly: Moving forward, what are some of the top issues that you hope to address in the near term as the new chair of Metropolitan? Gloria Gray: First of all, I’m deeply honored that Metropolitan’s board has elected me chair. Metropolitan has a wonderful history, and what I would like to focus on is keeping it strong for the next generation. I want to
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PHOTO COURTESY OF THE METROPOLITAN WATER DISTRICT OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.
Gloria Gray: One of the jobs I had working for the L.A. County Department of Health Services was community liaison, so I had a lot of experience working in the community. I have also served on a number of nonprofit boards. It has always been important to me that our communities are aware of the resources available to them and informed about significant issues, like water and health care. I also wanted to ensure that they understood what West Basin was all about and what it provided.
make sure that Metropolitan continues to be the nation’s largest supplier of drinking water, with 19 million residents in our service area. I also want to be the kind of leader who will continue to foster collaboration and transparency, which I believe are important elements of effective leadership. When I was running for chair, I tried to meet with a lot of different stakeholder groups, and with every member agency, from Ventura to San Diego, so that I could listen and learn about their most significant issues. Metroplitan represents 26 agencies, and there are 38 members on the board. It can be a challenge to bring everybody together, so collaboration is crucial. I also want to lead in a spirit of openness and partnership and to represent Metropolitan on policy and programs on a national, state, and local level. This will be important as we face many challenges to our water supply. Fixing the aging infrastructure that delivers water from the delta is a big one, which makes the construction of California WaterFix all the more critical. This project will ensure we’re more resilient in the face of climate change and seismic risks while also
helping to restore the delta’s declining ecosystem. Climate change and decreased snow runoff are also threatening our Colorado River supplies, which are already overallocated. That is why Metropolitan is focused on working with other Colorado River users to preserve this water source for years to come.
“
I think Metropolitan is looked at as a leader, and we need to support efforts to increase the sustainability of the Colorado River.
— Gloria Gray
Kris Polly: What are your thoughts on the drought contingency plan (DCP), which aims to prevent a severe shortage in Colorado? Gloria Gray: It’s crucial for water reliability in Southern California. The DCP is an agreement by the basin states that rely on the river to boost storage levels in Lake Mead and Lake Powell to keep the reservoirs from reaching critically low levels. Metropolitan’s board took a vote to support it in December. There are other entities that have not yet made that decision, but I think Metropolitan is looked at as a leader, and we need to support efforts to increase the sustainability of the Colorado River, which is a major source of drinking water for millions of Americans, including us in Southern California. Kris Polly: Would you please share your thoughts on conservation? Gloria Gray: Conservation is important to our water supply portfolio. Metropolitan is constantly spreading a message of conservation and investing in programs to help everyone in our service area be more efficient with their water use. Likewise, the state has done a great job with its messaging, making sure that people understand the importance of saving water. This has contributed to a 35 percent drop in per capita water use in Southern California since 1990, even though our population continues to grow. We’ve done a great job conserving water in West Basin, so I’m grateful that my community has heard this message and continues making efforts to reduce water use.
However, conservation is just one piece of a larger, comprehensive strategy to ensure our water reliability. It’s also important that we develop more local projects. We can’t always rely on imported water, especially keeping in mind the continuing decline in our water resources due to climate change. Metropolitan imports about 25 percent of its water from the Colorado River and 30 percent from the State Water Project. West Basin is known for its recycled water project, which designs five types of water to meet the needs of different water users, including water for irrigation, cooling towers, and seawater barrier and groundwater replenishment. We are also pursuing an ocean desalination project in El Segundo that would produce 20–60 million gallons of drinking water from ocean water every day. Metropolitan also has its own recycled water demonstration project that will open in March, the Regional Recycled Water Advanced Purification Center, which is being developed in partnership with Sanitation Districts of Los Angeles County. It will start with a demonstration facility to test an innovative water treatment process and could eventually lead to the construction of a full-scale recycled water plant that would be one of the largest in the country. This is a new venture for Metropolitan that is important to the potential future of Southern California’s water supply. Kris Polly: What are your thoughts on the importance of investing in water infrastructure? Gloria Gray: I believe the investment is critical. We’ve got to do the research and gather enough information to make visionary decisions in an informed manner. That’s what California WaterFix is all about: investment in the future. You can’t just look at the threats you face now; you have to look toward the future. Diamond Valley Lake is a great example. Metropolitan completed this project in 2000. It is now Southern California’s largest drinking water reservoir and holds enough water to meet the area’s emergency and drought needs for 6 months. These projects are for future generations—my grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Kris Polly: What is your message to legislators and policymakers? Gloria Gray: I hope they will focus on a vision for the future. I also hope that they will learn to collaborate and see the full picture, not just look at one particular agenda. They need to have a broader view of what water policy be te about water policy, and there has always been a division between north and south. As a water leader, I want to look at the issue holistically, MUNICIPALWATERLEADER.COM
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not just from the point of view of Southern or Northern California.
Gloria Gray conducts her first meeting as board chairwoman.
Kris Polly: Would you tell us about Metropolitan’s history of partnering with agriculture? Gloria Gray: Agriculture is important to everyone in the state and is such a big part of our state’s economy. I’ve been trying to meet with people from all perspectives, including farmers in the Central Valley. Everyone in this equation is important. Metropolitan also has partnerships with irrigation districts to reduce Colorado River water use. These voluntary land-fallowing programs provide farmers with financial incentives to save water, making more water avalible to our service area in Southern California. Kris Polly: Is there anything else you would like to share? Gloria Gray: Whenever I take on a leadership role or anything in life, I am committed to it. I believe in working hard and learning about issues. That’s why I believe in reaching out to individuals, listening, and trying to learn everyone’s perspective. At the end of the day, it’s about doing what is best for Metropolitan, its member agencies, and the entire state. This is at the top of the list for Metropolitan as we keep striving to fulfill our mission, which is to provide a high-quality, reliable water supply to Southern California. I remind our board to read our mission; go back to our mission. People may have individual agendas, but we are one coalition. M
Surrounded by her family, Gloria Gray is sworn in as Metropolitan’s chairwoman by Inglewood Mayor James Butts.
