Member Spotlight

Matt Brown, Information Systems Officer – Moulton Niguel Water District

Moulton Niguel Water District delivers high-quality drinking water, recycled water and wastewater services to more than 170,000 customers in Laguna Niguel, Aliso Viejo, Mission Viejo, Laguna Hills, Dana Point, and San Juan Capistrano. A leader in conservation and environmental protection, Moulton Niguel maintains the lowest average water bill in South Orange County.

Water shortages are a top concern in Southern California. What is Moulton Niguel Water District doing to improve its sustainability?

We’ve done quite a lot but it should be noted that we work on sustainability in times of shortage or not. Water is a long term concern and here are some of the ways we are improving sustainability.

Smart Meter Technology
We upgraded all meters to Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI), a project that received over $2 million in grants from the US Bureau of Reclamation. This technology is expected to save over 500 million gallons of water annually. The new meters provide access to hourly water usage and automated leak alerts, enabling quick leak repairs and significant water savings. Additionally, smart meters help us understand indoor and outdoor water use, guiding future sustainability programs.

Water Budgets
Recognising that water use varies, we provide customised monthly water-use budgets based on individual customer characteristics such as household size, yard size, and local weather. This personalised rate structure allows customers to manage their water use effectively. Those who exceed their water budget are billed at higher rates, with revenues invested in alternative water supply programs, rebates, and water conservation initiatives. This approach has resulted in a reduction of over 1.3 billion gallons in peak summer water use during the last drought.

Water Efficiency Programs and Resources
We offer a comprehensive suite of programs and resources, including educational workshops, water use and efficiency surveys, and financial incentives for upgrading landscapes and plumbing fixtures. The H2O Pro Program provides complimentary landscape irrigation assessments for community associations and commercial landscapes, identifying irrigation deficiencies and prioritising cost-effective improvements. Our award-winning NatureScape Garden Design Program helps customers transform their landscapes with California native plants, which require less water and support the local ecosystem. This program offers a 50% cost-share of customised landscape design and increased incentives for turf removal.

Additionally, we conduct workshops such as the Fix-a-Leak Workshop, where customers learn to repair common household leaks; the Control my Controller Workshop, which teaches efficient sprinkler timer programming; and the NatureScape Landscape Workshop, which promotes the benefits of native plants and sustainable landscape design. To date, our customers have removed nearly 7 million square feet of turfgrass, saving over 700 million gallons of water annually and accounting for 25 percent of all turf removal in Orange County.

MNWD was voted one of the top places to work in Orange County. What drives your culture?

It’s now been seven years in a row that MNWD has been very high on the top work places list, including being one of the only public agencies to reach first place. For an award that is voted on by employees, that means so much. We certainly don’t take culture for granted, and it is ingrained in our H.E.R.O. (Honesty, Effort, Respect, One team) principles. Culture starts at the top. As an example, our General Manager, Joone Lopez, has come to work each day in the last four months and worked in a different cubicle and department each day, working alongside field and office staff. It says that while we all have different responsibilities, we are all part of the same team and it takes all of us, side by side, to achieve our goals. Culture is also perpetuated at all levels as everyone looks out for their neighbor. While we have a number of fun staff events to build camaraderie, I’ll highlight our most recent program, our Moulton Passport. This is an opportunity for employees to visit other departments and spend a little time learning how they operate and their importance to overall mission. The employees even carry actual passports that get stamped! It’s great for everyone involved because the more you know about each other, the closer you become and the more bonded you are as co-workers.

You recently joined SWAN in Vancouver as a presenter at the 14th Annual SWAN Conference. Your quote, “The water industry is the only industry that asks its customers not to buy its product,” really resonated with us. How do you think this impacts your operations?

Well, I’ll admit, this is a pretty blunt statement that tends to resonate with many folks. The real message here is about the true empirical value of water. It’s been said that there is a limited amount of water on the planet, it’s just in different forms. Nowadays, the world is more complex, and it requires vision, coordination, and hard work to meet the water needs of today and tomorrow.

One example is Moulton’s OASIS (Optimised, Adaptive, Sustainable, Integrated, Supply) Water Resource Center. This initiative, which includes direct potable reuse, will absolutely impact the way we operate in the future. Management of water, wastewater, environment, health, and education will all be integrated with the focus on long term reliability. Benefits include reducing dependence on faraway water, building sustainability and drought resilience, protecting beaches, creeks, and habitat, and supporting a vibrant economy. The project also includes an education center so we can continuously learn and understand the impacts. We hope OASIS can become a model for others to follow.

What advice would you offer to young professionals entering the water sector today? Which skills or areas of knowledge do you believe are most crucial for driving innovation and success in this field?

In the world of football, I’d tell you that it’s the wide receiver that “goes deep.” So, I’d say to young professionals “be a receiver…get wide, go deep.”

Get Wide! It’s more important than ever to know the background and context of decisions in our industry. You need to learn about the inputs, stakeholder values, and impacts of the different systems that affect the water industry. This is hard to do, because there is only so much time, but the lesson here is to open your mind, learn what others do, why they do it, and as much of the how they do it as you can. Think of the entire system and not just the area you work in. Practically speaking, always try to relate what you are doing to the bigger picture.

Go Deep! Yes, learn a broad spectrum so you can relate to others, but aspire to become an expert in one focus area (maybe two). Follow what interests you and strive to learn the most you can about it. I believe that having an expert skill or skillset is truly rewarding and allows you to be a solution provider. In addition, the world needs experts to grow the body of knowledge.

Lastly, I’d say ask questions, do more than you were asked to do, always try, and have fun.