Soquel Creek Water District Appoints Melanie Mow Schumacher as Next General Manager by Soquel Creek Water District Apr 1, 2024 Member Submitted News At its March 19, 2024 meeting, the Soquel Creek Water District Board of Directors unanimously selected Melanie Mow Schumacher to become the District’s next General Manager. Schumacher, currently the District’s Special Projects-Communications Manager/Assistant General Manager, will assume her new duties on October 1, 2024, upon the retirement of current General Manager Ron Duncan. “Over her many years with the District, Melanie has more than proven herself to the Board, to District staff, to our customers, and to professionals throughout the water industry,” said Dr. Bruce Jaffe, President of the District Board of Directors. “Her expertise and tireless dedication to the goals of the District — particularly in bringing the Pure Water Soquel project to fruition — have shown us that she is the ideal leader to take the District into the future.” Schumacher received a civil engineering degree from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, and is a registered civil engineer in California. She received her master’s degree in public administration from Golden Gate University, San Francisco, and her capstone project focused on strategic planning and organizational excellence through the Appreciative Inquiry process. Soquel Creek Water District, a small water agency 100% reliant on local groundwater to serve over 40,000 residents in Santa Cruz County, hired Ms. Schumacher in 1995 as a junior engineer. Since then, she has shown constant professional growth and development at the District, with continuously increasing duties and responsibilities. “I’m honored and grateful to our Board for their confidence and trust in appointing me as General Manager,” said Ms. Schumacher. “It’s my privilege and passion to be part of the District, and I’m very proud to work alongside so many talented and dedicated colleagues. I look forward to focusing on service, sustainability, and stewardship.” Throughout her career, Schumacher has exhibited strong leadership, strategic, and interpersonal skills and developed key relationships at the Board, staff, community, and industry/partner levels that have greatly contributed to the District’s operations and achievements. Her work guiding the District through the planning, environmental study, funding, design, and construction of Pure Water Soquel has resulted in this crucial water supply project, now set to become operational later this year, poised to provide a new, safe, drought-proof water source and protection from seawater contamination of the groundwater. Schumacher was a driving force in the efforts to achieve considerable levels of funding assistance for Pure Water Soquel (especially for a small agency), totaling approximately $100 million in State and Federal grants in addition to numerous low-interest loans. In 2023, she was recognized as Recycled Water Staff Person of the Year by the California WateReuse Association. Seeing her strengths and the value she brings; the District Board of Directors had the foresight in 2022 to promote Schumacher to Assistant General Manager. Since being promoted, Schumacher has worked alongside current General Manager Ron Duncan, effectively taking an increasing leadership role. With her appointment as General Manager, Schumacher ensures a high level of continuity in the District’s leadership structure. General Manager Ron Duncan notes, “Melanie has been the heart and soul of the Pure Water Soquel program, demonstrating exceptional leadership qualities. She is the best choice to lead the District into the future.” Ms. Schumacher is a past president of the Monterey Bay Water Works Association and a founding member of the WateReuse Communications Collaborative group. She has participated in dozens of water reuse conferences, panels, and webinars, served on a National Water Research Institute expert panel, and been active in helping the region work toward meeting the goals of the State mandate that the Santa Cruz Mid-County groundwater basin be made sustainable by 2040. In her personal life, Ms. Schumacher enjoys running, hiking, dancing, and adventuring with her family.
