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Orange County Water District: Protecting Groundwater From Pharmaceutical Contamination
Jason Dadakis in front of a reverse osmosis treatment train.
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16 | MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER | September 2020
Municipal Water Leader: Please tell us about your background and current position.
Jason Dadakis: I’m a hydrogeologist by training, and I have worked for OCWD for about 16 years. My current title here at OCWD is executive director of water quality and technical resources. I work with our analytical laboratory, water quality monitoring programs, regulatory compliance, and research and development.
Municipal Water Leader: Would you give us an overview of OCWD?
Jason Dadakis: OCWD is what’s known in California as an independent special district. It was created by the
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PHOTO COURTESY OF OCWD.
range County Water District (OCWD) is the groundwater basin manager for north and central Orange County, California, providing 77 percent of the water supply for the 2.5 million residents of the area. OCWD is a world leader in water recycling, and its Groundwater Replenishment System (GWRS) is the largest advanced water purification system for potable reuse in the world. OCWD’s focus on water reuse means that it has developed sophisticated protocols for ensuring that the water it provides is clean, safe, and free of any harmful contamination, including contamination by pharmaceuticals and other constituents of emerging concern (CECs). In this interview, Jason Dadakis, OCWD’s executive director of water quality technical resources, tells Municipal Water Leader about how the district monitors and treats its water to mitigate pharmaceutical contamination.
