CMAA Water Night - East County Advanced Water Purification Moving Forward

Dirk Epperson (Director of Public Works for City of El Cajon) and Mark Neimic (Director of Engineering for Padre Dam Municipal Water District) headlined the CMAA San Diego Chapter Southern California Water Night with the news that the East County Advanced Water Purification Joint Powers Authority was established Tuesday and that the RFQ for Package #1 is out on the street. JPA Board Members are August Caires (Padre Dam Municipal Water District), Supervisor Dianne Jacobs (County of San Diego), and Gary Kendrick (City of El Cajon). The first of the four planned design-build packages will include the water recycling facility, advanced water purification facility, visitor center, product water pump station, and solids handling facility.

Not to be outdone, Jesse Aguilar (Senior Engineer for Coachella Valley Water District) tempted the mostly local crowd with opportunities to get involved with construction management of substantial water main replacement projects in several neighborhoods in the District - located just a few hours northeast of San Diego. Corrosion issues due to soil conditions are leading to sooner than expected replacement of affected water main systems and strong community outreach capabilities are needed due to the impact on the local communities.

Jerry Reed (Director of Engineering for San Diego County Water Authority) and Jim Tomasulo (Director of Engineering for Helix Water District) presented overviews of their operations and ongoing/upcoming capital improvement plans.