Category: Ask an Expert

Chloramine: Maintaining Water Quality in Southern California

February 2, 2016

Several recent news stories have been focused on the topic of water quality, relating to resources coming from public water supplies. Following the crisis in Flint, an uprising from communities, celebrities and even President Barack Obama to put a stop to the toxic water supplies reaching Americans in this small town has made headlines. Regardless … More Chloramine: Maintaining Water Quality in Southern California

Tap vs. Bottled – a Water Scientist Explains

May 17, 2015

Women in Water with Brenda Meyer, Principal Engineer at Western Municipal This was a question Brenda Meyer, principal engineer for Western Municipal Water District, never thought about growing up. Her childhood was spent on a small farm in rural Idaho. “We had a well and all of our drinking water was untreated groundwater,” she recalled. … More Tap vs. Bottled – a Water Scientist Explains

The Secret Origins of Water

March 23, 2015

When you stop at a gas station and go inside to buy a bottle of water, some of the labels you see make a big deal out of the water’s origin. Evian and Arrowhead have pictures of pristine mountains on them. Perrier is a “Product of France.” Fiji water comes from “artisanal wells” in Fiji. … More The Secret Origins of Water

Relentlessly Testing Water Safety

August 11, 2014

Meet Dr. Andy Eaton, the Technical Director at Eurofins Lab. He’s working on a nation-wide effort to test tap water to learn if there are trace amounts of substances that we don’t yet include in the day-to-day testing all tap water must undergo. While the U.S. has some of the safest tap water in the … More Relentlessly Testing Water Safety

Orange County’s Drought-Resilient Water Supply

May 20, 2014

The Other California Innovation That Went Global When most people think about technology being exported from California, we think about Silicon Valley – Google, Apple, and Facebook. But it’s a rather non-descript group of buildings in Orange County that are attracting world attention. A steady stream of scientists, engineers, and politicians from drought-stricken places like … More Orange County’s Drought-Resilient Water Supply

Water’s Role in Real Estate & the Economy

April 7, 2014

We sat down with Randall Lewis of the Lewis Group of Companies, which is one of the nation’s largest real estate development companies, to talk about the role that water plays in the building industry. Since 1955, the Lewis Group has built over 56,000 homes and currently owns 8,000 apartment homes and 30 shopping centers. … More Water’s Role in Real Estate & the Economy

Protecting the Treasure Beneath Our Feet

November 30, 2013

An Interview with OCWD’s Jason Dadakis Imagine waking up one morning, stumbling into the bathroom half asleep, turning on the tap to brush your teeth, and out comes seawater. Proximity to the Pacific is one of the perks of living in Orange County, but barring some bizarre decorating craze of the future, no one wants … More Protecting the Treasure Beneath Our Feet

Disinfection Byproducts in the News

March 1, 2013

Recently, some interests have alleged that drinking water in different parts of the country contains unsafe levels of disinfection byproducts. Disinfection byproducts (DBPs) are compounds that can result from cleaning tap water and killing the bacteria and viruses that cause illnesses like typhoid and cholera. Disinfecting water is critical to our health – it is … More Disinfection Byproducts in the News

Allison Mackenzie, Water Scientist and Mom

February 4, 2013

Meet Allison Mackenzie, a woman with thirty years’ experience in water science. She works for Babcock Labs, the laboratory that tests water for Western Municipal Water District (and other clients throughout Southern California). Allison is a graduate of the University of California at Riverside and started with Babcock right out of school as a chemist … More Allison Mackenzie, Water Scientist and Mom