Water in Action: Exploring Quality with the Water Board
Guest Speakers at this year’s Simpsons University Residential Field Trip: Introducing Team Members from the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board (CVRWQCB)
Katie Gilman
Title: Engineering Geologist, EIT (Engineer-in-Training)
Unit: Nonpoint Source – Grants, Post-Fire response, Water Quality Monitoring, Watershed Health and Restoration
As an Engineering Geologist within the Nonpoint Source unit, I play a critical role in addressing water quality challenges across diverse landscapes. My work encompasses a wide range of responsibilities, including managing grants aimed at reducing nonpoint source pollution, coordinating post-fire response efforts, conducting water quality monitoring, and fostering partnerships with watershed groups to focus restoration efforts.
I frequently partner with other regulatory agencies, watershed groups, and non-profit groups to determine the best plan of action to improve watersheds in our area. This can be done with long-term and short-term habitat restoration projects, water quality monitoring, upland improvements, and large scale health assessments of the watershed.
In post-fire response, I contribute to efforts that minimize the impacts of wildfires on water quality and landscapes. This includes assessing burned areas, identifying potential erosion risks, and developing strategies to protect watersheds from sedimentation and contamination.
Water quality monitoring is a key part of my role. I conduct field sampling and analysis to assess the health of streams, rivers, and other water bodies, providing data that informs restoration projects and regulatory decisions. My role allows me to integrate geological knowledge, engineering principles, and environmental stewardship to protect and enhance water quality.
Jerred Ferguson
Title: Environmental Scientist
Unit: Stormwater and 401 Water Quality Certification
Our unit is committed to protecting and preserving water resources through rigorous oversight and forward-thinking initiatives. We undertake extensive fieldwork, including sampling, inspections, and investigations, targeting industrial facilities such as auto dismantlers, lumber mills, and mines, as well as construction sites.
These efforts focus on ensuring the proper implementation of Best Management Practices (BMPs) to prevent pollutants and contaminants from entering stormwater systems, stream channels, and rivers, safeguarding these critical water bodies.
Beyond enforcement and compliance, our work includes active participation in restoration projects designed to enhance water quality, promote groundwater recharge, and restore and protect natural habitats. These initiatives aim to address a variety of pressing environmental challenges, such as mitigating erosion, managing sediment, and revitalizing riparian ecosystems. By improving hydrographic systems, we help foster ecological balance, enhance biodiversity, and increase the resilience of these environments to future stressors.
Collaboration is central to our mission. We work closely with local agencies and community organizations to ensure that our efforts are informed, effective, and widely supported. Utilizing a combination of field investigations, scientific data analysis, and strategic planning, our team contributes to the protection and restoration of vital water systems. Through these endeavors, we strive to create a healthier, more sustainable environment that will benefit both current and future generations
Bryan Puleri
Title: Engineering Geologist, GIT (Geologist-in-Training)
Group: Non-Point Source Unit – Utilities
Our team oversees the regulation of utility companies operating within the State of California, including major providers such as Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E), PacificCorp, and Southern California Edison (SCE), among others. This oversight ensures these utilities operate in compliance with environmental and safety standards while maintaining essential infrastructure for the public.
A significant part of our work involves inspecting rural, native surface access roads and the erosion control measures implemented along utility corridor access routes. These inspections focus on identifying issues such as unstable road surfaces, landslide hazards, and stormwater-related sedimentation and erosion problems. These conditions, if unaddressed, can contribute to the introduction of sediment and pollutants into nearby watercourses, threatening water quality and aquatic life and ecosystems.
In addition to routine regulatory activities, our responsibilities have expanded to include oversight of emergency response and reconstruction efforts for utility infrastructure following major forest fires. Since the Dixie Fire in 2021, we have played a critical role in ensuring that utilities respond promptly and effectively to post-fire challenges while adhering to environmental protection requirements. Our work has extended to fires such as the Paradise Fire in 2021, the Park Fire in 2024, and the Palisades Fire in 2024.
These efforts involve evaluating the reconstruction of utility structures and corridors to prevent further environmental degradation, mitigate erosion, and reduce the risk of future fire-related impacts on utility infrastructure and surrounding landscapes. By integrating environmental stewardship with infrastructure regulation, we aim to balance the needs of California’s utility operations with the protection of its natural resources and ecosystems.
Commonly used terms:
- BMP – Best Management Practice(s): In the context of environmental management, BMPs are methods, techniques, or controls used to prevent or reduce the pollution of water, air, or soil while supporting sustainable operations. BMPs are commonly applied in agriculture, construction, urban planning, forestry, and other activities that can impact natural resources.
- Turbidity– the measure of the cloudiness or haziness of a liquid caused by the presence of suspended particles, such as silt, clay, organic matter, algae, or microorganisms. It is often used as an indicator of water quality in environmental and industrial contexts. The higher the turbidity, the murkier the water appears. Turbidity is typically measured in Nephelometric Turbidity Units (NTU) using a turbidimeter, which assesses the scattering of light as it passes through the water.
- Non-point source pollution– this refers to pollution that does not originate from a single, identifiable source, such as a pipe or discharge outlet. Instead, it comes from multiple, diffuse sources, typically caused by rainfall or snowmelt moving over and through the ground. As this water travels, it picks up and carries natural and human-made pollutants, depositing them into rivers, lakes, wetlands, coastal waters, or groundwater.
- Waterbar/Rolling Dip – A waterbar or rolling dip is a drainage feature commonly used on unpaved roads, trails, and slopes to manage surface water runoff. These structures are designed to intercept and divert water off the surface to reduce erosion, prevent rutting, and minimize sediment transport into nearby watercourses.
- Erosion – The process by which soil, rock, or other surface materials are worn away and transported by natural forces such as water, wind, ice, or gravity. It is a natural process that shapes landscapes over time, but it can be accelerated by human activities like deforestation, agriculture, construction, and mining.
- Sedimentation – The process by which solid particles, such as soil, sand, silt, and organic matter, settle and accumulate at the bottom of a liquid, such as water in rivers, lakes, or oceans. These particles are typically carried by water, wind, or ice before settling due to gravity.
- YSI Meter– A YSI Meter refers to a water quality monitoring device made by the company YSI, a well-known brand that specializes in the development of instruments for measuring various water quality parameters. YSI meters are commonly used in environmental monitoring, research, and water treatment to provide accurate real time field data on water quality.