WateReuse Association honors leaders advancing water reuse adoption

The WateReuse Association has announced the winners of its annual Awards for Excellence, recognizing individuals, utilities, organizations and technologies advancing water reuse practices and public acceptance.

The awards highlight projects and leaders helping expand the adoption of recycled water through policy development, technology innovation, infrastructure investment and public outreach. WateReuse also presented President’s Awards and Service Awards recognizing leadership and contributions to the organization.

WateReuse Awards for Excellence

The WateReuse Awards for Excellence recognize people, projects and partnerships demonstrating leadership in building more resilient communities through water reuse. The awards celebrate initiatives that use water recycling to address water management challenges, advance supportive policies and inspire broader adoption of recycled water technologies.

Advocacy Achievement

The Advocacy Achievement award recognizes individuals and organizations for advancing policies, legislation or regulations that support water reuse.

Recipients include:

• Danielle Francis, Water Services Association of Australia

• Deven Upadhyay, Metropolitan Water District of Southern California

• Anne Arundel County, the Resilience Authority of Annapolis and Anne Arundel County and Andrew Pruski, Maryland state delegate

Community Water Champion

The Community Water Champion award recognizes utilities and local governments developing water recycling facilities and infrastructure that help ensure reliable local water supplies.

Recipients include:

• Victor Valley Wastewater Reclamation Authority

• Monterey One Water

• City of South Jordan, Utah

Excellence in Action

The Excellence in Action award honors leaders demonstrating water resilience through innovative recycled water applications for commercial use, watershed restoration, irrigation and other purposes.

Recipients include:

• Hyperion Advanced Water Purification Facility

• Palm Beach County Water Utilities Department

Outreach and Education

The Outreach and Education award recognizes programs that advance public acceptance of recycled water through campaigns, events and educational initiatives.

Recipients include:

• Orange County Sanitation District for its Citizen’s Academy

• Santa Clara Valley Water District (Valley Water) for Internal Communications

• Suzanne Grendahl, City of Scottsdale, for the Water Citizen Academy

Transformational Innovation

The Transformational Innovation award recognizes technological advances and practices that expand the implementation and acceptance of water reuse.

Recipients include:

• WaterHub developed by H2O Innovation

• FilmTec Fortilife XC160 Membrane

• IDE Technologies

Up & Comer

The Up & Comer award recognizes professionals with fewer than 10 years in the water reuse industry who demonstrate leadership and commitment to advancing water recycling.

Recipients include:

• John Sheets, PhD, PE – CDM Smith

• Carlyn Higgins, PhD, PE – Hazen and Sawyer

Presidents’ Awards

The WateReuse President’s Awards recognize individuals who have significantly advanced water reuse through exceptional service and leadership. The awards are presented at the discretion of the WateReuse president.

Recipients include:

• Craig Lichty, Black & Veatch

• Dr. Rhodes Trussell, Trussell Technologies

Service Awards

WateReuse also recognized several individuals for their service on the association’s board of directors and their contributions to advancing national water reuse policies and programs.

Service Award recipients include:

• Deven Upadhyay, Metropolitan Water District of Southern California

• Paula Kehoe, San Francisco Public Utilities Commission

• Wayne Young, Jacksonville Electric Authority

• Craig Lichty, Black & Veatch

• Erin Young, City of Flagstaff

• Royce Davis, Jacobs

The awards program highlights the role of collaboration, policy development, technology innovation and community engagement in expanding water reuse adoption as utilities seek to build more resilient water supplies.