LEADERSHIP
NATIONAL WATER SUPPLY ALLIANCE
National Water Supply Alliance Leadership
Dan Buhman – President
Dan Buhman is the General Manager of the Tarrant Regional Water District (TRWD), based in Fort Worth, Texas. TRWD supplies water to over 2 million people over an 11 county service area nearly the size of Connecticut. The District owns/operates four major reservoirs, including Lake Bridgeport, Eagle Mountain Lake, Cedar Creek Lake and Richland‐Chambers Lake. TRWD has also constructed more than 250 miles of large diameter water pipelines (72” and larger), 27 miles of floodway levees built by the Army Corps of Engineers, more than 72 miles of Trinity River Trails and a 2,000-acre wetland water reuse project designed to increase future water supplies for the area. Benbrook Lake, an Army Corps of Engineers facility, is also part of the TRWD water supply system. Future supply options include reallocations in Army Corps reservoirs and new reservoirs that require federal permits administered by the Corps.
(Board term expires 2025)
Katherine Zitsch – Vice President
Katherine Zitsch leads the Natural Resources Division at the Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC), the regional planning agency for Metropolitan Atlanta. She is also the Director of the Metropolitan North Georgia Water Planning District, which is responsible for water planning in the 15‐county Atlanta area. Together, these agencies work to meet the water supply needs of 5.7 million people in Metropolitan Atlanta. ARC acts as the contracting and coordinating agent for local governments, and as the representative for local governments on matters related to reservoir and water supply operations at two U.S. Army Corps of Engineers reservoirs—Lake Lanier and Allatoona Lake—which collectively provide approximately 80% of the region’s water supply. ARC believes an effective Corps made inflow/return flow policy and deference to States in allocating water are critical to maximizing the water supply benefits provided by federal reservoirs.
(Board term expires 2023)
Greg Volkardt - Secretary
Greg Volkhardt is the Source Water and Treatment Operations Manager for Tacoma Water. Greg oversees operations related to water treatment, system management, and the cross connection control program. He also oversees the Watershed Services team who manages Tacoma Water’s 148,000-acre Green River Watershed and its Environmental Stewardship Program. Greg also serves as the local sponsor point of contact for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on the Howard A Hanson Dam Additional Water Storage Project. The HAHD-AWSP helps meet peak summer demand for a regional partnership of four water utilities and is essential for meeting Tacoma Water’s instream flow requirements. Greg’s involvement with the NWSA began in early 2017 with NWSA’s engagement on the proposed rule for use of Corps reservoirs for water supply storage. Prior to joining Tacoma Water in 2008, Greg led a program that evaluated wild salmon populations and their recovery throughout western Washington. He has spent over 30 years working on water supply and natural resources issues in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska.
(Board term expires 2023)
Brad Brunett - Treasurer
Brad Brunett is the Regional Manager, Central and Lower Basins for the Brazos River Authority (BRA).
Brad joined BRA as a Hydrologist/Planner in 1997. In his 22 years with the BRA, Brad has served in a number of positions including Regional Business Development Manager, Hydrologist, Senior Hydrologist, and Water Services Department Manager. In his current position as Regional Manager for the Central and Lower Basins, he and his staff oversee BRA operations in the Brazos River basin from just north of Waco to the coast near Freeport. Brad received a Bachelor of Science degree in Hydrology and Water Resources from Tarleton State University in 1994.
(Board term expires 2025)
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Darren Gore – Immediate Past President
Darren Gore is the Assistant City Manager and Director of the Murfreesboro, TN, Water Resources Department. MWRD is a municipal utility that provides water, sewer, reuse and stormwater services to the customers of Murfreesboro with a population around 150,000. Murfreesboro is currently accounted among the top 15 fastest‐growing large cities in the United States. MWRD withdraws water from the East Fork Stones River and J. Percy Priest (JPP) Reservoir. JPP reservoir is owned and operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Murfreesboro has had a water supply contract with the Corps since 2003. MWRD also returns flows to JPP and believes full credit for return flows should be accounted for and fairly credited in any water supply contract established with the Corps.