Gloria Gray is the chairwoman of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. For more information about Metropolitan, visit mwdh2o.com.
PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE METROPOLITAN WATER DISTRICT OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.
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Chairwoman Gloria Gray with, from left, Assemblywoman Laura Friedman, San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, and Los Angeles City Council President Herb Wesson.
Gloria Gray speaks at a 2016 Connect 2 Met event. MUNICIPALWATERLEADER.COM
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EMBRACING OPPORTUNITIES IN WATER: A CONVERSATION WITH CHERYL ZITTLE OF THE SALT RIVER PROJECT
The Theodore Roosevelt Dam and Lake on the Salt River.
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T
he Salt River Project (SRP), founded in 1903, provides water and power to over 1 million customers in the Phoenix, Arizona, metro region, including both agricultural and urban water users. Cheryl Zittle is the senior director of water services for SRP. She oversees delivery operations, engineering, information technology, construction and maintenance, and customer service, as well as accounting and contract administration for water. As of 2019, Ms. Zittle is also the president of the National Water Resources Association (NWR A), a federation of state associations and caucuses representing a broad spectrum of water supply interests. In this interview with Municipal Water Leader Editor-in-Chief Kris Polly, Ms. Zittle discusses her career at SRP, her current work, and her advice for aspiring water professionals.
PHOTO COURTESY OF SRP PHOTOGRAPHER MICHAEL MCNAMARA.
Kris Polly: Please tell us about your background. Cheryl Zittle: I was born and raised in Scottsdale, Arizona, and stayed in my hometown. My high school offered a cooperative office education program that collaborated with the SRP to help students gain experience. That is how I began my career at SRP. I love working at SRP, as it provides great opportunities to explore various interests within the utility business. One particular interest of mine was finance. I had the opportunity to begin my career in the water department as a financial analyst. This position allowed me to learn more about the budget process, operations and maintenance, and the amount of resources it takes to operate and maintain SRP’s irrigation district. It piqued my interest, and I never left. I continued to learn and develop in the water area, mostly in operations. Throughout my tenure, I have managed water scheduling, field customer service, accounting, and warehousing. Eventually, I progressed to my current
position as senior director of water services. Around 2005, I became more involved in the policy realm, which is how I got interested in NWRA. Kris Polly: Would you please tell our readers about SRP and what it does? Cheryl Zittle: As a community-based, not-for-profit water and energy company, SRP acts in the best interest of the people it serves and strives to help build a better future for Arizona. Today, SRP is one of the nation’s largest public power utilities. We provide electricity to approximately 1 million retail customers in a 2,900-square-mile service area that spans three Arizona counties, including most of the Phoenix metropolitan area. We are an integrated utility, providing generation, transmission, and distribution services, as well as metering and billing services.
Cheryl Zittle, senior director of water services for SRP.
SRP’s water business is one of the largest raw-water suppliers in Arizona. We deliver about 800,000 acre-feet of water annually to a 375-squaremile service area and manage a 13,000-square-mile watershed that includes an extensive system of reservoirs, wells, canals and irrigation laterals. MUNICIPALWATERLEADER.COM
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Kris Polly: How many years have you been with SRP? Cheryl Zittle: I have been with SRP for 35 years. Kris Polly: What is your current position there? Cheryl Zittle: I am senior director of Water Services. This includes maintenance and operations of the district, which is 248,000 acres in size, and includes around 270 wells, 131 miles of canals, and 1,300 miles of laterals, and employs 72 zanjeros (ditch riders). Additionally, we have a water contact center available 24/7 for our water customers. Water services also maintains shareholder accounting and includes information technology and engineering support for the water group at SRP. Kris Polly: What are some of the most important things you have learned throughout your career with SRP? Cheryl Zittle: SRP has a rich history. It has been around for more than 100 years and has been an integral part of the growth and development of the greater Phoenix area. As a born-and-raised Arizonan, I grew up among the very systems I manage today. As my first assignment in water was in financial analysis and budgeting, I came to understand how SRP’s resources fit together to operate and maintain the organization.
While finance and budgeting may seem boring, it provided me with a great opportunity to understand how those numbers fit together. The overview of the organization that I gained has been beneficial. Kris Polly: Have you had any formative mentors during your career? Cheryl Zittle: Absolutely. One was a superintendent who ran operation-maintenance construction in the half of our territory north of the Salt River. I had an assignment during which our paths intersected. He recognized that I was interested in further career development and asked me the questions that led me to my first management job. Working alongside him allowed me to gain a wealth of knowledge regarding water operations. There was also another person who recognized my interests and afforded me the opportunity to get involved in the NWRA. Our relationship continues to this day. Kris Polly: What advice do you have for others, especially young women who are interested in water? Cheryl Zittle: Oftentimes we may not articulate what we want. It is important to be heard and seen. Do not turn down any opportunities. A personal example of this dates back to when John Sullivan (then the associate general Phoenix, Arizona.
PHOTO COURTESY OF 360PHX.
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manager of water at SRP) had started his path to the presidency of the NWRA. He was looking for someone in the organization to help with general duties in support of his new position. When he asked for volunteers, I think that only one other person beside me volunteered. As luck would have it, he chose me. This was a wonderful opportunity, because it allowed me to work with him and others on a national scale. My advice to everyone is never to turn down an opportunity because you think it would not be a good fit. You are turning down a tremendous learning experience. Never turn down opportunities—take them, embrace them, learn from them.
Getting people together is key. That will become more apparent moving forward. Through those connections, the NWRA can be the bridge that brings more states together to solve common interests. I think my biggest takeaway from attending NWRA meetings has been realizing how many common interests and issues the membership shares. When you are working at a single district, it is easy to get caught up in your own issues, but at the NWRA, you discover a network of people you can discuss those issues with.
