Dear CWEA Members, As we embark on a new fiscal year for CWEA, it’s an honor to share with you an update on our association’s ambitious program of work and goals for the year. The theme we have chosen for the 2024 Annual Conference and Expo in Sacramento is “MISSION: POSSIBLE.” This theme embodies both...

CWEA Board and staff are excited to announce our new Speaker Database. This collection of resources and guides is to help make the platform easy to use so you can get started finding the right speakers for your events.

This memo is to provide clarity to CWEA stakeholders on the practices surrounding door prizes and to ensure CWEA’s door prize practices are legal and compliant with California law.

View the memo on Form W9 guidance for Local Section Leaders.

With the recent uptick in attempted online scams, CWEA is taking steps to help protect members and volunteers from being exploited by cybercriminals. This scam clarifier features tips for spotting and avoiding scams, what to do if you encounter a suspected scam, and examples of scam attempts targeting CWEA.

CWEA’s Student & Young Professionals Committee is thrilled to kick off the new SYP Local Engagement Subcommittee. To help get the innovative group off the ground, each local section needs to designate a representative. Interested in getting involved? Contact SYP Vice Chair, Julia Asbenson, at [email protected] Purpose: Invest in in-person SYP involvement and events at...

CWEA is proud to introduce Los Angeles Basin Section’s 2022-2023 Board of Directors. In what may be the section’s largest Board yet, these 11 diligent wastewater professionals are making a difference for the CWEA Los Angeles Basin Section and show a real passion for the wastewater industry. The LABS Board is one of the largest...

In the Bayview this past spring, as huge concrete biosolids digesters began to rise on the Southeast Treatment Plant (SEP) site, Senior Project Manager Carolyn Chiu took a moment to reflect on the progress. Chiu is the Senior Project Manager on the SFPUC’s Biosolids Digesters Facilities Project (BDFP), the SFPUC’s largest infrastructure project under the...

For several years in a row, Jamie Johnson ran for chair of the San Francisco Bay Section’s (SFBS) Students and Young Professionals (SYP) committee with little success. It was a position she thought would be exciting and inspiring, but she never thought she would take on that role amid the COVID-19 pandemic and the challenges...

Supervisor of the new Yucca Valley Water Reclamation Facility, Matt Mayo, enjoys making his membrane bio-reactor operation better each day, especially as flows increase as more and more septic systems are hooked up to the collections system. This Emerging Leader says the new facility’s startup was exciting – even fun. “There’s always more than one...

Operators join the wastewater team for a variety of reasons, but for Sergio Villegas, it was a case of curiosity at a cheese plant. “I was working at a cheese plant, and we had to control the amount of Biochemical Oxygen Demand we were putting into the local sewer system,” he recalls. Since he loves...

A social media post has led to a successful career in the clean water profession for Ivan Pedraza. Pedraza started his career in wastewater after seeing a post on Facebook that said the East Bay Municipal Utility District was looking for a laboratory assistant. Even though it was only for an internship, it was a...

Despite her 21 years of experience, a steady pace up the proverbial ladder, a bachelor of science degree in civil engineering from UCLA, and a master of science in civil and environmental engineering from UC Berkeley, this emerging leader is not through learning and is back in school working to a obtain a master’s degree...

As municipalities across California pass organic waste diversion ordinances required by Senate Bill 1383, the Victor Valley Wastewater Reclamation Authority’s (VVWRA) facility in Victorville recently commissioned a first-of-its-kind resource recovery natural gas facility. Though the project was conceived before SB 1383 requirements were outlined, this cutting-edge approach demonstrates a progressive way to manage landfill-diverted organic...

Microplastics are some of the world’s most pervasive and troubling pollutants, finding their way into water, soil, air, wildlife, and humans. These tiny particles come from many sources, including larger plastic debris that breaks down into smaller pieces over time. When plastics are washed down the drain or flushed down the toilet in our service...

After the first World War, the population in the Los Angeles region began to grow at a rapid rate requiring a regional sewer system and infrastructure overhaul. The County Sanitation Districts of Los Angeles County (CSDLAC) was formed in 1923 when the “County Sanitation District Act” was adopted by the State Legislature. At this time,...

VALLEY WATER Silicon Valley Advanced Water Purification Center City/population served: Santa Clara County’s 2 million residents Plant commissioned: March 2014   FLOW RATES Average daily flow: 8 MGD Upgrade up to 9 MGD   TREATMENT PROCESS Microfiltration, reverse osmosis, and ultraviolet disinfection. Recycled Water Usage Silicon Valley Advanced Water Purification Center (SVAWPC) is designed to...

Paying it forward, this Emerging Leader makes sure that he is open and available to mentor any staff member in need at his agency. As a young OIT, an operator always made himself available to help Matt Wiese when he needed it. Over the years, he has set up programs where seasoned operators could mentor...

CWEA member, Luis León, has over 37 years of U.S. and international engineering and management experience in the areas of master planning, feasibility studies, asset management, design (plans, specifications, and estimates), permitting, and construction management of public and private infrastructure projects. These projects have included wastewater collection systems, water distribution facilities, storm drainage, transportation systems,...