Wendy Wert
Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts, CWEA President-Elect
5S 2011
In my town we have bears. They eat our garbage then bathe in our pools. This past weekend I was wearing the new California Bear 5S pin when I ran into one of my neighbors. Sandy (my neighbor) asked what the bear-pin was for. I answered that it was for being a voluntary member of the “Monrovia Bear Patrol.” She inquired as to what that involved. We had a good laugh, and then I told her the truth about what the 5S pin really means to me…
Continuing Our Legacy of Leadership
The Districts early adopted, and have consistently followed, the unwritten policy that adequate sewerage is the business of all citizens and public bodies. A M Rawn (Sanitation Districts second Chief Engineer)
The Sanitation Districts of Los Angeles County (Sanitation Districts) have a legacy of leadership in the environmental profession. An early example occurred in 1928, when Albert Kendall Warren, the first Chief Engineer became the California Sewage Works Association’s (now the California Water Environment Association) first elected leader.
Then
Mr. Warren recognized early that in order to pioneer recycled water programs we needed to partner with our sister agencies. In 1928, Mr. Warren strategically set a meeting of California’s leading wastewater experts to be held during the American Water Works Association’s (AWWA) annual convention in San Francisco. This led to the formation of the California Sewage Works Association (CSWA, now CWEA). At the convention fifty-one “future” members voted to form CWEA after a two-hour discussion. The formation meeting deliberately brought California’s water and wastewater utility leaders together.
Now
Inspired? Consider not only recognizing professionals that carry our mission forward but also joining them. Although we have made progress in protecting public health and the environment, there is still a lot to do. Service in CWEA could contribute not only to your individual success but also help the environmental field address the grand challenges we are facing in the 21st Century.
Five Interconnected Grand Challenges of the 21st Century
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