LOS ANGELES, CA, Oct. 15, 2003 -- Lynn Orphan, an active member of the Nevada Water Environment Association (NWEA), has been elected President-Elect of the Water Environment Federation (WEF), an international technical, scientific, and educational water quality organization.
She was elected to the post this week in Los Angeles, California during WEFTEC.03, the Federation's annual technical conference and exhibition. In 2004-2005, Orphan will become the third woman to serve as WEF President.
Based in Reno, Nevada, Orphan is senior engineer and regional manager of business development at Kennedy/Jenks Consultants, a firm with 18 offices in the western United States. She works on a broad range of water projects including wastewater treatment, solids handling, potable and recycled water supply, water resource planning, groundwater recharge, wetlands, flood control and stormwater quality management.
A Federation member for 22 years, she served on the Executive Committee from 1997 to 1999 and has been an ongoing member of the Water Reuse Committee since 1994. Orphan presented a paper on South Lake Tahoe water recycling at the WEF/American Water Works Association 2002 Water Sources Conference held in January.
Orphan has served the Nevada Water Environment Association (NWEA) as treasurer (1984-88), vice-president, president, and past president (1991-94), and director (1994-97) and Government Affairs Committee chair. She was recognized with the Federation's Arthur Sydney Bedell Award (1996) for extraordinary personal service to her Member Association. She is also a member of the California Water Environment Association.
In addition to WEF, Orphan is a member of AWWA, the American Society of Civil Engineers, and the Nevada Water Resources Association. She has also been active in the National Society of Professional Engineers and the Society of Women Engineers. She received both a B.S. (1978) and M.S. (1979) in civil engineering from the University of Nevada-Reno.
Founded in 1928, the Water Environment Federation (WEF) is a not-for-profit technical and educational organization with members from varied disciplines who work toward the WEF vision of preservation and enhancement of the global water environment. The WEF network includes water quality professionals from 79 Member Associations in over 30 countries.
