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Message to Our Readers
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Seasons Greetings and welcome back to eCurrents-
your monthly Orange County water newsletter.
As we embark on a new year, we are excited to do so with a new look and a new website. The newly designed
mwdoc.com is a major part of an overall face lift to the Municipal Water District of Orange County (MWDOC) brand. Also in this edition of eCurrents, MWDOC begins 2018 with new Board Officers. The Board has reorganized leadership, electing a new President and Vice President. And finally, we will look back at some of our accomplishments from the past year, with highlights including great strides in areas of water loss prevention, emergency management, and efforts to help shape critical legislation for the water industry.
We hope you enjoy this issue of eCurrents. If you have any comments, or would like to tell us what types of articles you would like to see more of, send us an email at [email protected].
Thank you for subscribing!
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MWDOC Launches New Website
News Release
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Fountain Valley, CA
(December 21, 2017) - Today, the Municipal Water District of Orange County (MWDOC) announced the launch of its newly revamped website. Still located at
www.mwdoc.com
, the website was redesigned with stakeholders in mind. Learning a great deal from the previous website's traffic analytics, the goal is to tell the MWDOC story while emphasizing important, valuable
content, and to simplify the way visitors to the website find information. Clean, easy to navigate, and not too overwhelming, the look and feel of the refreshed website
embodies the newly adopted branding style, which is modern and uncomplicated.
"The new website is uncluttered," says MWDOC Board President Brett R. Barbre. "We made improvements to the content and to the way the public will navigate through it. Whether you are using your phone, laptop, or tablet, it was important to us to make sure the content looked good, and the essential information was easy to find."
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MWDOC Board Elects 2018 Officers
News Release
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Fountain Valley, CA
(December 20, 2017) -
At the December 20 board meeting, the Municipal Water District of Orange County (MWDOC) Board of Directors elected new board positions for 2018. Division I Director Brett R. Barbre was named Board President, with Division IV Director Joan C. Finnegan to serve as Vice President. Division III Director Wayne S. Osborne, who previously served as Board President, was named Immediate Past President.
"I am looking forward to serving as Board President and continuing the historic mission of MWDOC to represent Orange County's interests at Metropolitan," said President Barbre. "I am dedicated to upholding MWDOC's commitments to the entire county and to continuing the District's strategic approach to ensuring water reliability."
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Water Loss Control
Technical Assistance Program
By Lucy Andrews, Water Systems Optimization
and Joe Berg, MWDOC
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The Municipal Water District of Orange County (MWDOC) and its member agencies are wrapping up the second year of the Water Loss Control Technical Assistance Program. The program will continue for another three years to further develop regional water loss control fluency and capacity, while supporting MWDOC's member agencies in complying with new water loss regulations.
Sixteen agencies compiled and documented water audits during the second year of the Program, and 21 agencies have participated in MWDOC's choice-based technical assistance program to date. Water audits, analytic assessments of leakage, and revenue loss are now required to be compiled, validated, and submitted to the Department of Water Resources annually. Furthermore, the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) will use the annual water audits to establish water loss standards by 2020. The SWRCB has indicated that targets will not be "one size fits all." Dr. Kartiki Naik of the SWRCB attended MWDOC's November Water Loss Control Workgroup meeting to learn more about Orange County's pioneering efforts and to review two-years of water audit data.
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Disasters Don't Plan Ahead. WEROC Does.
By Kelly Hubbard
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In
2017, the Water Emergency Response Organization of Orange County (WEROC) provided trainings, exercises, and disaster response to our member agencies in order to ensure that Orange County residents will have a safe and reliable drinking water source, even when the unexpected happens.
This year, WEROC received funding to purchase eight fuel trailers. During a disaster, Portable Fuel Trailers will supply fuel to critical infrastructure sites operating by generator. The trailers were delivered to El Toro Water District, Irvine Water District, East Orange County Water District, South Coast Water District, Yorba Linda Water District, Moulton Niguel Water District, the City of Huntington Beach and the City of Westminster.
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Legislative Highlights From 2017
Heather Baez
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While
many statewide were focused on the larger, high-profile issues in the Legislature such as the 15-bill package to confront the state's housing crisis, the passage of the gas tax, and the extension of the Cap and Trade program, water agencies and stakeholders were busy focused on important issues facing our industry. Advancing the California WaterFix and EcoRestore project took center stage for MWDOC this year. Opponents of the project continue to throw roadblocks to slow down or halt the project, and this year was no different. MWDOC actively opposed and helped kill four bills authored by Assembly Member Jim Frazier - AB 732, AB 791, AB 792 and AB 793. In addition, we attended and testified in favor of the project at two Delta Stewardship Council meetings where diversion points were discussed.
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January 1
District Holiday
Office Closed
January 2 @ 8:30 am:
Planning & Operations
Committee Meeting
January 3 @ 8:30 am:
Workshop Board Meeting
January 5 @ 7:30 am:
Water Advisory Committee of Orange County (WACO)
Public Meeting
January 10 @ 8:30 am:
Administration & Finance Committee Meeting
January 15 @ 8:30 am:
Public Affairs & Legislation
Committee Meeting
January 17 @ 8:30 am:
Board Meeting
January 18 @ 8:30 am:
Executive Committee
Committee Meeting
January 24 @ 8:30 am:
MWDOC/OCWD Joint Planning
Committee Meeting
January 25 @ 8:30 am:
ISDOC Quarterly Meeting
For information on MWDOC meetings and events, please click on the calendar icon, above.
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Poll of the Month
"Do you think this winter will be wet or dry?"
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CLICK HERE to take this one-question poll and see how other eCurrents readers feel about the same issues. Results will be shared in the following month's newsletter.
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Last month, an overwhelming number of eCurrents readers responded to the survey question:
"If built, what do you think the biggest impact of the California WaterFix would be?"
The top two answers from poll takers were:
1. Provides the ability to effectively capture stormwater and
2. Will protect our water supply from seismic and other catastrophic events.
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MWDOC is updating our contact lists! Use the button below to make sure you receive the information you care about.
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"Early NorCal rains and snowpack are keeping CA reservoirs looking pretty good! Keep up the conservation effort everyone! #WaterIsLife"
- December 4
"We believe it's important to share statewide news because we're looking at the bigger picture! What happens in CA can directly affect us in Orange County! Here's 5 benefits the #CAWater
Fix will have on us in the OC. #California, #WaterIsLife"
-November 20
"Celebrating student artists today with our friends at Metropolitan Water District of Southern CA! It's always great to see young students passionate about art and water! #WaterIsLife, #ArtIsLife"
- December 7
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