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Coachella Valley Water District: Making Water Work for Families, Farmers, and Golfers
A reservoir constructed as part of the Oasis project.
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oachella Valley Water District (CVWD), formed in 1918, protects and conserves local water sources across a vast region in Southern California. CVWD has grown into a multifaceted agency that delivers irrigation and domestic water, collects and recycles wastewater, provides regional storm water protection, replenishes the groundwater basin, and promotes water conservation to sustain the region’s population and industries. In this interview, CVWD Engineering Manager David Wilson and Director of Communications and Conservation Katie Evans tell Municipal Water Leader about CVWD’s L-4 pump relocation project, its Oasis in-lieu recharge pipeline projects, and other conservation and sustainability efforts. Municipal Water Leader: Would you tell us about your background and how you came to be in your current position?
14 | MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER | May 2021
Katie Evans: I began my communications career as a journalist, but transitioned into public information for Desert Water Agency (DWA) in 2008. At DWA, I had the opportunity to create the public information department, which served to educate constituents about the importance of water resources as well as water use efficiency. I came to CVWD in 2015 as the conservation manager and led a team of 16 water use efficiency experts during California’s historic drought. I was able to return to my communications roots in 2017, first as the interim and then as the permanent director of communications and conservation. In my current role, I oversee water management, outreach and education, and government affairs for the district. Municipal Water Leader: Please tell us about CVWD. municipalwaterleader.com
PHOTO COURTESY OF CVWD.
David Wilson: I’ve been involved in the field of engineering for about 18 years. Before arriving at CVWD, I worked for a private engineering consulting firm. I started there near the beginning of the housing boom, when the primary engineering concerns were converting previously developed or vacant land into communities of homes, parks, and commercial corners and building the associated infrastructure. My role involved performing preproject due diligence, developing construction plans and specifications during the planning phase, and shepherding projects through completion of construction. While the work was fulfilling and important, the downturn triggered the need to consider a change. To that end, I joined CVWD in 2011, seeing an opportunity to be a part of something driven by more than just the impulses of the housing market. I began my career at CVWD as an associate-level engineer, developing capital improvement projects from the
ground up in the realms of irrigation, canals, drainage, and storm water. I also became a certified floodplain manager to facilitate the district’s role in the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s National Flood Insurance Program and to inform my work reviewing hydrology and hydraulics analyses for proposed projects in special flood hazard areas. As time progressed, my role expanded to capital improvements within our nonpotable water and recycled water distribution system, where I worked to develop approximately 15 connections to local golf courses, providing an alternative source of supply to large irrigation systems that had previously used groundwater. I was then promoted to the position of senior-level engineer, leading our canal division, and eventually returned to storm water when I was promoted to be the engineering manager of our irrigation, canal, and storm water divisions, the position I am in today.