Kris Polly: Given that SRP is one of the largest water and power providers in the West, you bring a unique perspective to leading the NWRA. What is one of the most important things you think the NWRA can do for water providers and for the western water community in general?
Cheryl Zittle: I look forward to working with everyone. I think this next Congress is going to be an interesting challenge, and it is going to take everyone working together to progress. M
Cheryl Zittle: As resources are shrinking, our challenge will be to accomplish more with less. We need to find ways to bring people together to solve issues in creative ways. It could be through partnerships to find other funding sources. The NWRA could be the thing that brings everyone together. We all have connections.
Kris Polly: Is there anything you would like to add?
Cheryl Zittle is the senior director of Water Services at the Salt River Project and the president of the National Water Resources Association. She can be contacted at cheryl.zittle@srpnet.com.
PHOTO COURTESY OF SRP EMPLOYEE JOSHUA MURRAY.
A haboob, or strong wind, bringing a cloud of dust in from the desert at the tail end of SRP’s Western Canal.
MUNICIPALWATERLEADER.COM
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Forecasting Fort Worth’s Water Resources Needs
T
he Tarrant Regional Water District (TRWD) has been providing flood control and water supply services to the city of Fort Worth, Texas, for nearly 100 years. In a swiftly growing urban area that has experienced significant dry and wet spells over the past 4 years, it is imperative to be able to forecast future supply and demand and to plan on that basis. As TRWD’s water resources engineering director, Rachel Ickert oversees energy and water supply management as well as flood control operations for the district. In this interview with Municipal Water Leader Managing Editor Joshua Dill, Ms. Ickert discusses her department’s responsibilities and how the department integrates the newest research and computer modeling information into its operations.
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PHOTO COURTESY OF.
The Richland-Chambers Reservoir.
“
We are on the leading edge of our field, and we are constantly looking for new and innovative ways to manage our operations. — rachel ickert
”
PHOTO COURTESY OF TERRANT REGIONAL WATER DISTRICT.
Joshua Dill: Please tell us about your background and how you ended up in your current position. Rachel Ickert: I grew up in the Texas Panhandle with an appreciation for water. Starting at an early age, I had an interest in math and science that my parents, grandparents, and teachers recognized and fostered. I hold a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Texas Tech University and a master’s degree in civil engineering with an emphasis on water resources from the University of Texas at Arlington. After college, I went into consulting and worked for Freese and Nichols, Inc., for 11 years. During my time there, I worked on water transmission design, water rights permitting, and regional water supply planning, specifically in the north Texas area we called Region C, which is where I continue to work today. I also worked on various projects for TRWD, including operational studies, pipeline and pump design, construction management, and water supply planning. Almost 5 years ago, I came to work for TRWD. My initial title when I came to the district was a special projects director. I was primarily responsible for getting our asset management program started. Today, I am still overseeing that process, but at this point, there are many other people involved. Almost 1 year into my time at TRWD, I became the water resources engineering director, which is my current position. I have been in this position for just over 4 years. We basically formed a new department by dividing the existing engineering department into a water resources engineering department and an infrastructure engineering department. Geospatial services, which includes surveying and GIS, were added to the new water resources engineering department.
In both water supply and flood operations, the last 4 years have been pretty interesting. The years 2015 and 2016 brought floods to our area. That was a significant challenge. On the water supply side, those floods ended a long, sustained drought that had been ongoing when I first arrived. I have seen some dry periods and some pretty wet periods. TRWD owns and operates four reservoirs and also has flood and water supply operations responsibilities. My group is responsible for planning water supply operations and energy management as we move the water through the system. We work with our data sources and models to make decisions on how to move water in the most efficient way possible. Rachel Ickert. Joshua Dill: How would you describe what a water resources engineering director does? Rachel Ickert: The primary responsibility is to lead the division and personnel in flood monitoring and water supply operations planning, which includes an annual pumping power budget of $20 million. Water supply management and the associated energy management and coordination with our customers’ water treatment plants are the primary focus areas with ongoing, real-time needs. Flood-operations management becomes a high priority role when our reservoirs are spilling. We also provide technical MUNICIPALWATERLEADER.COM
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The Lake Bridgeport spillway.
support and project management for the district’s long-range water supply planning, which is led by our planning director. Joshua Dill: Would you tell us a little bit about the district, especially what sets it apart from other districts? Rachel Ickert: From what I have learned in networking with other agencies and from articles I have read, TRWD is different from other districts because of our innovative approaches and because we are a raw water supplier with a large water transmission infrastructure. We do not treat water for drinking. We manage raw water source reservoirs and deliver the water to our customers’ water treatment plants; they treat the water and deliver it to the appropriate end users. Our flood control responsibilities set us
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apart as well. Our reserviors are water supply reservoirs, not flood control reservoirs. However, they do have some flood control capability. Our two West Fork reservoirs sit upstream of the Fort Worth Floodway, which includes 27 miles of levees that were built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers along the Trinity River to provide vital flood protection to area residents and businesses. As the local sponsor of the floodway, we have operations and maintenance responsibilities for those levees and work in coordination with the Army Corps. Joshua Dill: Would you tell us about water resources forecasting and the difficulties of that process? Rachel Ickert: We have long-term forecasts that help us project our needs and plan how to move water within our
system. Our reservoirs are spread out geographically. Our Bridgeport and Eagle Mountain Reservoirs, which are located north and west of Fort Worth, fall into our West Fork System. We also have reservoirs in east Texas— the Richland-Chambers and Cedar Creek Reservoirs—which are further downstream in the Trinity basin. Those two reservoirs are much larger than the reservoirs closer to our end users: They hold 80–85 percent of our water supply. We have to spend a lot of money to pump that water uphill and across many miles to the Fort Worth and Arlington area, where our primary demand is located. There are water treatment plants that pull from our reservoirs, and we want to make sure that those reservoirs have enough water to meet their demands. Our system cannot pump the water in real time to meet the water treatment plants’ demands, so we always need to be planning ahead. We always want to be ahead of the game and to have water in storage. On the flood-operations side, we have a longer-term forecast that indicates whether we are moving into a wetter or drier climate. However, it is the short-term forecasts that we are watching when responding to flood conditions. The forecasts are hardly ever exactly right, but they are good at letting us know when water can be expected. However, we do not make our flood-operations decisions until we see how much water is on the ground. By that, I mean that once the rainfall hits and is measured, we know where the water is, and we can decide how best to respond to the effects. We watch the forecasts to get an idea of what else to expect, but actual reservoir discharge decisions are made based on the water on the ground. The forecasting is important, but in some instances, we still have to wait to see if the projections are accurate to act on them. Joshua Dill: Would you talk about the relationship between the academic side and the practical side of water resources management?
