CA-NV AWWA Home

              

  

Our Story

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AWWA & The California - Nevada Section of AWWA are two associations linked together by a common belief and a common passion - Safe and Reliable Drinking Water.

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Our passion is to support the drinking water professionals that
provide safe and reliable water to millions of people
throughout the states of California and Nevada.

 

We do this by providing trusted resources to the drinking water community. Specifically, CA-NV AWWA hosts over 400
technical sessions and educational offerings each year, certifies
thousands of water professionals in 6 disciplines, publishes Source Magazine and helps members connect to colleagues, friends, ideas and technology.

 

For over 90 years, CA-NV AWWA members and volunteers have impacted the industry with their commimtment and dedication to leading, educating, and serving the drinking water community to ensure public health and to provide safe and sufficient water for all.

 

 

Facts about Us

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  • CA-NV AWWA (California - Nevada Section of the American Water Works Association) is a membership organization comprised of over 7,000 drinking water professionals, governed by a executive committee and governing board with 55 committees. 

 

  • CA-NV AWWA is the largest Section of the American Water Works Association CA-NV AWWA founded the Water College. The Water College is an IACET Authorized Provider offering full college-level coursework in water curriculum. Its focus is making water education accessible to everyone in the drinking water profession.

 

  • The Section currently administers the operator certification program for the State of Nevada. CA-NV AWWA certification programs independently certify water personnel in six distinct disciplines

 

  • The Section hosts have four events each year - Symposium, Educational Extravaganza and two Conferences. In total, the events feature over 4oo technical sessions, all of which, qualify for contact hours.

 

Our Staff

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We are happy to help with any information you may need, please contact us.

 

Our History

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The California Section of the American Water Works Association has been in existence for 90 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 7,000...over one 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.

 

The California - Nevada 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. Dwayne Georgeson recently served a term as President of the AWWA Research Foundation, and 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
Jerome Gilbert – 1980