[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 14 (Thursday, February 14, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E167]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 IN HONOR OF WILLIAM R. MILLS, JR. FOR A CAREER DEDICATED TO IMPROVING 
                   WATER CONDITIONS IN ORANGE COUNTY

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. LORETTA SANCHEZ

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, February 13, 2002

  Ms. SANCHEZ. Mr. Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to William R. Mills, 
Jr. upon his retirement after fifteen years with the Orange County 
Water District (OCWD).
  Mr. Mills was born on April 19, 1937. He received a Bachelor's Degree 
in Geological Engineering from the Colorado School of Mines in 1959 and 
went on to receive a Master's Degree in Civil and Environmental 
Engineering from Loyola University at Los Angeles in 1983.
  Mr. Mills started his engineering career as a Second Lieutenant, 
Engineering Officer in the United States Marine Corps from 1959 to 
1963. From there, he began a lifetime dedicated to water resource 
planning and development, and his efforts have proven invaluable to 
water supply systems in Southern California and throughout the world. 
From 1963 to 1966, he worked as a Civil Engineer for the Los Angeles 
County Flood Control District, Water Conservation Division. In 1966, 
Mr. Mills went on to work as a Civil Engineer for the California 
Department of Water Resources, until he was offered a job as President 
of the Planning and Development Division of the Planning Research 
Corporation in 1967. There he spent seventeen years directing a staff 
of 400 as they worked to generate water resource and wastewater 
reclamation investigations and designs. In the three years prior to his 
employment with the OCWD, Mr. Mills owned his own water-consulting 
firm. He was named Water Leader of the Year by the Association of 
California Water Agencies in 1992, received the Engineer of the Year 
Award by the Orange County Engineering Council, and was given the 
Presidential Award for Distinguished Service by the American Desalting 
Association in 1996. Furthermore, in 1999, he was awarded the 
Leadership in Engineering and Water Resources Award from the Institute 
for the Advancement of Engineering. He currently serves as chair of the 
Association of Ground Water Agencies and is chair of the Association of 
California Water Agencies' Water Quality Committee.
  During his tenure at OCWD, Mr. Mills has been responsible for 
developing a long range plan for the district aimed at decreasing the 
agency's dependence on imported supplies and improving the quality of 
surface and groundwater supplies. He was instrumental in promoting a 
program which uses recycled water for irrigation. To date more than 
$200 million has been spent on the construction of water recycling 
plants, groundwater renovation projects, and improvements in the 
district's extensive groundwater recharge system. OCWD is currently in 
final design of the Ground Water Replenishment System, an innovative 
system that will use high-tech filtration to purify waste water, then 
pump it back into the county's ground-water basin. OCWD's groundwater 
reservoir provides about 75 percent of the water needs for two million 
residents. Thanks to the hard work, dedication, and skill of Mr. Mills, 
OCWD is known internationally for its innovative groundwater management 
programs and for promoting advanced waste water treatment technologies.
  Colleagues, please join me in praise of William R. Mills' career as a 
globally-renowned, innovative, and forward thinking water expert 
dedicated to the improvement of water recycling and water storage 
systems for Southern California. He has dedicated his life to improving 
the well-being of Southern California's water and of water systems 
throughout the entire world. Mr. Mills is an asset to his community and 
to our country, and I am proud to recognize him for his contributions 
to the well-being of our nation's water.

                          ____________________