Statement: Del Puerto Water District Receives Prestigious Water Award for Excellence

Del Puerto Water District, a member of the San Luis & Delta-Mendota Water Authority, has been awarded the prestigious Clair A. Hill Award for Excellence for its innovative North Valley Regional Recycled Water Program. The District received top honors among a statewide field of competitors for its project to deliver highly treated wastewater from the cities of Turlock and Modesto to farmland and wildlife refuges on the Westside.

The North Valley Regional Recycled Water Program addresses water supply shortages in the District’s service area, located on the west side of the San Joaquin River in San Joaquin, Stanislaus and Merced counties. This first-of its-kind recycled water program delivers tertiary-treated water through a cross-valley pipeline from Turlock and Modesto to the Delta-Mendota Canal. From there water is distributed to more than 45,000 acres of farmland and Central Valley Project-designated wildlife refuges.

Del Puerto Water District General Manager Anthea Hansen said the recycled water program was the result of a lot of hard work among many partners, including Turlock, Modesto, the Bureau of Reclamation and numerous wildlife organizations. The recycled water program is currently operating under a new 40-year contract with its partnering agencies. The program represents the first ever introduction of recycled water into a federal Reclamation facility, made possible by a landmark policy change within the federal agency.

“We are thrilled to have been selected from the list of many worthwhile projects and it demonstrates the value of collaboration among our stakeholders to create a successful program,” said Hansen.

The North Valley Regional Recycled Water Program is the single largest project on behalf of the refuges since the passage of the Central Valley Project Improvement Act over 25 years ago.

“This is a big milestone to help farms with more reliable water supplies and helps achieve a good portion of the supplemental needs of the refuges for a very long time,” Hansen said.

Del Puerto Water District is located near Patterson, California. It was one of four finalists for the Clair A. Hill Award, which was presented at the Association of California Water Agencies annual conference on May 10 in Sacramento. Del Puerto Water District has the honor of awarding a $5,000 scholarship to a deserving student in the name of Hill, founder of CH2M, now Jacobs, the award sponsor.

The San Luis & Delta-Mendota Water Authority serves 28 member public agencies, 26 of which contract with Reclamation for water supply from the CVP. These agencies deliver water to approximately 1.2 million acres of farmland, 2 million California residents, and millions of waterfowl dependent upon the nearly 200,000 acres of managed wetlands within the Pacific Flyway.

Other finalists competing for the award included the Long Beach Water Department for a program that recognizes restaurant water efficiency programs, Mesa Water District for a program to test the integrity of its pipelines, and Reclamation District #2035 for a joint fish screen project serving both urban and agricultural water needs.