Water Professionals Honored at 95th CWEA Awards
Ruby Dela Cruz from the City of San Diego and Raul Villalpando from the City of Escondido were two of eight individuals honored at the 95th Annual California Water Environment Association (CWEA) Awards.
Both have served their city for the past 23 years, and their awards recognize their contributions to enhancing California’s water environment.
Ruby Dela Cruz Named Electrical Instrument Person of the Year
Dela Cruz received the “Electrical Instrumentation Person of the Year” award, celebrating her achievements as the city’s Instrumentation and Control Supervisor.
Dela Cruz is responsible for supervising, training, and participating in the maintenance of the control systems and instrumentation of the North City Pure Water Facility, Pure Water Pump Station, and Dechlorination Facility.
As a supervisor, she appreciates being challenged in her role while simultaneously passing on her expertise to others.
“I enjoy troubleshooting electrical and electronic circuits because it sharpens my analytical thinking,” said Dela Cruz. “[And] I like imparting my knowledge and sharing my technical experience to my subordinates to help them achieve their aspirations and goals in their career.”
Yet, after over two decades of working for the City of San Diego, she acknowledges the people are what make the job.
“Everyone is treated as family,” said Dela Cruz. “Just like a family, nobody is perfect, but everyone is there for you when you need them. My superiors never fail to acknowledge my accomplishments and contributions to the group.”
Raul Villalpando Named Operator of the Year
City of Escondido winner Raul Villalpondo (center) with (L to R) Keith Hobson, Vice President, Water Environment Federation (WEF), FOX Strand; Victor Corrales, City of Escondido; Wastewater Operations Manager; Villalpondo; Kyle Morgan, City of Escondido Assistant Director of Utilities Wastewater; and Chuck Greely, CWEA past president, Dudek. Photo: CWEA
Similar to Dela Cruz, Raul Villalpando values the opportunity to pass along his knowledge and expertise to his newer colleagues. This attribute led his supervisors to push for his “Operator of the Year” award.
“He’s really been the main guy that’s been kind of passing along his knowledge, not just of wastewater, but of the plant itself,” said Victor Corrales, wastewater operations manager for the City of Escondido. “He’s setting an example to those newer operators of the value of staying at a place, watching and helping it grow.”
As a senior wastewater operator, Villalpando is one of four lead operators in charge of overseeing the City of Escondido’s wastewater plant. Every day, he works alongside electricians, mechanics, and other plant operators to ensure business runs smoothly. While he wears many hats around the plant, he considers this award a group effort.
“This award that I was lucky enough to win as an individual is for everyone on this team,” said Villalpando. “I oversee all those people, but those people worked hand-in-hand with me to win that. To be able to find a good core group of people to work with is the hardest and best thing to find, and I’m lucky to say I’ve found that.”
CWEA Awards Recognize Exemplary Efforts
Founded in 1927, the CWEA is a not-for-profit association of 9,000-plus professionals in the wastewater industry. The association trains and certifies wastewater professionals, disseminates technical information and promotes sound policies to benefit society through protection and enhancement of the water environment.
For the past 95 years, the CWEA awards program has honored exemplary efforts of individuals and agencies throughout the state who are leaders in engineering, wastewater operations, collection systems, laboratory work, and pretreatment programs.
For more information about the California Water Environment Awards, visit awards.cwea.org
