WRD Vice President Lillian Kawasaki Appointed to the California Water Update Plan 2013 Public Advisory Committee

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Water Replenishment District of Southern California

Oct 19, 2010, 06:57 ET

LAKEWOOD, Calif., Oct. 19 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Water Replenishment District of Southern California (WRD) Director Lillian Kawasaki has been appointed to the California Water Update Plan 2013 Public Advisory Committee (PAC) to help address the state's serious water challenges.

Kawasaki, who is Vice President of the WRD Board, was appointed to the PAC because of her extensive water agency experience as well as her background as an environmental administrator. She was the first General Manager of the City of Los Angeles Environmental Affairs Department and held related management positions with the Port of Los Angeles and the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power. Kawasaki was the first Asian American woman to become a General Manager for the City of Los Angeles.

"I am honored to be a part of this important PAC and impressed by the caliber of my fellow members, said Kawasaki. "Each one of us brings a valuable and unique water perspective that is essential to understanding and addressing the state's short- and long-term water challenges," Kawasaki said. "These urgent times demand that we use water more efficiently, create greater sustainability and develop local supply through enhanced storm water capture and water recycling. Especially in Southern California we must become more self-reliant to reduce demand on increasingly expensive and unreliable imported water." Kawasaki will also provide a groundwater perspective to the PAC, which is important due to the essential part groundwater will play in California's overall water solution.

The California Water Plan provides a framework for water managers, legislators, and the public to consider and make vital decisions regarding the State's water future. The Plan, which is updated every five years, presents basic data and information on California's water resources including water supply evaluations and assessments of agricultural, urban, and environmental water uses to deal with the gap between water supplies and uses. The Plan also identifies and evaluates existing and proposed statewide demand management and water supply augmentation programs and projects to address the State's water needs. For more information about the California Water Plan Update 2013, please visit www.waterplan.water.ca.gov.

WRD manages two of the most heavily used groundwater basins in the state of California and plays a significant role in providing groundwater to southern Los Angeles County. WRD is a regional groundwater management agency that supplies groundwater for 10% of the State's population.

For more information about the Water Replenishment District please visit www.wrd.org.

Created by voters in 1959, WRD is a regional groundwater management agency that protects and preserves the quantity and quality of groundwater supplies for 10 percent of the State's population residing in southern Los Angeles County. For more information on WRD please visit our website at www.wrd.org

SOURCE Water Replenishment District of Southern California