Water wonder duo share ideas for saving money for developers, water agencies and customers

Water wonder duo share ideas for saving money for developers, water agencies and customers
Presentation at WateReuse Symposium considers RWD’s use of recycled water to expand supply

March 9, 2022 – As featured speakers at a national recycled water symposium this week, Rowland Water District’s Assistant General Manager Dusty Moisio and team member Alex Zaragoza shared details of the agency’s innovative and collaborative approach to improving service and meeting water demand.

Moisio and Zaragoza, a cross-connection control specialist, teamed up at the 2022 WateReuse Symposium in San Antonio, Texas, March 6-9, to explore how diversifying and expanding an agency’s approach to projects can resolve challenges and save money.

Their presentation, “Cross Industry Collaboration: Improving Service and Meeting Future Demand,” was based on RWD’s unlikely partnership with a developer to successfully convert a commercial project’s irrigation system to recycled water. The result: preservation of valuable drinking water supplies at no capital cost to the District or its ratepayers.

The Future 3 Project was based on a $2 million agreement with the developer of a retail-hotel center to build a recycled water pipeline that connects businesses at an existing retail development. The project offsets drinking water needs for the proposed center and saves the 23 newly converted recycled water customers more than $60,000 a year by not using drinking water. The partnership allows the District to continue to meet drinking water demand of current customers and serve the new development.

“We are obligated to explore and find creative and effective solutions to fulfill our duty of providing safe, reliable water to our customers every day,” Moisio said. “Sharing our experience and information with hundreds of other water and wastewater professionals will make an impact for other agencies looking to find solutions to tough problems.”

In its 37th year, the four-day WateReuse Symposium, presented with the Water Research Foundation, had more than 800 attendees. Rowland’s presentation, “Cross Industry Collaboration: Improving Service and Meeting Future Demand,” can be viewed on the agency’s Instagram @RowlandWaterDistrict.

For more information about Rowland Water District, visit www.RWD.org.