ADVERTISEMENT
Eastern Municipal Water District’s Sewer Smart Program
Test tubes at EMWD’s water quality lab.
E
astern Municipal Water District (EMWD) is a leading provider of water, recycled water, and wastewater services over a 555‑square-mile area surrounding its headquarters in Perris, California. Roxanne Rountree, EMWD’s senior public affairs program manager, and Alfred Javier, its director of environmental and regulatory compliance, are on the front lines of the company’s efforts to prevent pharmaceuticals from entering their region’s water supply. In this interview, they tell Municipal Water Leader about EMWD's Sewer Smart Program, a comprehensive public information campaign that combines media outreach, classroom instruction, and the provision of alternative disposal methods for pharmaceuticals and other waste products. Municipal Water Leader: Please tell us about your backgrounds and how you came to be in your current positions.
20 | MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER | September 2020
Municipal Water: Please tell us about EMWD and its services. Roxanne Rountree: EMWD was incorporated in 1950 to provide water, wastewater, and recycled water services. Today, municipalwaterleader.com
PHOTOS COURTESY OF EMWD.
Roxanne Rountree: I am the senior public affairs program manager at EMWD and work in the district’s public and governmental affairs office. I began at EMWD in 2007 as a public affairs officer. I have spent almost 20 years in the communications field and am a veteran of the United States Navy.
Al Javier: I am EMWD’s director of environmental and regulatory compliance and have been engaged in this line of work with EMWD for 31 years. I started out working in the laboratory, focusing on water quality testing, and then moved over to a senior position on the environmental side, eventually becoming a manager and then director. I am also an associate faculty member at Mount San Jacinto College, where I teach water quality courses.
