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Sacramento Section Announces the Formation of the Sustainability Committee
by Fareed Pittalwala, P.E.
The Sacramento Section is pleased to announce that we have a new committee that is active and pursuing an aggressive agenda this year. Led by Robert Roscoe, General Manager of the Sacramento Suburban Water District, the committee is initially focusing on achieving some early successes, and is using as a reference the report prepared by the ASCE/TAC Committee on Sustainability titled “Sustainability Guidelines for ASCE Sections, Branches and Student Chapters” to guide initial activities. Current activities include: working with the Section Awards Committee to establish criteria for an annual Sustainable Project of the Year, and a Sustainability Person of the Year; outreach to the branches and student chapters in the Sacramento Section; and scheduling presentations on sustainable projects at section, branch and student chapter meetings.
It is expected that the Committee will also soon focus on arranging tours of LEED Certified green buildings presently under construction, and tours of other sustainability-themed projects within the Section. In addition, the committee will jointly host a Symposium on Sustainable Water Resources with the Section’s Environmental and Water Resources Institute, tentatively scheduled for July 9, 2009. With the passage of State Assembly Bill 32 on greenhouse gas reductions, and the Governor’s declaration of a drought emergency in many of the State’s southern counties, promising topics for joint programs include water supply sustainability issues in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, and design considerations for a carbon neutral water desalination facility in Carlsbad.
In keeping with the Committee’s theme, meetings are held by conference call on the fourth Monday of every month. For more information, and to get involved, please contact Robert Roscoe at RRoscoe@sswd.org.
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