Nicole Van Aken, the lab manager at Fairfield-Suisun Sewer District, values education as a means to achieve excellence. She takes a proactive approach to seeking educational opportunities for both her team and herself. Her belief in education also extends to her volunteer work within the industry.  “Continued training is something I believe in,” she said....

Phuc Tran not only performs water and wastewater analysis at Vacaville, he teaches others in the art and science of analytical methods. “I enjoy teaching others,” he says. He says that new hires often join the laboratory staff based on equivalent education, not on experience and basic skills. “I try to train them in the...

Bill McManus probably didn’t realize it at the time, but a television show he watched as a boy has had a lot to do with his career. The show was called “How Things are Made” and featured the materials and assembly of various products. Now, as chief environmental compliance inspector for the City of Los...

Nicole Greenwood, an aquarium marine biologist turned Wastewater Resource Analyst, has successfully transitioned into an industry she never expected to be a part of. Despite having no prior knowledge of the water/wastewater industry laboratory positions, she has quickly gained expertise and thrives in the dynamic work environment of the City of Riverside Wastewater Treatment Plant...

Marvin Gonzalez has been nominated for and received awards in the past, but none of them predicted his future success as accurately as his most recent nomination. Last autumn, a coworker at Leucadia Wastewater District nominated Gonzalez for the CWEA Emerging Leaders program. Little did they know that Gonzalez would soon be promoted to Field...

Jacelyn Renwick is a dedicated volunteer who gives her all to various causes. She helps out at non-profits, supports her co-workers as a union president, and volunteers for her local CWEA chapter. When asked about her motivation for volunteering, she said she firmly believes that if you care about something, you should dedicate your time...

The weekend surge in skiers, hikers, and visitors at Mammoth Lakes present a challenge that Bruce Medhurst enjoys. The population goes from 8,000 to 35,000, requiring the crew at the Mammoth Community Water District (MCWD) wastewater treatment plant to adjust and optimize treatment as they produce tertiary treated water for reclaim. As laboratory supervisor for...

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...

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...

It’s a safe bet that Liz Dubrin will spend the rest of her career providing clean water for her community. As project manager for the Ojai Valley Sanitary District, she brims with enthusiasm  for her work and colleagues, and can’t see herself doing anything else in the future. “I love my job,” she says. She...

“We do it all here.” That’s how Ryan Rodriguez describes his responsibilities and those of his colleagues at the Leucadia Wastewater District in Carlsbad. Rodriguez is a Field Technician III, responsible not only for maintaining the District’s sewer lines but also helping to operate the 1 mgd Gaffney Water Reclamation Plant, where treated wastewater is...

Sometimes the worst brings out the best. That’s the case with Melissa Lash, research microbiologist at the East Bay Municipal Utility District. She’s responsible for special projects, bringing new analyses online, developing QA-QC protocols, and investigating laboratory errors. Those skills were well-suited to overcoming the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic—shortages of hand sanitizers and...

When Keith Backus started out as a meter reader 15 years ago, he probably had little idea that providing clean water to his community would be his life’s work. But now, as engineering services supervisor for the Jurupa Community Services District (JCSD), that’s exactly how it’s turned out. “I grew up here,” he says. “I have a...

When the pandemic hit last year, tours of the East Bay Municipal Utility District’s (EBMUD’s) Main Wastewater Treatment Plant in West Oakland ground to a halt. James Hake and his team, however, turned that challenge into an opportunity, creating a compelling and colorful virtual tour that covers everything included in the on-site tours, plus more....

There’s a reason you hear happiness in the voice of Tonya Durrell, director of public information for LA Sanitation & Environment. “I was born and raised here,” she says.  “I love this city. I love all our communities. And I love this job.” Tonya leads the agency’s public outreach program and is responsible for communications...

Kyle Carbajal is enthusiastic about learning. As an Environmental Services Analyst II at the Central Marin Sanitation Agency in San Rafael, he gets plenty of opportunities to fulfill that wish. He’s a member of the agency’s pre-treatment program, an assignment that puts him in contact with a wide range of industrial and commercial accounts. “I’m...

Anna Bell not only knows her laboratory, she understands the treatment process and how the lab data affect plant operations.  That’s because she’s not only a certified laboratory analyst, she’s also a grade V wastewater operator, and that enables her to know exactly what the analytical data mean out there where the wastewater meets the...

