ACWA Honors SCV Water for Innovative PFAS Water Treatment Project by ACWA Staff May 11, 2023 Water News MONTEREY – The Association of California Water Agencies (ACWA) today presented the prestigious Clair A. Hill Water Agency Award for Excellence to Santa Clarita Valley Water Agency (SCV Water) for its Valley Center Well Groundwater Treatment Facility. SCV Water completed this ambitious facility to restore water affected by per- and polyfluoroalkyl (PFAS) substances and to provide a local, reliable drought-proof groundwater source for its customers. Like many communities nationwide, SCV Water faces a long-term water-quality crisis due to PFAS. At one point, 20 of the agency’s 42 active wells were offline due to PFAS contamination. The Valley Center Well project and several other PFAS treatment facilities are restoring water delivered to customers. “The Valley Center Well project is a wonderful and necessary example of a local water agency using technology, transparency and innovation to ensure delivery of safe water while also building a drought resilient 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 was presented during ACWA’s 2023 Spring Conference and Expo in Monterey where more than 1,400 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: Eastern Municipal Water District for its Help2Others Low Income Assistance Program; San Bernardino Valley Municipal Water District for its Upper Santa Ana River Watershed Comprehensive Adaptive Management and Monitoring Program; and Western Municipal Water District for its Reimagining in the Name of Resilience: Western Water’s Wholesale Enterprise. For more information about ACWA’s awards programs, please visit www.acwa.com/awards.
