DISTRICT PROFILE
Sustainable Water Supply in a Changing Climate: East Bay Municipal Utility District
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30 | MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER
Joshua Dill: Please tell us about your background and how you came to be in your current position. Doug Wallace: I have a background in both environmental sciences and public policy. I spent about 22 years as East Bay MUD’s environmental affairs officer. During that time, I was involved in a lot of advocacy on statewide issues. One thing that I focused on was the CALFED Bay-Delta Program, which aimed to find consensus-based approaches to managing California’s complex statewide water system, the heart of which is in the delta at the confluence of the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers. At a certain point, I began to switch gears and focus on sustainability and our own management and operations.
PHOTO COURTESY OF EAST BAY MUNICIPAL UTILITY DISTRICT.
he East Bay Municipal Utility District (East Bay MUD) has been providing drinking water to the people of California’s Bay Area for almost a century, amid rapid population growth and climatic change. Today, the threats posed by challenges such as intense storms, flooding, wildfires, and sea level rise are front and center. East Bay MUD is increasing its future resilience with a sustainability program aligned with six key goals in its strategic plan, which earned it the Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies’ Sustainable Water Utility Management Award in 2018. In this interview, Doug Wallace, the manager of public affairs at East Bay MUD, speaks with Municipal Water Leader Managing Editor Joshua Dill about how East Bay MUD continues to provide clean water and wastewater services to the Bay Area while planning for an uncertain future.
