CA-NV Section, AWWA Office

Section Address

10574 Acacia St. Suite D6
Rancho Cucamonga, CA 91730
Phone: (909) 481-7200
Fax: (909) 481-4688

Section's Office Hours

Monday-Friday
8:00 AM to 4:30 PM

The California Section of the American Water Works Association has been in existence for over 80 years. The original California Section was organized by a group of Water Works officials at a meeting in the boardroom of the Spring Valley Water Company of San Francisco on April 17, 1920. A constitution was adopted and George A. Elliott, Chief Engineer of the Spring Valley Water Company, was elected Section Chair and served as Chair for three consecutive years. (Mr. Elliott's untiring service to our Section throughout his lifetime was the basis for creation of the George A. Elliott Award, the highest award presented to a member for outstanding service to the Section.) In 1920, the Section had 52 members. By 1938, the Section had grown to 440 members winning the Old Oaken Bucket Award given annually by AWWA National to the Section with the most members. Today, the Section, with a current membership of over 8,000...over two and half times the size of the second largest Section...has become the permanent home of the "bucket".

Prior to the establishment of the Hawaiian Section in 1976, Hawaii participated with the California Section. George Yuen of Honolulu served as Section Chair in 1969 and the annual Fall Conference was hosted by the Hawaiians in 1974. Western Nevada also participated in the activities of the Section during this time. In 1977, the entire State of Nevada was officially brought in to form what is now the present day California/Nevada Section. Nevada hosted its first Section Conference at Reno in 1984. Joseph Monscvitz of Boulder City, Nevada, served as Section Chair in 1993.

Committees have always been the heart of the Section's activities. The dominant early working group was the Water Purification Division. They were the first Section working group to initiate conference parallel sessions and meetings apart from the Fall Conference. Today, the Section has over 50 standing committees and convenes both a Spring and Fall Conference annually. See Conference History

The CA/NV Section has been a leader in developing water industry guidelines, standards, procedures, training and newsletters. Much of this work has been adopted and utilized by National AWWA. Six CA/NV Section members have served as President of National AWWA.

George Pracy - 1932, William W. Hurlbut - 1936, Samuel B. Morris - 1943, Lauren W. Grayson - 1959, Christopher Medbery - 1968 and Jerome Gilbert - 1980. Dwayne Georgeson recently served a term as President of the AWWA Research Foundation.

The Section history was provided by Frank Page

Vision Statement

"Overseeing Water for the 21st Century"

Mission Statement

The California-Nevada Section, AWWA is dedicated to leading and educating the drinking water professional. This will be accomplished by its efforts in:

• Technical activities that encompass the full range of issues in water works practice and that provide opportunities for a broad base of members to become involved.
• Education of its members through a continuing series of conferences, workshops seminars, and publications.
• Promotion of the water works industry to outside groups, such as schools.
• Opportunities, both technical and social, for members to meet and work with others of similar interest.
• Dissemination of technical input on drinking water issues to state regulators and legislators.

Section Objectives

The objectives of this section shall be

1. The advancement of the knowledge of the design, construction, operation, and management of water utilities.
2. The consideration and resolution of problems involved in the production and distribution of safe and adequate water supplies.
3. The promotion of public awareness of drinking water quality issues as well as satisfactory relationships with the consuming public.
4. Giving proper consideration and expressing opinions upon practices which will enable the industry to render the best possible service to the public.
5. Doing whatever is necessary and proper for the proper accomplishments of these objectives consistent with the public interest and the interests of the public water supply.