Oyuna Jenkins has been working all her professional life to serve the public.  That ethic goes back to her native Mongolia, where she earned a university degree in chemical engineering. In the U.S. she says she wanted to find a job that capitalized on her education, and she worked for a small analytical laboratory for nine years...

Joey Hilliard does a little bit of everything for the Goleta West Sanitary District.  As a Utility 4 worker, sometimes he runs the Vactor unit or the CCTV truck, other times he’s maintaining lift pumps, implementing the utility’s FOG program, inspecting projects like lateral replacements, taking care of billing, and filling out permitting forms. He was named Collection...

Those familiar with Jose Rodriguez know he’d rather be out in the field than stuck in an office.   “I enjoy being out in nature,” he says, “doing Mother Nature’s job and getting my hands dirty.”  Jose is supervisor of both water and wastewater at the Sunnyvale County Water District in Hollister. He’s been in his current position for...

Thomas Johnson started in the wastewater business by answering the phone, filing customer information, taking out the trash, and shipping products for his father’s company.  And he was only 15 years old.  Today, 17 years later, he is sales manager at WECO Industries, and poised to take over the business someday. “I grew up with...

Flor Burrola is committed to environmental sustainability. As a civil engineering associate II with LA Sanitation & Environment (LASAN), she feels great about where she is and passionate about the projects she works on.    “I’m lucky to be working with the city’s Wastewater Engineering Services Division, planning and collaborating with multiple departments and agencies,” she says.   A recent example was a...

Nataly Dakak loves what she does, encourages other young women to get into water and other STEM fields, and sees potable reuse of wastewater as the practice of the future.  She’s an environmental engineering associate at the City of Los Angeles Bureau of Sanitation, and has responsibility for enforcing the Industrial Waste Control Ordinance and the USEPA wastewater pretreatment standards..  Her passion with water systems developed during her undergraduate studies...

Manuel Zapien never stops learning.  He discovered water science while studying geology at the University of California, Santa Barbara.  He took biology, chemistry, and physics classes.  Later he applied for a laboratory job at Ventura County.  He learned from those he worked with there, and he continues to study laboratory procedures in preparation for future requirements.  “I never stop learning,” he says. “There are new challenges every day.” ...

“Professional approach with all assignments.  Excellent communication skills. Participation and excellence in leading edge and special assignments.  Creative thinker. Thorough and very high quality work.”  These are words his nominators used to describe Ibrahim Hafeez.   “He uses technical knowledge and sound engineering to resolve complex issues,” says Mike Sarullo, principal civil/division engineer with the city’s Bureau of Engineering.  “Of the...

 Lucia Diaz used to hang around her dad’s construction firm, an experience she says taught her well about contractors, construction drawings, plans and specs, and big projects.  She’s put that background to good use as Facilities Program Supervisor for the Inland Empire Utilities Agency. She’s been working for IEUA for 13 years, and now supervises a staff of seven.  She admits that...

There’s hardly anything in wastewater treatment that Chris Christean hasn’t done.  “I started as a college student cleaning sludge beds as a part-time job,” he says. “The operators in Turlock convinced me to get into the industry. I picked up a couple of books and studied the profession, then joined the staff at Patterson as an operator-in-training.”  Later, he...

Pump stations, lift stations, and piping layouts were nothing new to Bob Stiles when he took a collections system job at the Novato Sanitary District six years ago. He’d worked with his dad on construction projects involving these kinds of jobs since he was a teenager. But he says he still had a lot to...

Amy Hwang wanted to be where the action was. Water. Wastewater. Water reuse.  So after receiving her engineering degree from the University of Texas, she came to California, and got her master’s degree from the University of California at Berkeley. After working a bit as consultant, she joined the engineering staff at Central Marin Sanitation Agency.  “I decided to...

CWEA is gathering nominations for an Emerging Leaders story to appear in the Summer 2019 Clean Water. We are looking for accomplished water professionals who are making a significant, positive impact on California’s water and they have not yet been recognized for that effort. CWEA Definition of Emerging Leader Emerging leader describes an individual who: Has...

If you selected a 2018 all-star team among clean water professionals in California, this year’s Emerging Leaders would be good choices to fill the positions. The seven selected for this year’s Emerging Leaders honors cover the field from collections to treatment, from compliance to environmental services, from laboratory analysis to engineering and project management. And...