The Benbrook booster pump station.
Rachel Ickert: We are on the leading edge of our field, and we are constantly looking for new and innovative ways to manage our operations. Where appropriate, we integrate new ideas with tried and true methods and applications. We are involved in multiple research projects with the Water Research Foundation, and we have also worked with several universities. The University of Texas at Arlington helped us on a flood planning project by modeling future flows during large storms. They did this by moving storms around in their computational models. That information helped us go back and check some of the work we had done previously. We completed that study in conjunction with the Army Corps. We have a sophisticated floodoperations model as well as a RiverWare river system model that we use for our water supply operations. Those models, combined with our experience and practical knowledge, help guide our decisions.
PHOTOS COURTESY OF TERRANT REGIONAL WATER DISTRICT.
Joshua Dill: Would you speak about your experience as a woman in the water industry? Rachel Ickert: I started in civil engineering at a time when I was close to being the only female in my classes. The ratio was about 10 percent women to 90 percent men at Texas Tech. Statistics show that there are more women coming into the field now. It is important for everyone to support each other, but it is especially important for women to reach out to other women in the field. I have been fortunate to have had a lot of great mentors and supervisors throughout my career. My husband, who is also an engineer, has been my biggest supporter. When I look back over my career thus far, I would say that as many women as men have supported me along the way. It is really important to pay that forward by mentoring and supporting other engineers and youth who may be interested in engineering. For me, it was not really a challenge
to be a woman in my field until I became a mother. At that time, it was highly important for me to have female mentors that had gone through the transition successfully. I was fortunate in that the people I worked for were supportive of a flexible schedule. I actually worked part time for several years. I am very much in favor of allowing other people to do that if they can do it successfully; I think it shows character when someone values their family life enough to want to make those adjustments to their work life. Allowing that kind of flexibility also earns an employer more loyal employees. Joshua Dill: What is most rewarding about your current position? Rachel Ickert: The primary reason I came to work for TRWD was the opportunity to serve our community and the public. It is nice to be able to see the effects of our efforts. It is a great place to work, and I am glad to be able to serve in this capacity. I also really enjoy the people with whom I work and
our innovative projects. Joshua Dill: What is your vision for the future? Rachel Ickert: We have a lot of initiatives underway that I am looking forward to seeing through. Our population is expected to continue to increase, and water needs will continue to increase as well, even with water conservation and changes in water use behavior. As demand increases, we will ultimately need more water sources. We are studying our projected water demands to get a better idea of what to expect, and we are pursuing projects to optimize the water resources we already have, such as an aquiferstorage-and-recovery demonstration well and reclaimed water studies. We will continue to work with our regional partners to optimize all our systems and resources as well. M Rachel Ickert is the water resources engineering director at Tarrant Regional Water District. She can be contacted at rachel.ickert@trwd.com. MUNICIPALWATERLEADER.COM
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MANAGING STORM WATER IN
LOS ANGELES COUNTY L
os Angeles is associated with sunny skies, but when storms come, the water they bring can be difficult to manage in the city’s dense urban landscape. Since 2015, the Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts (LACSD) have been legally permitted to aid their member jurisdictions with storm water management. Today, the Districts are figuring out safe and efficient ways to introduce storm water into their sewer systems and treat it to meet water quality standards. In this interview, Kristen Ruffell, the division engineer for the LACSD’s Water Quality Section, speaks with Municipal Water Leader Managing Editor Joshua Dill about recent advances in storm water management in Los Angeles. Joshua Dill: Please tell us about your background and how you ended up in your current position.
Kristen Ruffell.
Joshua Dill: Would you give us an overview of the Sanitation Districts as a whole? What services do they provide, and how does storm water management fit in?
24 | MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER
PHOTO COURTESY OF LACSD.
Kristen Ruffell: I have a bachelor of science in civil engineering from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, and a master’s in environmental engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. I have worked at the Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts since 1999. I spent the beginning of my career with the Districts in the Sewerage Collection System and Treatment Plant Monitoring Sections, and have supervised and then managed our Water Quality Section since 2007.
PHOTO COURTESY OF.
LACSD’s Joint Water Pollution Control Plant, with Carriage Crest Park in the lower left corner.
