If there is another possible use for recycled water, Irvine Ranch Water District employee Greg Herr will find a way to make it happen. For many of his 25 years at the District, Herr has worked to locate and convert areas not served with recycled water.

“I enjoy finding unique uses for recycled water,” Herr said. “It’s a very important resource.”

Three years ago, Herr was the project manager for converting Robertson’s Ready Mix Concrete in Irvine to recycled water use in concrete batch mixing. Industrial use of recycled water costs 40 percent less than domestic water, significantly reducing operations costs for customers. The plant uses approximately 20,000 gallons of water per day to process concrete.

Converting Robertson’s was the first such use for recycled water in Orange County.

Herr oversaw conversion of a portion of the Irvine Lake pipeline that serves 10 agricultural customers to recycled water for irrigation last year. This culminated more than two years of research and cooperation between the impacted customers, many departments within IRWD, and outside regulatory agencies to implement the project.

Up until that time, those customers were using water from Irvine Lake, which is supplied with untreated water purchased from Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, as well as native runoff water.

Herr is currently working to combine recycled water from the same meter to serve both irrigation and air conditioning cooling towers.

Herr began his IRWD duties in 1987 in the warehouse, where he spent two years before moving to the recycled water team.

 A few years later, he moved into planning and spent 10 years ensuring that IRWD engineering projects conform to the California Environmental Quality Act.

“But I never lost my interest in working on recycled water projects,” he said. “So in 2004, I transitioned back into working with the guys I enjoy so much and along-side the On-Site Group.”

It’s the creative work of promoting recycled water use that Greg enjoys so much.

During his IRWD tenure, he returned to school and received his bachelor’s degree in sociology and master’s degree in policy and planning. He also holds certificates in cross-connection and Distribution Grade II.

IRWD began researching and working toward recycled water for indoor use in high-rise buildings in 1987. The first indoor use for recycled water use was in October 1990, when a restroom building located in a park in the Woodbridge neighborhood of Irvine was converted for toilet flushing.

The following year, the first high-rise to convert to recycled water use for toilet flushing was the 20-story 3 Park Plaza in Jamboree Center in Irvine.

The Irvine Ranch Water District Board of Directors, at its annual organizational meeting December 10, selected Douglas J. Reinhart to serve as President and Steven E. LaMar to serve as Vice President for 2013.

Reinhart was appointed to the IRWD Board of Directors in 2004 to fill a board vacancy and was subsequently appointed to a four-year term in 2006 when he ran unopposed for election. He served as President of the Board in 2009 and 2010, having previously served as Vice President in 2006 and President in 2007. Reinhart currently serves on the District's Water Resources Policy and Communications committee and the Engineering and Operations Committee.

He is a registered civil engineer with over 30 years of experience in the private sector, directing projects in water, wastewater and other infrastructure. Reinhart was the president and an owner of ASL Consulting Engineers before its acquisition by Tetra Tech in 1999. He then served as the Divisional Executive Vice President for Tetra Tech for the western United States. Reinhart retired from Tetra Tech in 2004 and began a consulting business.

Reinhart has a variety of water industry service. He has served on the Board of Trustees of the Southern California Water Committee, the American Water Works Association Desalination Committee and the Association of California Water Agencies Water Reuse Committee. In addition, he is a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, the American Public Works Association and the Consulting Engineers Association of California.

LaMar was appointed to the Irvine Ranch Water District Board of Directors in February 2009 to fill a vacancy and was subsequently elected to the board in 2010. He served as Board President in 2011.

LaMar is a water policy and planning expert with over 20 years of experience on statewide business and industry committees and has directly participated in many major water policy forums.  He has served on statewide task forces and advisory committees on drought planning, desalination, the California Bay-Delta, the California Water Plan and on water reliability and conservation issues.  LaMar is president and owner of LegiSight, LLC, located in Tustin, CA, and is also a principal for Spinner LaMar Associates since 1993. He has served as a water policy leader in the California Building Industry Association for 20 years. 

The National Purchasing Institute has bestowed the Achievement of Excellence in Procurement Award to IRWD for the twelfth year in a row.

“We are proud to be one of 40 agencies in California to receive this award,” said Tony Mossbarger, IRWD Director of Administrative Services. “The Board of Directors and staff give us the tools to effectively do our jobs.”

In 1995, the National Purchasing Institute established a program designed to recognize organizational excellence in public procurement. The prestigious Achievement of Excellence in Procurement is awarded annually and earned by those organizations that demonstration excellence by obtaining a high score based on standardized criteria.

For more information about purchasing, or doing business with IRWD, please visit our website.

With more than 933 miles of sewer mains, and 14 sewage pump stations conveying millions of gallons of wastewater per day, Irvine Ranch Water District maintains a goal of zero sewer spills, and takes a proactive approach, rather than a reactive to inspection and maintenance of these facilities.

“Wastewater collections systems can be vulnerable to potential failure, with probable impacts to the environment and to public safety,” said Greg Springman, IRWD Collection Systems Manager.

IRWD’s collection system (sewer system) serves a population of 330,000 including all of the city of Irvine, Newport Coast, and portions of Tustin, Lake Forest, Orange and Costa Mesa. It’s important to point out that IRWD does not maintain storm drains, which is a separate system from sewers.

The District has 17 collection system employees who keep the sewer lines flowing, maintain lift stations, manhole covers and respond to emergencies. There is a fleet of specialized vehicles that help workers do their jobs.

Collection system employees use CCTV trucks to monitor various conditions of eight-inch to 60-inch sewer mains using closed circuit television. Employees are able to inspection these sewer mains by inserting an 80-pound brass mechanical tractor, with an attached adjustable camera which resembling a torpedo on wheels. The tractor and camera is then lowered through a manhole opening where it is controlled by an operator,  tethered on a 1,000-foot cable.

The camera travels through the sewer mains while an employee watches the images on a computer screen inside the CCTV truck. Sewer mains are checks for cracks, roots, and any other type of blockages which may occur. Employees also inspect all new sewer mains prior to being placed into service.

Collection system employees also utilize Hydro/Combination Units to cleaning all sewer mains throughout our community. This specialize piece of equipment can carry approximately 1,500 gallons of water, which is pumped through 600 feet of one-inch hose under high-pressure. The high-pressure hose is inserted into the sewer mains through the manhole opening. The high-pressure stream of water scours the pipe walls as it is propelled through the sewer main removing all accumulated debris. Employees also visually inspect the conditions of the manhole structure as well. Special attention is given to inspecting and cleaning sewer mains within shopping centers because of the potential of grease problems from food service establishments.

The collection system must answer to a host of regulatory agencies, including the Santa Ana and San Diego Regional Water Quality Control boards, the county health department, city code enforcement, and potentially, the Department of Fish and Game.

IRWD’s collection system has won the Collection System of the Year award for medium size systems in 1992, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998 and 2000 from the Santa Ana River Basin Section of the California Water Environment Association. In 1996 and 2000, IRWD went on to win the Collection System of the Year Award for the entire state of California. The award is based on a site inspection, regulatory compliance and evaluation of preventive maintenance programs, corrective maintenance programs, safety programs and procedures, training programs and emergency procedures.