SFBS Presidents Message

SFBS Presidents Message

By: Billy Wong, Stantec
July 21, 2026

Happy summer, CWEA SFBS! I hope everyone has been enjoying the season and finding a little time to relax, recharge, and spend time with family and friends. As we come back from our summer break, I’m excited to reconnect and share what’s ahead. We have a great lineup of networking events, seminars, and member gatherings planned, along with an important update on the new CWEA Awards timeline for 2026–2027. I hope you’ll find something that sparks your interest, gets you involved, or inspires you to recognize the outstanding people and projects in our wastewater community. Please take a look at the upcoming opportunities and awards information below—we look forward to seeing you at these events soon.

Upcoming Events

2026 SFBS Member Appreciation Baseball Game – Come celebrate our SFBS members with an evening of baseball, food, networking, and fun! This is a great opportunity to connect with fellow members, enjoy time together outside of the usual work setting, and show appreciation for the people who make the CWEA San Francisco Bay Section such a strong community. Capacity is limited, and registration is open to SFBS members only until 8/7/26. Event Info

SFBS Aug Dinner Meeting – A Low-cost, Low-maintenance Nitrogen Speciation Platform for Real-time Nitrogen Monitoring and Energy-efficient Nutrient Removal. Join us at Zio Fraedo’s in Pleasant Hill for a presentation from Stanford University Researchers Dr. William Tarpeh and Dr. Pingyu Wang. As nutrient monitoring and energy optimization become increasingly important, this presentation will be of high interest for Bay Area utilities – including division managers, design engineers, operators, process engineers, instrument technicians, laboratory staff, and more!

CWEA SFBS Annual Golf Tournament 2026 – Join us for a fun day on the course and a great opportunity to connect with wastewater colleagues from across the Bay Area. Sponsorships are also available and offer an excellent way to showcase your company to industry professionals while supporting the CWEA Scholarship Fund. It’s a win-win—great connections, great visibility, and support for a great cause! Registration is still open. Come join us! Event Info

New CWEA Awards Timeline For 2026-2027

The CWEA Awards Program is officially open, and we’re excited to begin recognizing the outstanding professionals, agencies, and projects that make such a difference across California.

This year, we’re introducing an updated awards timeline that will help create a more consistent and streamlined process for everyone involved.

The biggest change: Local Section award winners are now due to CWEA by Friday, November 6 (the first Friday in November). This will be our standard statewide deadline moving forward, so we encourage your section to set its local nomination and judging deadlines accordingly.

2027 Awards Timeline

• July 1 – Awards program opens
• October 8 – Awards Nominations Due Date for Board Review and Evaluation
• November 6 – Local Section winners (Submitted by the SFBS Board) due to CWEA
• November 20 – Part Two applications due (Collections and Safety Awards)
• Week of November 23 – Applications distributed to statewide committees
• January 15 – State committees submit winners to CWEA
• January 15 – Quarter Century, 5S, Photo Contest deadlines
• First week of February – MER reviews and approves final slate
• Early February – Winners notified and recognition preparations begin

As you begin promoting awards in your section, please remember that we’re here to help. Whether you need promotional materials, guidance on the nomination process, or have questions about the timeline or categories, don’t hesitate to reach out. We want to make the process as smooth as possible and help every section recognize the incredible people making a difference in our industry.

Thank you for everything you do to celebrate the professionals who strengthen California’s wastewater community. We look forward to another outstanding year of nominations.