MUNICIPALWATERLEADER.COM
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Kristen Ruffell: The Sanitation Districts consist of 24 independent special districts serving about 5.6 million people in Los Angeles County. Our service area covers approximately 850 square miles and encompasses 78 cities and unincorporated areas in the county. The Sanitation Districts were created in 1923 to construct, operate, and maintain facilities that collect, treat, and dispose of domestic and industrial wastewater. At that time, a significant number of cities were forming, and it was clear that managing wastewater on a regional scale made sense. The Districts operate and maintain the larger, regional collection systems, while cities and unincorporated areas within each district are responsible for their smaller collection systems. Cities and unincorporated parts of the county are also responsible for the collection of solid waste. In the 1950s, it became apparent that solid-waste management would benefit from a regional approach. At that time, the Sanitation Districts were given the responsibility of providing for solid-waste management, which today includes the disposal and transfer of collected solid waste and recovery of recyclable materials and energy. Recently, California law was amended to give our agency the authority to assist our cities with storm water management. Joshua Dill: I tend to think of Los Angeles as an arid place without a lot of storms or storm water. How much storm water is there, and how does it affect the city? Kristen Ruffell: It doesn’t rain very often in Los Angeles County, but when it does, the storms can be fed by so-called atmospheric rivers that deliver up to 15 times the flow at the mouth of the Mississippi River in the form of rainfall over California. These intense storms typically last for several days, and it’s been documented that 30–50 percent of the annual precipitation in the region comes from just a few atmospheric river events. Joshua Dill: How is storm water being managed today? Kristen Ruffell: The Los Angeles County Flood Control District (a separate agency from my own) has done a terrific job of protecting lives and property by building a system of storm drains and flood control channels to drain storm water off the landscape as quickly as possible, conveying some of the water to conservation facilities and ensuring that the rest can be conveyed to the ocean without causing major flooding. With recent changes in permitting requirements, however, the municipalities in Los Angeles County have had to ensure that the water meets certain quality standards before it goes into local rivers and creeks. It is a significant challenge to add treatment to an existing network of pipes and channels, without increasing flood risk, in an area that is already built out with homes and businesses. That’s where the Sanitation Districts can help. The Sanitation Districts operate a separate network of pipes that
26 | MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER
convey sewage for treatment at our water reclamation plants. In some areas, or at certain times of day, there is capacity in our system that can be used to convey some of the storm water to the existing treatment facilities after the stormrelated peaks in our system have subsided. The recent change in the law allows us to help the cities develop projects to comply with their permits. Let me zero in on a project that the LACSD is doing for the City of Carson. The city’s enhanced watershed management plan had it building an infiltration project at Carriage Crest Park, which happens to be right across the street from our Joint Water Pollution Control Plant. The city asked us to help it develop the project and oversee its design and implementation. Initial investigations found that infiltration was not possible at the park due to groundwater contamination from a former gas station near the park. The Sanitation Districts helped convert the project to a sewer diversion project that could cost-effectively handle significantly more storm water than the original project (27 acre-feet versus the originally planned 9 acre-feet). The City of Carson had funding from a cooperative implementation agreement through the California Department of Transportation; the County of Los Angeles decided to join the project and contribute funding in exchange for the expansion of the project to manage the design storm from its area as well. The design storm is a 24hour, 85th-percentile storm, which deposits about an inch of rain. The project is currently in construction and will divert storm water to a new cistern beneath the park and then send the water to the sewer when capacity is available. There will be a control system that measures the level in the sewer in real time. When the sewer has available capacity, discharge pumps divert water out of the storage and into the sewer; when the sewer is running full, as it will during some storms, the system turns off the sewer diversion pumps and the storage continues to fill. When the storage is full, the system closes the influent valve to allow flows from large storms to bypass the system. The real-time diversion system will make the 13½ acre-feet of storage in the park operate like 27 acre-feet of storage and will allow the City of Carson and the County of Los Angeles to capture the compliance storm for all their land area within the subwatershed. Joshua Dill: Is the captured water immediately treated? Kristen Ruffell: The storm water receives secondary treatment at the Joint Water Pollution Control Plant, which, as I mentioned, is right across the street from the project. It is treated along with the wastewater flows in that plant. After treatment, the effluent is discharged into the ocean. Joshua Dill: Is all the water from the Joint Water Pollution Control Plant discharged into the ocean?
LACSD’s Joint Water Pollution Control Plant, with Carriage Crest Park in the upper left. corner.
Kristen Ruffell: A small amount of treated effluent is used within the plant, but almost all the flow is currently discharged to the ocean. Metropolitan Water District is in the process of constructing a demonstration plant to test a purification process that may eventually allow the effluent to be reused for groundwater replenishment. The MWD Advanced Purification Center demo plant will start operation in March 2019. The demo plant will allow Metropolitan to test the process and obtain regulatory approval for a potential full-scale reuse project. At the Sanitation Districts’ other wastewater treatment facilities, almost all of the effluent is reused for industrial, commercial, and recreational applications; groundwater replenishment; agriculture; and the irrigation of parks, schools, golf courses, roadways, and nurseries. Joshua Dill: What are the challenges of storm water management in Los Angeles as compared to other cities?
PHOTO COURTESY OF LACSD.
Kristen Ruffell: One of the most significant challenges of storm water management in Los Angeles County is that the county is already built out. The available places to capture storm water and treat it are few and far between. Also, in a number of places, the storm drain systems are open channels, rivers, and streams that are subject to the requirements of the Clean Water Act. It has been a challenge for the cities in Los Angeles County to capture storm water and treat it before it makes it to the openchannel portion of the storm drain system, where water quality standards apply. Joshua Dill: What other major challenges are part of your everyday work? Kristen Ruffell: The other major challenge for our municipalities is that, despite being required by the Clean Water Act, storm water treatment hasn’t had a funding source. Some of that has been improved by Los Angeles
County’s Measure W, which was passed by the voters on November 6. Measure W provides a small parcel tax that municipalities can use to fund the projects necessary to comply with their permits. In many cases, the captured and cleaned storm water can then be used to increase local water supplies. Joshua Dill: What are the recent advances that have aided you in your storm water management work, and what is your vision for the future? Kristen Ruffell: Until very recently, the Sanitation District’s had discouraged the introduction of storm water into our sewage system. We permitted a handful of dry-weather diversions along the beaches to protect the water quality and swimmer safety. Those existing diversions have been required to wait 24 hours after rainfall before pumping into the sewer to reduce the risk of overflow. Diversions had not been allowed in inland areas. Since then, the Sanitation Districts have been evolving and looking for places where we can accept storm water for treatment through our system in a safe way. We’ve developed Carriage Crest Park immediately upstream of a treatment plant, and we are looking into what it would take to introduce stored storm water into our system further upstream. Eventually, I believe that the sewer system will need to be instrumented to allow for full use of its capacity. Installing level sensors at key locations and using the data to control diversions creates an opportunity to optimize and coordinate the growing network of storm water storage facilities in the county with the dual goal of achieving compliance with the storm water permit and creating additional water supplies from storm water that is currently lost to the ocean. M Kristen Ruffell is the manager of the Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts’ Water Quality Section. She can be reached at kruffell@lacsd.org. MUNICIPALWATERLEADER.COM
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HOW WELLNTEL IS PROVIDING REAL-TIME GROUNDWATER SUPPLY INFORMATON
Wellntel’s sensor deployed on a vineyard well.
