Alameda County Water District Receives Clair A. Hill Water Agency Award for Excellence by ACWA Staff May 4, 2022 News Releases SACRAMENTO – The Association of California Water Agencies (ACWA) today presented the prestigious Clair A. Hill Water Agency Award for Excellence to Alameda County Water District for its Alameda Creek Fish Passage Improvements Program. Alameda County Water District developed this program to tackle the primary migration impediments in Lower Alameda Creek, while maintaining and protecting the channel’s critical flood control and water supply functionalities. This multi-phase, multi-year program took more than 20 years of political leadership, technical innovation, community support and inclusive partnerships. ACWD constructed innovative fish ladders over rubber dams for upstream and downstream Steelhead passage to ensure groundwater recharge capacity could still be maintained. The result is opening the Lower Alameda Creek to federally listed migratory fish for the first time in over 50 years, while protecting 40 percent of the water supply for more than 357,000 people. “The Alameda Creek Fish Passage Improvements Program is a wonderful example of a local water agency using collaboration and innovation to create a multi-beneficial solution that enables fish migration while also ensuring a sustainable water supply,” said ACWA President Pamela Tobin. ACWA’s Clair A. Hill Water Agency Award for Excellence is an annual award program that recognizes outstanding achievements by public water agencies. The winning agency has the honor of awarding a $5,000 scholarship to a deserving student in the name of Clair A. Hill, founder of the consulting engineering firm Jacobs. The award, sponsored by Jacobs, was presented during ACWA’s 2022 Spring Conference and Exhibition in Sacramento where approximately 1,300 leaders of public water agencies in California gathered for programs and panel discussions on a variety of key water issues. The other finalists for this year’s award were: City of Sacramento’s Leak Free Sacramento Program: Designed to assist eligible low-income and single-family residential homeowners with water efficient repairs at no cost. Calleguas Municipal Water District’s Water Supply Alternatives Study: Evaluating more than 123 projects to be used as a resource for future water supply management planning. San Bernardino Valley Municipal Water District’s Watershed Connect: A regional infrastructure program designed to achieve the long-term ecological health of the Upper Santa Ana River Watershed. For more information about ACWA’s awards programs, please visit www.acwa.com/about/awards.
