Water Treatment Section Manager, Metropolitan Water District of Southern California
Heather manages the operation and maintenance of all Metropolitan water treatment plants. She oversees 300 employees, $84M budget, ensures performance monitoring, develops plant improvement programs, and the start-up of new treatment plants and processes. Prior to Metropolitan, Collins served as Regional Engineer the California Department of Public Health, Drinking Water program, overseeing drinking water regulations for the State of California鈥檚 public water systems, together with advancing water reuse in the region. Heather is a Registered Civil Engineer and licensed Water Treatment Operator. She currently serves as an AWWA Association Director, representing the California-Nevada Section.听 Graduate of Cal Poly Pomona and Loyola Marymount University with both BS & MS in Civil Engineering. More recently, Heather has led the regulatory and permitting efforts for Metropolitan鈥檚 $3.4 billion Regional Recycled Water Program, a water purification project to beneficially reuse water currently discharged to the Pacific Ocean for recharge of regional groundwater basins.