30 | MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER
F
armers can observe the weather, they can measure rainfall, and they can monitor how much water they pump out of their wells, but until now, it has been nearly impossible to measure their groundwater supply in real time. Groundwater is a dynamic resource that recovers from pumping at different speeds, depending on geology, precipitation, and the number and density of the wells that draw from it. Wellntel, a technology company founded in 2012, has created a cloud-based platform that provides real-time groundwater supply information from a network of simple sensors installed on private wells. In this interview, Marian Singer, the cofounder and chief executive officer of Wellntel, talks with Municipal Water Leader Managing Editor Joshua Dill about her company’s innovative products and how they stand to benefit groundwater users. Joshua Dill: Please tell us about your background and how it led you to your current position.
“
Wellntel is the first company to provide realtime groundwater supply information on a networkscale basis and make it available to groundwater managers as well as private well owners.
— Marian Singer
Marian Singer: Prior to founding Wellntel, my cofounder Nick Hayes and I were strategy consultants for large industrial companies, specifically in the water and energy space. Our job was to bring the voice of the customer and the market into clients’ new product- and servicedevelopment processes to better meet customers’ needs. In 2011, we got to take a team of engineers around the world to visit groundwater stress hotspots and talk to the folks buying, specifying, and using their products. While in Amsterdam, we learned about the Netherlands’ rich national groundwater monitoring dataset and map. We were inspired. We wondered whether we could take advantage of the 15 million existing private wells in the United States and local Internet connections and turn them into monitoring points using a simple, non invasive sensor. If we could do that, we could build maps of groundwater supply that would track changes in real time. That would give farmers and local communities the insight they need to sustainably manage their critical groundwater resources. We got enough nods of support from engineers, investors, and potential customers that we started Wellntel at the end of 2012. After 3 years of technology development, we launched commercially in 2015.
PHOTOS COURTESY OF WELLNTEL.
Joshua Dill: Please tell us about your company, Wellntel. Marian Singer: Wellntel is an information platform for groundwater supply. We gather data from our sensors, which are deployed in a network on private wells across an area. Data from our sensors is transmitted to the cloud via local Internet connections, and our cloud engine prepares it for analysis and sharing. An online dashboard allows customers to see, for the first time, the water level in their well or wells and how it changes, the real-time effects of pumping and precipitation, seasonal drawdown and recovery, and longterm historical trends. Groundwater-level monitoring has traditionally been expensive and cumbersome. Most of the time, it was
done by a groundwater professional who would visit a well and use a tape to measure the water level as it was at that particular time, on that particular date. The well might not be visited again for months or years. That method doesn’t give groundwater managers, including communities and farmers, the rich, dynamic information that they need to make decisions. We decided to do something different. Our sensor is designed to be simple and inexpensive. Because it’s noninvasive—it uses a digital form of sound to track the water level and is installed at the top of a well—it does not touch the water, thus eliminating the risk of contamination. We install the sensors on private wells whose owners MUNICIPALWATERLEADER.COM
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voluntarily allow us to do so. It only takes about 30 minutes to install and register the device and get data flowing into the cloud. Measurements are transferred in real time to the cloud via a local Internet connection or, if the well is remote, via a cell modem. Our customers access their wells’ information via a secure, private, online dashboard that’s a
Marian Singer: Wellntel is the first company to provide real-time groundwater supply information on a networkscale basis and make it available to groundwater managers as well as private well owners. We can also bring thirdparty data into our platform. Early in 2019, we will be announcing the addition of a new capability that provides estimates of gallons pumped for wells without a meter. With this information, our customers will have both supply and demand on a single dashboard, providing new insight into pumping-volume effects and aquifer health. Joshua Dill: Who are your customers? Marian Singer: Our customers are groundwater management agencies and groundwater-dependent businesses, including farmers, food processors, and mining operations. Wellntel has a presence in 35 states. A majority of our customers are in the West, with California, New Mexico, and Texas leading the way.
A map showing change in groundwater levels in a network over time.
Joshua Dill: What makes your product appropriate for irrigators?
living document of what is happening to their wells and the groundwater in their area. They can see the current water level and pumping activity, set alerts, and track changes. Our customers are groundwater management agencies and farmers. For farmers, Wellntel provides the real-time information necessary to take action on operational alerts, as well as the longer-term, seasonal information necessary to make decisions on water storage and transfer and to resolve any disputes that arise. For community agencies, Wellntel provides a cost-effective platform to enhance and expand their groundwater-level monitoring, which is used to inform their growth decisions. Since Wellntel’s networks are built using the facilities of local private-well-owning volunteers, the data in the cloud are also securely shared with the volunteers, thus increasing local stakeholders’ understanding of their critical groundwater resources.
Marian Singer: Farmers want to stay on their land and keep their business profitable and growing. To do that, particularly in groundwater-stressed areas, they need to understand the state of their groundwater resources, the effects of their irrigation, and the dynamics of annual recovery so that they can sustainably manage their land and their farms. Wellntel helps them do that. It also helps them create a database so that, in the case of a legal dispute, they can demonstrate that they have been good caretakers of their water.
Joshua Dill: Does your company make both software and hardware?
Joshua Dill: What is new about the services that Wellntel provides?
