Steve Jepsen Southern California Alliance of POTWs 5S 2016 After I did my cycle as first director through past president with the CWEA San Diego Section, I received the treasured gold shovel and a lifetime membership to the secret society of sludge shovelers.I proudly wear my gold shovel at professional events.One of my first public...

Arvind  Akela, P.E.  Silicon Valley Clean Water , CWEA Vice President  5S 2016     Select Society of Sanitary Sludge Shovelers  (5S Society) is an esteemed group of people in the wastewater field and I feel very proud to be part of it. Every CWEA event I walk into; I make sure I have shovel with me and is...

CWEA’s New 5-S Bear Shovel  The History Committee article about the origins of CWEA’s Select Society of Sanitary Sludge Shovelers (5-S) was prompted by an historical change in the program – the adoption of a new design for California’s 5-S shovel. As Past-President Connie Leonard explains it, the design of the shovel was updated to make it unique to California.   So how and why did...

Robert Gerena, Utilities O&M Supervisor, City of Hayward  How did you get your first job in the wastewater sector?  After getting out of the Navy, I worked for the federal government at Camp Pendleton as a Boiler Plant Operator. I saw that as a dead-end job and looked for a way to a different career path. I...

Kevin Street, City of Riverside Public Works Department, Wastewater Division  How did you get your first job in the wastewater sector?  My first career oriented job was with a local air pollution control district. It afforded me the opportunity to inspect and become familiar with wastewater treatment plant processes and equipment. Wastewater quickly piqued my interest; it...

    How did you get your first job in the wastewater sector?   My entry into the wastewater sector was very unconventional.  I had been working for the City of Long Beach Water Department as the Procurement Officer for a few years already in 2014. The Sewer Superintendent was about to retire and my boss at...

Dave A. Alaskin Sanitation District Maintenance & Operations Supervisor Sacramento Area Sewer District  How did you get your first job in the wastewater sector?  I got my first job in the wastewater industry as an intermittent employee to help out in Sacramento’s busy season and got picked up as a permanent employee seven months later. I...

By: Channing Vang, California Rural Water Association What’s your background? After being discharged from the military, I enrolled at DeVry University and earned my Associates degree in Electronics. I went to work for an oil company and focused on instrumentation. While working there, I was introduced to the field of environmental reporting and really enjoyed...

The Orange County Water District (OCWD) and Orange County Sanitation District (OCSD) celebrated the Final Expansion of the Groundwater Replenishment System (GWRS) with a groundbreaking ceremony attended by elected officials, project stakeholders and industry professionals. The Final Expansion of the GWRS is the third and final phase of the project. The GWRS first began operating...

Competitive grant program will support training and career development opportunities for workers in the water and wastewater industries A new national grant program backed by the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission received a $1 million federal funding approval today by the United States Senate. The program will support training and career development for workers in...