• Board of Directors
• Matheis
• Reinhart

The Irvine Ranch Water District Board of Directors this week elected Mary Aileen Matheis to serve as president, and Douglas Reinhart to serve as vice president for 2020. The selections were made at the Dec. 16 meeting.

Matheis, a lawyer and member of the Orange County Association of Realtors, has served on the IRWD Board of Directors since 1988. She previously served as president in 2001, 2012 and 2016, and as vice president for eight of the past 30 years.

Reinhart, a licensed civil engineer with more than 30 years of experience in the private sector, has served on the board since 2004. He served as president in 2007, 2009, 2010, 2013, 2017 and 2018. In addition to his 2020 term as vice president, he served in that capacity in 2006 and 2016.

Irvine Ranch Water District Board President Steven LaMar has been elected to a two-year term as president of the Association of California Water Agencies, the largest statewide coalition of public water agencies in the nation.

ACWA members elected him to his new role after two years as the association’s vice president. His term as president will begin in January.

LaMar, a water policy and planning expert, has served on the IRWD Board of Directors since 2009, including terms as president in 2019, 2015, 2014 and 2011 and as vice president in 2018 and 2013.

LaMar has extensive water policy service. He was a member of the California Water Plan 2009 Advisory Committee and a member of the Delta Vision Stakeholders Coordination Group. He was chair of the Economic Work Group for the 2006 California Landscape Task Force. He served as a member of the 2005 State Water Desalination Task Force and the 2000 Governor’s Advisory Drought Planning Panel, and was chair of the California Building Industry Association’s statewide Water Resources Subcommittee and Task Force.

He is past chair of ACWA’s Federal Affairs and Headwaters Task Force, and has served on the board of several other water-related organizations, including the National Water Resources Association (representing 17 Western states), the Southern California Water Coalition, CalDesal and the National Water Research Institute.

Newly elected ACWA President Steven LaMar addresses participants at the 2019 ACWA Fall Conference & Exhibition in San Diego.

Steven LaMar laughs with colleagues at the ACWA’s State Legislative Committee's meet-and-greet coffee break.

• efficiency
• WaterStar
• Award
• OCBC

Area businesses are doing a lot to save water – 250 million gallons’ worth – thanks to Irvine Ranch Water District’s WaterStar program, which was honored with an award from one of Orange County’s most prominent business organizations.

The Orange County Business Council, at its annual “Turning Red Tape into Red Carpet” reception, presented the District and its WaterStar program with the Sustainable and Green Development Award for working with businesses to help them identify effective ways to save water.

The program helps businesses cut through the red tape of applying for rebates, and enhances those incentives with financial bonuses for the products used in their projects.

Recent WaterStar recipients include:

• Great Park Ice, (saving 4.3 million gallons of water using recycled water for the ice in the rinks and landscaping, and for installing water-efficient fixtures in the building)
• Checkered Flag Express car wash in Lake Forest, (using reclaimed water to save 20 to 60 gallons per vehicle)
• U.C. Irvine, (saving 78 million gallons of drinking water annually by using recycled water in cooling towers, irrigation, and upgrading to high-efficiency fixtures in restrooms)
• Hyatt House Irvine, (which has the distinction of being the first dual-plumbed hotel in California – if not the nation – to use recycled water for flushing toilets in guest rooms)

Many other recipients, like Canon USA, Kia Design Center, Hoag Hospital Irvine, Chapman University Rinker Health Science Campus and Hyatt House have implemented water-efficient irrigation systems, drought-tolerant landscaping and other efficiency measures.

A map of the United States shows a clustering of locator pins in the Northeast and Midwest, but just one solitary marker in California: identifying Irvine Ranch Water District’s San Joaquin Marsh and Wildlife Sanctuary as the only Wetland of Distinction in the state.

The international Society of Wetland Scientists this month named the ecological preserve one of just 32 in the nation to qualify for the honor. Candidates are judged based on biology, ecology, conservation status and public access for high-functioning wetlands. Plants established at the marsh reflect botanical records of the fauna that was present there 150 years ago.

“This is a very prestigious recognition,” said General Manager Paul Cook. “It showcases the significant work that has been done by Irvine Ranch Water District to protect native plant and animal species, create a public oasis and educational center in the midst of an urban community, and to improve the quality of water that flows into the environmentally sensitive Upper Newport Bay.”

Established in 1996, the San Joaquin Marsh is home to a variety of rare, threatened and endangered species, including the Least Bell’s Vireo, Long Eared Owl and Western Pond Turtle. It comprises more than 320 acres, 12 miles of walking trails, and is home to some 230 species of birds, many of which are counted and monitored by Sea and Sage Audubon volunteers.

The marsh is open to the public every day during daylight hours, and hosts educational field trips, tours and other activities conducted by the local Audubon chapter and Discovery Cube Orange County.

“As one of very few freshwater marsh habitats left in the South Coast area, the San Joaquin Marsh provides a crucial habitat for migratory bird species,” said IRWD wetlands scientist Mo Wise.

Yet Wise is most proud of the marsh’s role to naturally clean more than 1 billion gallons of urban runoff annually from San Diego Creek to help protect the Back Bay.

Sunlight in holding ponds deactivates harmful bacteria before it can threaten marine life downstream, and marsh plants and sedimentation help to capture other pollutants. The marsh removes more than 33,000 pounds of nitrogen, 140 pounds of selenium, 36 pounds of copper, 4,929 pounds of trash and 47 tons of sediment each year.

Routine monitoring of water quality, sediment composition, vegetation and wildlife has provided data and insight into best management practices for freshwater treatment wetlands in a region deplete of these crucial natural resources.

“This data provides valuable insight into best management practices for freshwater treatment wetlands in urban communities,” Wise said, adding that researchers from the University of California, Irvine; Concordia University; Chapman University and various local high local high schools also use the wetland system to study biogeochemical processes within coastal freshwater systems.

The Society of Wetland Scientists is an international nonprofit established in 1980 to promote understanding, conservation, protection, restoration, science-based management, and sustainability of wetlands. Criteria for the award include the protection of biologically diverse wetland flora, fauna and their habitat, ecological connectivity, public access and recreation, and water quality improvement.

The marsh's proximity to an urban setting, public accessibility and educational outreach were some of the criteria considered to qualify for the award.

The marsh is home to hundreds of migratory birds species, providing a valuable oasis to them on their journey up and down the coast.