Exploring the EBMUD Upper San Leandro Reservoir
I’ve always wanted to shape our built environment so we can live comfortably and sustainably. I worked a series of construction jobs in my early twenties: laborer, apprentice electrician, solar energy installer, and home energy auditor. While working, I earned a B.S. in renewable energy engineering technology.
Helping homeowners live more sustainably in one of my earliest jobs
I followed that with an M.S. in civil engineering from Stanford in 1984 so I could become a design engineer, regulator and consultant. As an engineer, I regulated Bay Area wastewater treatment plants, landfills and other industrial polluters for the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board. I also founded my own engineering firm, which specialized in solid waste management and recycling, helping local governments better serve their residents.
I found that what I could design or build depended on decisions involving money and people’s values. So I went to UC Berkeley to earn my Ph.D. in agricultural and resource economics. I graduated in 1997 and began work as a resource economist and sustainability expert, including at Stanford’s Center for Conservation Biology, the Monterey Institute of International Studies, and the Pacific Institute.
At the Pacific Institute, I researched water systems and how to improve them. For example, I collaborated with experts in Spain and Australia about how to address droughts, because they have climates similar to the Bay Area. I also wrote Beyond Privatization: Restructuring Water Systems to Improve Performance, which identified six characteristics of high-performing water utilities.
In 2006, I was nominated by Governor Schwarzenegger and confirmed by the California Senate to serve on the California State Water Resources Control Board. As Vice Chair, I helped shape water quality regulations and water rights for 36 million Californians throughout our State.
Our team at Alameda County’s StopWaste agency headquarters
In 2009 I accepted the position of Executive Director at StopWaste, the Alameda County public agency that manages solid waste and building energy efficiency programs that serve the 1.6 million residents and 10,000+ businesses in Alameda County.
I retired in 2015. I have served the community in many ways over the years, including:
- Castro Valley Sanitary District Community Advisory Committee
- Program Advisory Committee, San Francisco Baykeeper
- Former Board Chair, San Francisco Baykeeper
- Governing Board and Science Advisory Board Chair, Arctic Ice Project
- Member, Advisory Committee, Tulane University Challenge Water Prize
- San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board
- Alameda County Source Reduction and Recycling Board
- EBMUD Demand Management Advisory Committee
- US Bureau of Reclamation Desalination Research Roadmap Project
Ruth Hartman and I have been married for 37 years, and have two adult daughters. We have lived in Castro Valley for 22 years, and in Hayward for 16 years before that.
With Ruth on a recent birthday. Water is in our lives in so many ways!
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