The Association of California Water Agencies (ACWA) recently presented the prestigious Clair A. Hill Water Agency Award for Excellence to the Del Puerto Water District, California, United States (U.S.) for its North Valley Regional Recycled Water Programme.
The programme is an innovative solution to water supply and reliability issues in the San Joaquin Valley, utilising treated municipal wastewater from Modesto and Turlock and making it available for agricultural irrigation on highly productive farmland in Del Puerto Water District’s service area. With a newly constructed pumping plant and pipeline connecting the cities’ treatment facilities to the Delta-Mendota canal, it has been put to beneficial use on agricultural lands and to wildlife refuges.
“The North Valley Regional Recycled Water Programme is an excellent example of local leadership and collaboration,” ACWA President, Brent Hastey, said. “The project has brought together municipal, agricultural, and environmental interests for the purpose of putting recycled water to a higher beneficial use. Del Puerto Water District’s creativity and innovation is an inspiration to all water agencies facing the challenge of developing new water supplies.”
ACWA’s Clair A. Hill Water Agency Award for Excellence is an annual award programme that recognises outstanding achievements by public water agencies. The winning agency has the honour of awarding a US$5,000 scholarship to a deserving student in the name of Clair A. Hill, founder of the consulting engineering firm CH2M, now Jacobs.
The award, sponsored by Jacobs, was presented during ACWA’s 2018 Spring Conference & Exhibition in Sacramento, California, where more than 1,300 local water officials gathered for programmes and panel discussions on a variety of key water issues.