(Board term expires 2025)
Andrew Dehoff - Director
Andrew Dehoff is the Executive Director of the Susquehanna River Basin Commission, a federal‐interstate compact commission covering regions of New York State, Pennsylvania, and Maryland. SRBC is charged with comprehensive and cooperative management of the water resources of the Susquehanna River, a primary tributary to the Chesapeake Bay. The Commission is comprised of representatives of each of the three states as well as the federal government. In pursuit of its sustainable flow goals, SRBC has entered into agreements at three federal reservoir projects to support power generation, agricultural consumptive water use, domestic and industrial water supply, and to protect and improve instream aquatic habitat.
(Board term expires 2024)
Jennifer Verleger - Director
Jennifer L. Verleger is an assistant attorney general for the State of North Dakota, providing general counsel and litigation services to the Department of Water Resources. She is also a registered Professional Engineer. The Corps’ largest reservoir, Lake Sakakawea (Garrison Dam) is located in North Dakota, and the Corp’s second-largest reservoir (Oahe Dam) is located in North and South Dakota. The State of North Dakota interacts with the Corps of Engineers on numerous issues, including water supply and flood control. The recognition of natural flows in the Missouri River, definitions of storage and surplus water, and reallocation reports are among North Dakota’s top concerns.
(Board term expires 2024)
Glenn Page - Director
Glenn Page represents the Cobb County‐Marietta Water Authority (CCMWA), from which he recently retired as General Manager. CCMWA is a wholesale provider of drinking water to nearly 1 million people in 5 counties in northwest metropolitan Atlanta. CCMWA operates two drinking water treatment plants, one drawing from the Chattahoochee River downstream of Lake Lanier and the other receiving its water directly from Allatoona Lake through a 1963 water storage contract with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. CCMWA also owns and operates a pumped storage reservoir upstream of Allatoona Lake, permitted by the State of Georgia to release water as “made inflows” to CCMWA’s storage in Allatoona for CCMWA’s sole use. One of CCMWA’s customers operates two water reclamation facilities that produce return flows to Allatoona that are also allocated by the State of Georgia to CCMWA. Among other things, CCMWA is concerned about preserving state primacy in allocating waters of the state, and about the proper accounting of made inflows and return flows by the Corps in determining the amount of water available for water supply through CCMWA’s purchased storage.
(Board term expires 2023)
George Otstott - Director
George Otstott is Vice President of the Board of Directors for the Northeast Texas Municipal Water District (NETMWD), based in Hughes Springs, TX. After disastrous flooding in the Cypress River Valley in 1947 a dam to control flooding and provide a water supply to the river valley basin was built by USACE and formed the Lake O’ the Pines Reservoir just west of Jefferson, Texas. The dam was built in partnership with seven local cities, including Jefferson, George's hometown, who acquired the rights to the water supply and later became the Northeast Texas Municipal Water District. NETMWD is a regional unit of government which was specially created in 1953 by the Texas Legislature to be the local sponsor of Lake O' the Pines Lake O' the Pines Reservoir. The district serves 8 counties in Northeast Texas and provides finished water to 10 cities in the basin and raw water to several cities and industries in the basin. NETMWD works with the USACE, state agencies of Texas, and additional stakeholders on water resources in northeast Texas, including Lake O' the Pines. NETMWD administers water protection programs in the entirety of the Cypress Creek Basin. NETMWD works to assure sustainable habitats for threatened or endangered species and helps to assure the vitality of wetlands that have been recognized by international treaty to have significance in the Cypress Creek Basin.
(Board term expires 2024)
Dave Mitamura - Staff
Dave Mitamura serves as the Executive Director of the National Water Supply Alliance. He is responsible for the administration and operations of the organization and provides direct support to the Board. He has twenty years of experience in water supply planning and policy for the Texas Water Development Board and the Corps of Engineers Institute for Water Resources.