Rancho California Water District wins ACWA's 2007 Clair Hill Award
SACRAMENTO, CA, May 14, 2007 -- The Association of California Water Agencies (ACWA) on Thursday May 10 presented its prestigious Clair A. Hill Award to the Rancho California Water District for its Targeted Water Conservation Program.
The award was presented to the district during the annual ACWA Spring Conference and Exhibition, themed "Water and Politics: The Sacramento Connection," a statewide event attended by 1600 water officials. Rancho California Water District was selected from among six finalists to receive the award.
"Rancho California Water District is an outstanding example of a local agency working to reduce water consumption by developing innovative community-based conservation programs," said ACWA President Randy Fiorini. "RCWD customers ought to commend the district for developing programs that really reduce water usage."
Rancho California's Targeted Water Conservation Program seeks to reduce the demand for water by "targeting" high-use customers and offering a free water-use evaluation. In the program's first year, approximately 380 evaluations were completed. By the second year, the number almost doubled. The impact of the program is most significant in the landscape sector, where customers that participated in the program had a reduced water demand that was seven times greater than customers that elected not to participate. The total demand reduction attributed to the program, compared to usage from, 2004-2006, exceeded 850 acre feet.
ACWA's Clair A. Hill Water Agency Award for Excellence is an annual awards program that recognizes outstanding achievements by public water agencies. The winning agency receives a $5,000 scholarship to award to a deserving student in the name of Clair A. Hill, founder of the consulting engineering firm CH2M Hill. The winner is recognized at the association's conference as well as throughout the year.
Other finalists for this year's award were:
• City of Big Bear Lake Department of Water and Power: Landscape Water-use Efficiency Program;
• Central Basin Municipal Water District: Water Wanderings: A Journey Through California's Water;
• Coachella Valley Water District: Wise Water Management for a Sustainable Future;
• El Dorado Irrigation District: Bass Lake Kids' Planting Project and;
• Santa Clara Valley Water District: Operations Council on Excellence
The Clair A. Hill award was established by ACWA in 1988 at the request of CH2M Hill.
Past award recipients include:
• Irvine Ranch Water District (1989),
• Las Virgenes Municipal Water District (1990),
• Imperial Irrigation District (1991) Modesto Irrigation District (1992),
• Orange County Water District (1993),
• Central Basin Municipal Water District / West Basin Municipal Water District (1994),
• East Bay Municipal Utility District (1995),
• Calleguas Municipal Water District (1996),
• San Diego County Water Authority (1997),
• Kern Water Bank Authority (1998),
• Western Canal Water District (1999),
• the Water Forum (2000),
• Eastern Municipal Water District (2001),
• Mid-Peninsula Water District (2002),
• Santa Ana Watershed Project Authority (2003),
• Carmichael Water District (2004), and
• The City of Santa Rosa (2005)
• South San Joaquin Irrigation District (2006)
ACWA is a statewide association of public agencies whose 440 members are responsible for about 90% of the water delivered in California.
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