32 | MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER
Marian Singer: Observing groundwater supplies in real time for the first time can lead to surprising discoveries, particularly about the health of the groundwater supply. We’ve had farmers in the West who were happy to discover that they have robust, quick-recovering groundwater supplies. Others saw that it took 2–4 months in the offseason for their wells to recover. This information helps them start to understand the effects of their own pumping and to differentiate it from the effects of outside factors. Joshua Dill: Would you tell us about your sales strategy? Marian Singer: Right now, we are selling directly to both agencies and farmers. Because we are doing something brand new, we can’t send an email and have customers intuitively understand the value of our service.
PHOTOS COURTESY OF WELLNTEL.
Marian Singer: Yes. We had hoped that we could create a system using off-the-shelf sensors and firmware, but suitable products weren’t available. We developed the firmware and cloud engine needed to make our systems accurate and secure and designed a purpose-built sensor and telemetry system to deploy in the field. We assemble and ship the systems out of our Milwaukee headquarters.
Joshua Dill: Has your service led to any unexpected results or discoveries about water supplies?
We need to have conversations to identify and address our customers’ challenges. We find customers by attending local meetings, association meetings, and trade shows. Customer referrals are our most powerful marketing tool. One of our goals in 2019 is to find the right channel partner to help us to deploy our system on a broader scale. Joshua Dill: Would you speak about your experience as a female chief executive officer in the water industry? Marian Singer: I think my experience in the water industry is similar to my experience in industrial markets. Many of our customers are men, although the percentage of women in the water industry, in water science, and in farming is growing. As a woman in the water industry, with the people and customers I get to work with, it’s a really fun experience all the way around. I think that it’s really cool to see more women taking an active role, particularly in family farming businesses.
Marian Singer: Our vision for Wellntel is to make groundwater visible and to inform sustainable management. We believe that farmers, homeowners, and communities that depend on groundwater should have the information that allows them to make the decisions that enable them to stay in the places they love. Knowing about and understanding their groundwater resources is the key to doing that. We want farmers to not only be able to check their weather forecast each morning, but also to be able to check their groundwater forecast and to make groundwater monitoring an integral part of their planning and operations. M Marian Singer is cofounder and chief executive officer of Wellntel. She can be contacted at mjsinger@wellntel.com.
Joshua Dill: Would you tell us about your vision for the future of your company?
A hydrograph from Wellntel’s dashboard.
MUNICIPALWATERLEADER.COM
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JOINING THE NORTHWEST PIPE FAMILY: AN INTERVIEW WITH ERIN CORNWELL Erin Cornwell
I
n July 2018, Northwest Pipe Company acquired Ameron Water Transmission Group, reinforcing its position as the United States’ largest manufacturer of water transmission steel pressure pipe. Erin Cornwell is an engineer who worked in a number of different departments at Ameron Water Transmission Group and now works for Northwest Pipe. In this interview with Municipal Water Leader Managing Editor Joshua Dill, Ms. Cornwell discusses her work, developments in the steel pipe industry, and her experiences during the recent acquisition.
Joshua Dill: Please tell us about your background and your current position.
36 | MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER
Joshua Dill: How big is the facility in Tracy? How many people work there? Erin Cornwell: The Tracy plant spans 85 acres and currently employs about 100 people. Joshua Dill: How big is the department you direct? Erin Cornwell: I currently oversee five people at the Tracy office. Joshua Dill: Would you tell us about the projects you are currently working on?
PHOTO COURTESY OF NORTHWEST PIPE.
Erin Cornwell: I graduated from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, with a bachelor of science in civil engineering. Upon graduating, the country was in a slight recession, so there were relatively few jobs available. I answered a job listing in the local newspaper and was hired by Ameron as a layout engineer. I evaluated contract plans and documents in order to develop engineering designs that were used as shop drawings for manufacturing. I was promoted to the Estimating Department, where I used the contract drawings and specifications for prospective jobs to calculate their costs and identify production-related issues prior to bid. The majority of our work is done through the public bid process, so the estimates are used to determine how to price our proposals. My next step brought me into the Project Management Department, where my primary duty was ensuring that contract requirements and customer expectations were met. Essentially, I was responsible for the coordination of shop drawings, submittals, deliveries, and invoices; I was also the single point of contact for
our customers for any issue that might arise. Next, I was promoted to director of project administration, overseeing both the Estimating and the Project Management Departments. Around that time, Northwest Pipe acquired Ameron. Northwest Pipe put me in the position of engineering manager for the Tracy, California, plant. As engineering manager, I continue to manage projects with our customers and I oversee the Engineering Department.
Erin Cornwell: We’re finishing one project near Provo, Utah, which includes about 15,000 linear feet of 48- and 42-inch cement mortar–lined and tape-coated welded steel pipe. A similar project for the City of San Diego, California, comprising nearly 8,000 linear feet of pipe, will start delivering at the end of January. I’m also working on a project for the City of Turlock, California, which includes 37,000 linear feet of 42-inch cement mortar–lined and coated welded steel pipe. The customer started installing it in December. Most of our current jobs consist of cement mortar–lined and coated steel pipe. However, we have an upcoming project to supply 48-inch reinforced-concrete pipe, and we recently finished a 120-inch reinforced-concrete pipe project for the Contra Costa Water District that spanned 5,500 feet. Joshua Dill: How does your company identify these projects? Erin Cornwell: Our projects are predominantly public bids advertised by water agencies or cities. They will issue a bid request for a specific project; contractors will then take a look at it and see what they need to build it out. Those contractors are our customers. We work with their specifications to determine the bid price for the pipe on the project. Joshua Dill: When it comes to bids like that, what does Northwest Pipe bring to the table that other companies might not? Erin Cornwell: From my perspective, Northwest Pipe’s two greatest advantages are its experienced staff and its nationwide manufacturing infrastructure, which is unparalleled in the industry. The breadth of experience at Northwest Pipe never ceases to amaze me. To use a sports metaphor, we simply have the deepest bench that’s ever been assembled in the pipe business. And with plants located nationwide, we can save our customers money on transportation while providing the best service available. Joshua Dill: Would you tell us about current trends in the water pipe industry? How are new technologies changing how pipe is constructed? Erin Cornwell: For the most part, new technology has not affected the fabrication of pipe directly. In some cases, the equipment used to make the pipe itself dates back to the 1950s. Our most popular lining and coating is cement mortar, which has been commonplace for over 100 years. However, some new paint and polyurethane products are being embraced by agencies, and we have updated our equipment and processes to accommodate these changes. Joshua Dill: What was your experience during the acquisition by Northwest Pipe, and what new capabilities and advantages has it brought?