Robert Wilson is an environmental professional who embodies the concept of multi-tasking. As the environmental services supervisor for the City of Petaluma, he is responsible for regulatory compliance of wastewater discharges, storm water, air quality and biosolids, water conservation, as well as pollution prevention, recycled wastewater, and pretreatment. And away from the office he’s taken...

Shannon Simmers has covered a lot of ground in the last seven and a half years…from earning a college degree, to volunteering and then working at the Riverside Water Quality Control Plant and now for Redlands Municipal Utilities, and chairing the CWEA’s P3S committee. That takes determination and persistence, and she has it. “When she...

Mark Koekemoer finds laboratory work very fulfilling. “It’s not just a day job where you collect a paycheck. It is an opportunity where you can go home to your family and feel good about what you have accomplished,” he says. “We are supporting the greater industry, providing data for operators to use, identifying trouble spots,...

Helping others was nothing new for Felipe Carrillo when he joined the Santa Clara Water and Sewer Department five years ago. He had spent the past 11 years working at an at-risk youth center, teaching students construction and general trade skills. So it’s little surprise that in his relatively short tenure at Santa Clara he’s...

Projects at the Fairfield-Suisun Sewer District are hallmarked by transparency, open communications, and disappearance of the traditional silos that often plague the clean water profession. That’s in great part due to the efforts of Jordan Damerel, Director of Engineering. “Jordan manages the District’s Capital Improvement and Asset Management programs, and he’s constantly working towards more...

Theodore Higgins has moved steadily taking on roles of greater responsibility in his 16 years at the Industrial Waste Management Division at the city of Los Angeles Bureau of Sanitation. Now he’s helping create advancement opportunities for his inspections colleagues through the creation of the Professional Development and Work Exposure Program. The program encourages the...

In a profession dominated by men, Dorien McElroy stands out. She manages the sewer Collections System for the Irvine Ranch Water District. “One usually doesn’t associate collections system management with a woman,” says Judith Marquez, Environmental Analyst/Consultant of Innovare Environmental who nominated her. “But she is passionate about her job in a way that makes...

CWEA is gathering nominations for an Emerging Leaders story to appear in the Summer 2018 Clean Water. We are looking for accomplished water professionals who are making a significant, positive impact on California’s water and they have not yet been recognized for that effort. CWEA Definition of Emerging Leader Emerging leader describes an individual who: Has...

In preparation for CWEA’s Annual Conference 2018 next April in Sacramento our Educational Program Team completed an annual survey of members and executives from several wastewater agencies. We’re looking for the profession’s most important challenge areas so we can develop sessions at Annual Conference to help our members address them. If you have an idea...

Mark McGrath, Collections System Supervisor in Hayward, California, knows what it’s like to be part of the collections crew, because he’s been one of them. “I know their needs, because I’ve been there,” he says. “I understand the adverse conditions, the outdoor elements. I acknowledge their efforts when they’ve done well. I treat them as...

“You need to be able to handle it in the dark with your eyes closed.” That’s the way Emerging Leader Joe Gregory views safety training. “When we come on the scene, people need to know what to do,” he says. “You should be able to handle the situation in your sleep.” Now thefor the Carmel...

  Christina Claxton does far more than analyze drinking water and wastewater samples in her position as a Laboratory Analyst with the City of San Luis Obispo’s Water Quality Laboratory.  She’s on a mission to improve communications, succession planning, and the opportunities for employees to grow professionally and personally.   “As a leader who is compassionate...

   John Minkel, has already accomplished a lot in his tenure as Utilities Superintendent for the City of Thousand Oaks, but his best days may lie ahead. His nomination for Emerging Leader listed leadership by example, creating a challenging environment for employees, interaction with the public, pursuing green certification, and more. His facilities and staff...

When the “One Water” plant of the future finally arrives, Amanda Bird will feel right at home. A Grade V Operator at the Santa Cruz wastewater treatment plant, she’s excited about the future of the profession. She foresees the day when wastewater, drinking water, water recycle, biosolids management and energy generation will be combined into a single, efficient public...

“We managed to eliminate the requirement that all certified labs be managed by someone with a bachelor’s degree, and got the addition of CWEA certification to count,” she says. “And we reduced the number of times per year that labs will be required to conduct and file a blind sample study from two to one.”  Not only does Mindy Boele successfully manage the wastewater and...