Erin Cornwell: Naturally, I was apprehensive, because we were being acquired by our primary competitor. Initially, it felt a bit like a defeat. Several years earlier, Ameron had been bought by National Oilwell Varco, a massive oilfield services and equipment multinational, and the transition was awkward because the oil and water businesses have such different languages and cultures. That experience was still fresh in my mind as news of the Northwest pipe sale broke. Thankfully, as soon as I met with Northwest Pipe, I found
“
Northwest Pipe’s two greatest advantages are its experienced staff and its nationwide manufacturing infrastructure, which is unparalleled in the industry.
”
— ERIN CORNWELL
that my initial misgivings were unwarranted. Northwest Pipe was enthusiastic about the acquisition and was anxious to welcome us into the fold. Northwest Pipe has also hired some former Ameron employees over the years, and seeing those folks doing well with Northwest Pipe and the company’s welcoming us with open arms worked wonders for morale. It’s been like a family reunion. Ameron isn’t the name on the door anymore, but the people and the purpose remain, and we’re all working to make something bigger and better than either company was by itself. Joshua Dill: Does that mean that you’re working on projects that are larger than the ones you were working on before? Erin Cornwell: Northwest Pipe’s resources and nationwide reach give us not only the flexibility to work on larger projects but the ability to work on more projects overall than Ameron could handle on its own. If one plant has a scheduling conflict, we can substitute another plant or help the plant out with its deadlines. If we are having difficulty with a particular problem, undoubtedly someone within Northwest Pipe has the expertise to help.
Joshua Dill: Would you speak about your experience as a woman in the water industry? MUNICIPALWATERLEADER.COM
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Erin Cornwell: I don’t think I’ve suffered because I’m a woman, but I think I’ve had to prove myself more than a man would have. When I was originally interviewed after answering that local newspaper ad, one of the senior managers said, “Well, we hired a woman once before and that ended up okay.” I was taken aback and didn’t know how to respond to that, but in the end, that manager became one of my biggest supporters. He encouraged me to get both my professional engineer and my master of business administration degrees. I’ve also been gratified to see more women represented in the ranks of management industrywide as well as at professional conferences like those of the American Society of Civil Engineers’ Pipelines Division. Growing up as a girl interested in science and math, I wasn’t always encouraged by my teachers, but I think that situation has improved considerably. Last year, I had the opportunity to go into high school classrooms to talk about my education and career as well as my role as a female professional in the workforce. It was exciting to see so many girls interested in engineering fields. Young women account for nearly 60 percent of all college graduates now and are leading men at every level of degree, from associate’s degrees right up through doctorates. Joshua Dill: What is your vision for the future?
38 | MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER
PHOTO COURTESY OF NORTHWEST PIPE.
Erin Cornwell: On a small scale, my vision for the immediate future is for my plant to seamlessly integrate into the Northwest Pipe family and become one of its most valued assets. I think we’re moving in the right direction, and we’re picking up speed. Looking further into the future and thinking on a larger scale, I’d like to promote infrastructure investment in order to ensure that everyone has access to clean, drinkable water. It breaks my heart that anyone in this country should have to worry that
A 48-inch cement mortar–lined and coated welded steel pipe fitting piece for a vault manufactured by Northwest Pipe for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.
their water is poisoning their children. I’m proud to work in an industry that brings life-sustaining clean water to people, but providing it isn’t free. Critical infrastructure investments have been declining steadily for over 40 years, and we’re starting to see the disastrous results of that neglect. The technology necessary to make life-changing improvements is at our fingertips, but we need the societal will to spend what it costs. M Erin Cornwell is the engineering manager at Northwest Pipe’s Tracy, California, facility. She can be contacted at ecornwell@nwpipe.com.
54-inch welded steel pipe being cement mortar lined and painted in a vault for Poseidon Resources, part of a desalination project in the city of Carlsbad, California.
A dual line being installed in Palos Verdes for the California Water Services Company.
MUNICIPALWATERLEADER.COM
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January 7–9, 2019 Groundwater Management Districts Association, Winter Conference, Phoenix, AZ January 9–11, 2019 Four States Irrigation Council, Annual Meeting, Fort Collins, CO January 10, 2019 Idaho Irrigation Equipment Show and Conference, Nampa, ID January 10–11, 2019 National Water Resources Association, Leadership Forum, Phoenix, AZ January 21–24, 2019 Idaho Water Users Association, Annual Convention, Boise, ID January 23–24, 2019 Irrigation Leader Operations and Management Workshop, Phoenix, AZ January 23–25, 2019 Texas Ground Water Association, Annual Convention, San Marcos, TX January 28–31, 2019 Nevada Water Resources Association, Annual Conference, Reno, NV January 30–February 1, 2019 Colorado Water Congress, Annual Convention, Westminster, CO February 21–22, 2019 Family Farm Alliance, Annual Conference, Reno, NV February 23–28, 2019 Irrigation Leader Chile Irrigation Education Tour February 26–28, 2019 Association of California Water Agencies, Annual Washington, DC, Conference February 28–March 1, 2019 Multi-State Salinity Coalition, Annual Salinity Summit, Las Vegas, NV March 6–8, 2019 Texas Water Conservation Association, Annual Convention, Bastrop, TX March 18–20, 2019 Utah Water Users Workshop, St. George, UT March 30–April 3, 2019 Nebraska Natural Resources Districts, Washington, DC, Meeting April 1–3, 2019 National Water Resources Association, Federal Water Issues Conference, Washington, DC
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